different between psychopath vs screwball

English

Etymology

From German psychopatisch, from Ancient Greek ???? (psukh?, “soul”) + ????? (páthos, “suffering”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?sa?ko??pæ?/

Noun

psychopath (plural psychopaths)

1. A person with a personality disorder indicated by a pattern of lying, cunning, manipulating, glibness, exploiting, heedlessness, arrogance, delusions of grandeur, sexual promiscuity, low self-control, disregard for morality, lack of acceptance of responsibility, callousness, and lack of empathy and remorse. Such an individual may be especially prone to violent and criminal offenses.
2. (figuratively) A person with no moral conscience who perpetrates especially gruesome or bizarre violent acts.
3. A person diagnosed with antisocial or dissocial personality disorder.
4. (obsolete) A person diagnosed with any mental disorder.

Synonyms

• sociopath

Derived terms

• psychopathic
• psychopathy

Related terms

• psycho
• psychopathology
• psychotic

Translations

English

Etymology

screw +? ball

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sk?u?b??l/

Noun

screwball (plural screwballs)

1. (baseball) A pitch thrown with added pressure by the index finger and a twisting wrist motion resulting in a motion to the right when thrown by a right-handed pitcher.

   The screwball is not thrown much because it tends to damage pitcher's arms.

2. (US) One who behaves in a crazy manner.

   I will not listen to this screwball any longer.

Translations

Adjective

screwball (comparative more screwball, superlative most screwball)

1. (originally US) Crazy, offbeat, bizarre, zany, or weird.
   • 2013, Tom Shone, Oscar nominations pull a surprise by showing some taste – but will it last? (in The Guardian, 11 January 2013)[1]

     Also a big hand for Silver Linings Playbook, an exuberant modern screwball comedy we had, in an unseemly fit of cynicism, deemed "too entertaining" for Academy voters.

Derived terms

• screwball comedy