maniac
Americannoun
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maniacs
plural
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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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of maniac
First recorded in 1595–1605, maniac is from the Medieval Latin word maniacus of, pertaining to madness. See mania, -ac
Explanation
A maniac is a crazy person. Screaming like a maniac is never a good way to get your point across. Long ago, the word maniac was an official psychiatric term that meant "a patient suffering from mania," or manic disorder, involving a euphoric mood and extreme energy. Maniac isn't used in a clinical way anymore, but only informally to mean "lunatic." You might describe yourself running around the house like a maniac looking for your car keys, or dismiss your sports-obsessed brother as "a football maniac." The Greek root is mania, or "madness."
Vocabulary lists containing maniac
It's Madness!: Mania
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The Hot Zone
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The 15 Most Relevant Words from the Fifth Republican Presidential Debate (+5 more words of note)
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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.
See Examples For:
The three-time NFL defensive player of the year remains a fitness maniac and has consistently posted clips of his weightlifting sessions to social media.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Walking and typing is dangerous, but walking and talking like a maniac into my own recorder is merely antisocial.
From Slate ● May 24, 2026
The “Saturday Night Live” head writer made the most of his time on two legs, playing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as a swaggering, pro wrestling-esque maniac.
From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2025
“And I’m not some crazed maniac set out to destroy this nation.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2023
She had no intention of sharing her money or her life with that self-absorbed maniac.
From "Small Steps" by Louis Sachar
A breezy mix of history, profiles and memoir, the book seeks to answer a straightforward question: How did marathons evolve from a niche competition for maniacs to a cultural touchstone for the masses?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
When you see people driving like maniacs, it’s generally not folks in my age group on their way to bridge, or golf, or to pick up the grandkids from school.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2024
"And it caused a speedup, having these guys work like maniacs."
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2023
“Even maniacs and serial killers serving life sentences have the right to receive a visit, but I don’t,” the Russian opposition leader wrote on Twitter.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
My teammates are pogoing around like maniacs, so excited to be giving me this gift.
From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
