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loco

C2
adjectivenoun

Pronunciation

UK

  • /lˈəʊkəʊ/

US

  • /ˈloʊkoʊ/

Description

"Loco" comes from Spanish and means "crazy." In English, people sometimes use it informally to describe someone or something as wild, reckless, strange, or out of control. Picture a party that gets louder and wilder every hour: someone might laugh and say, "This place is loco!"

The tone is often playful, especially in casual speech, music, or pop culture. Still, it can sound rude or insensitive if it is used about a real person's mental health condition, so it is better used for fun, exaggerated situations than for serious ones.

Examples

  1. 1

    Concert reaction

    The crowd went loco when the band walked onstage.

  2. 2

    Technology frustration

    This app keeps crashing, and it’s driving me loco.

    • Phrase

      drive someone loco

      make someone very annoyed or frustrated

  3. 3

    Risky idea

    He had some loco idea about cycling across the desert in July.

  4. 4

    Sports enthusiasm

    People here are loco about soccer.

    • Pattern

      loco about + interest

      very enthusiastic about it

  5. 5

    Railway noun

    The old steam loco pulled three carriages through the valley.

    • Domain

      loco

      short for locomotive, mainly in railway contexts

Forms and spellings

3 forms open this card.

Main spelling

  • loconounadjective

Forms

  • locospluralnounadjective
  • locoespluralnounadjective