mishegoss

• mishegaas, mishegas, mishegass, mischegass, mischegoss, mishegos, mishigas

Borrowed from Yiddish משוגעת (meshugas), from משוגע (meshuge, “crazy”), from Hebrew משוגע (meshugga`, “crazy”), from שׁוּגַּע (shugga‘, “be driven mad”), שִׁיגַּע (shigga‘, “drive mad”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌmɪʃəˈɡɒs/, /ˈmɪʃəɡɒs/

• Audio (US):

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mishegoss (uncountable)

1. (slang) Madness; silliness.
   • 2007 February 11, William Safire, “Culpa for Mayor”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     On the contrary, the Michigander’s mishegoss is driven by my choice of the on-guard anticipate when he thinks I should have used the more general, all-purpose verb expect.

   • 2011 October 30, “Pilot”, in Allen Gregory, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Allen Gregory DeLongpre:

     You know what? Let's forget all the mishegoss and try to enjoy our lunch, huh? Take the edge off.

   • 2018 April 17, Abraham Riesman, “Green Lantern No. 76 Was the Moment Superhero Comics Got Woke”, in Vulture‎^[2]:

     Appropriately shamed, Hal agrees to help Oliver in taking down the landlord, which they eventually do after some crime-fighting mishegoss.

   • 2021 January 21, 24:25 from the start, in The Rachel Maddow Show, spoken by Rachel Maddow:

     […] new allegations that young Mr. Ellis may have mishandled classified information as part of whatever mishegoss they were trying to pull off there.

   • 2025 April 21, Edward Helmore, quoting John Ullyot, “‘Full-blown meltdown’ at Pentagon after Hegseth’s second Signal chat revealed”, in The Guardian‎^[3], →ISSN:

     Ullyot warned that under Hegseth “the Pentagon focus is no longer on warfighting, but on endless drama” and said “the president deserves better than the current mishegoss at the Pentagon.”