Dictionary

basket case en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From basket + case. * (injured soldier): Based on rumors during World War I that wounded soldiers were transported in baskets. * (item to be repaired): The item's components might be brought for repair in a basket.

Meanings

1. (colloquial, historical, offensive) Someone (especially a soldier) who has lost all four limbs.
   • Her mind, at its worst, is in ways analogous to a basket-case who seethes with desires to move but has no limbs. 1973, Norman Mailer, Marilyn, Taschen, published 2022, page 73:
   • The Surgeon General of the Army […] denies […] that there is any foundation for the stories that have been circulated […] of the existence of ‘basket cases’ in our hospitals. 1919, Official Bulletin (U.S. Comm. Public Information), 28 March
2. (colloquial) An institution or country in a bad condition or difficult situation (economically, financially or otherwise).
   • Some countries are breadbaskets, others basket cases.
   • But before that could happen, the large parts of the business that were a complete basket case had to be dealt with severely. 2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51:
   • This country is a financial basket case, a country so broke that it should be a perfect warning to lenders.
   • The Germany described by this Frankfurt School professor is a basket case – post-growth, post-democratic, with the first fascists in the Bundestag since the Third Reich. 2018 December 21, Stuart Jeffries, “Germany’s Hidden Crisis by Oliver Nachtwey review – social decline in the heart of Europe”, in The Guardian:
   • The stereotypical image of North Korea as a hopeless economic basket case ignores the fact that there are extensive natural resources there. 2009, Selig S. Harrison, Korean Endgame: A Strategy for Reunification and U.S. Disengagement, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 48:
3. (colloquial, qualifier:potentially offensive) One made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic, stress or exhaustion; someone considered mentally unstable.
   • She was a complete basket case the morning of her wedding.
   • Often, when you share a deep dark secret with friends, your friends start to treat you differently. It is very damaging to be treated like a basket case, when you intended only to CONFIDE a fear. 1985 April 9, Donald Gworek, “Thoughts on why this group isn't brimming with postings.”, in net.suicide (Usenet):
   • Taddeo’s sad, searing, sometimes unbearably painful tales of bad decisions, agonies and humiliations at the shrine of “love” show us that, in spite of 10 to 15 minutes here and there of truly hot sex, a woman “in love” is frequently a basket case. 2019 July 9, Toni Bentley, “What Do the Sex Lives of ‘Three Women’ Tell Us About Female Desire?”, in New York Times:
4. (colloquial) An item in a disassembled state that is brought to be repaired.

Forms

Relateds

damaged goods · stretcher case

Synonyms

emotional cripple

Translations (14)

sv vrak (in a bad condition) · sv nervvrak (one made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic or stress) · es caso perdido (in a bad condition) · de hoffnungsloser Fall (in a bad condition) · pl kłębek nerwów (one made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic or stress) · cmn 廢人 /废人 (one made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic or stress) · cmn 糟糕 (in a bad condition) · fi hermoraunio (one made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic or stress) · sv ruin (in a bad condition) · fr loque (one made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic or stress) · nl zenuwpees (one made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic or stress) · fr épave (one made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic or stress) · de Nervenbündel (one made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic or stress) · pl beznadziejny przypadek (in a bad condition)