pyromaniac

American  

[pahy-ruh-mey-nee-ak] / ˌpaɪ rəˈmeɪ niˌæk /

noun

• pyromaniacs
  plural

1. someone with a compulsion to set things on fire.

   One theory is that pyromaniacs simply love fires and the damage they cause, and so they start them.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pyromaniacal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pyromaniacs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pyromaniac

pyromani(a) ( def. ) + -ac ( def. )

Explanation

Someone who loves to set fires — and, for whatever reason, can't stop setting them — is a pyromaniac. Maniac is a word attached to many words for mental illness, but this has to be one of the most scary. A pyromaniac has a frequent, powerful desire to set fires. This is different from an arsonist, who sets fires for money. Pyromaniacs just set fires because they want to and feel a compulsion to. Pyromania is a sickness. A pyromaniac could also be someone who loves watching fires.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pyromaniac pyromaniacs

"The pyromaniac doesn't get money, has no spirit of revenge, has no utility of the fire, but he likes the fire," he says.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

It is unlikely to inspire you to go full pyromaniac like Hendrix, but just in case, you might want to have a fire extinguisher handy.

From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2024

In France, responsibility for all things school falls squarely to the minister of education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, who has been ridiculed as a pompier pyromane—a pyromaniac firefighter, someone who is creating more problems than he solves.

From Slate ● Jan. 14, 2022

There’s something mesmerizing about the spectacle — like watching your family’s resident pyromaniac resuscitate a dying campfire.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 27, 2018

They thought I was a pyromaniac and a liar, and the fact that I myself never seemed to get burned was as good as proof.

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs

True pyromaniacs — people with an impulse disorder characterized by a compulsive need to set things on fire — do exist, but they are a rare breed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2025

More still are convinced that pyromaniacs who want to spark chaos are the behind most blazes.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2023

The ban, combined with an existing prohibition on fireworks in unincorporated areas, is meant to discourage would-be pyromaniacs from accidentally laying waste to their neighbors’ houses or setting off wildfires that blacken hundreds of acres.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 3, 2023

In these years, largely in the service of Big Energy, he and his crew have transformed themselves into so many pyromaniacs.

From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2020

His anecdotes and comments as to pyromaniacs of different kinds were as entertaining and curious as anything recorded by Gaboriau. 

From Memoirs by Charles Godfrey Leland