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loco

C2
Fairly common

Pronunciation

UK

  • /lˈəʊkəʊ/

US

  • /ˈloʊkoʊ/

Meanings

Adjective

  1. crazy, wild, or out of control

  2. used to mean mentally ill or irrational, especially as a person label; can be ableist or insulting

Noun

  1. a locomotive, especially in railway usage

Beyond the definition

"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.

    • Phrasedrive 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.

    • Patternloco about + interest

      very enthusiastic about it

More examples
  1. 5

    Railway noun

    The old steam loco pulled three carriages through the valley.

    • Domainloco

      short for locomotive, mainly in railway contexts

See also

Similar

Shades of meaning

Contrast

Used with (collocations)

  • go loco
  • drive someone loco
  • a little loco

Explore

Forms and spellings

3 forms open this card.

Main spelling

  • loconounadjective

Forms

  • locospluralnounadjective
  • locoespluralnounadjective