basket case
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
One made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic, or stress.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
A country with sound public finances can thus become a fiscal basket case practically overnight.
What a complete and utter basket - case James ' shaken and stirred ' Bond is.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Imported from Wikipedia “English-language idioms” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29), pending review.
Common questions
What does “basket case” mean?
One made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic, or stress.
Is “basket case” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.