maniac
Americannoun
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a raving or violently insane person; lunatic.
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any intemperate or overly zealous or enthusiastic person.
a maniac when it comes to details.
adjective
noun
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a wild disorderly person
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a person who has a great craving or enthusiasm for something
a football maniac
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obsolete psychiatry a person afflicted with mania
Etymology
Origin of maniac
First recorded in 1595–1605, maniac is from the Medieval Latin word maniacus of, pertaining to madness. See mania, -ac
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I’m more aficionado than maniac, but I find them endlessly listenable, rewatchable — they just look great, for one thing — and interesting.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 26, 2025
“And I’m not some crazed maniac set out to destroy this nation.”
From Seattle Times • Oct. 6, 2023
But there is one name that eagle-eyed observers who have closely followed this story will note is missing: Mike Lindell, the comically self-important maniac who founded the second-rate linens company MyPillow.
From Salon • Aug. 21, 2023
But at night, during the annual festivals, he dances like a maniac and whips people with olive branches.
From BBC • Jul. 7, 2023
Herky hung upside down and laughed like a maniac, and cried, “Bad bird! Bad bird!”
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
