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Essential Word Roots: It's Madness!: Mania

Learn these words derived from the Greek word mania, meaning "madness or frenzy," as well as "passion and enthusiasm."
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Full list of words from this list:

  1. pyromaniac
    a person with a mania for setting things on fire
    At one time it was assumed that there was a mental disorder known as pyromania; the pyromaniac was one with an irresistible impulse to light incendiary fires. Paul, Eden
  2. monomania
    an unhealthy obsession or preoccupation with one thing
    His approach to his work goes beyond obsession — to a monomania that influences every facet of his life, in which gathering information trumps all else. New York Times (Feb 25, 2011)
  3. megalomaniac
    a pathological egotist
    She says he’s a megalomaniac and a narcissist. Seattle Times (Feb 4, 2021)
  4. megalomania
    a psychological state characterized by delusions of grandeur
    He was an inventor of new systems of composition, a pioneer of electronic music, and, in later decades, a visionary with a touch of megalomania. New York Times (Jul 19, 2013)
  5. maniacal
    wildly disordered
    For a moment I’d almost forgotten the old lady with her bright eyes and her maniacal smile, the way she’d suddenly seemed possessed. The Last Olympian
  6. maniac
    a person who has an obsession with something
    And then she runs into the kitchen and starts washing the breakfast and lunch dishes like a maniac, doing them by hand and stacking them away instead of putting them into the dishwasher. Things Not Seen
  7. mania
    an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action
    One day he read in the encyclopedia about the advantages of a balanced diet, and so began his mania for vitamins, which was to last for the rest of his life. The House of the Spirits: A Novel
  8. kleptomaniac
    someone with an irrational urge to steal
    I knew a kleptomaniac, who got herself arrested more than once in the great shops of Paris for stealing various articles. Flammarion, Camille
  9. egomaniac
    a person who is abnormally self-absorbed and self-centered
    I do understand that you are an egomaniac and all that matters to you is you, so I am asking this question seriously, and it is of course about you and you alone. Washington Post (Apr 13, 2020)
  10. bibliomania
    preoccupation with the acquisition and possession of books
    By his definition, those afflicted with bibliomania were obsessed with unique books such as first editions and illustrated copies. BBC (Jul 28, 2018)
Created on Tue Sep 21 15:28:51 EDT 2021 (updated Fri Sep 24 12:07:18 EDT 2021)

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