kleptomania
or clep·to·ma·ni·a
an irresistible impulse to steal, stemming from emotional disturbance rather than economic need.
Origin of kleptomania
1Words Nearby kleptomania
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use kleptomania in a sentence
Its exercise would probably be classed with kleptomania and other like excesses of purely personal consideration.
The Soul of the Far East | Percival LowellAnother periodical insanity is kleptomania, in which insane stealing occurs at intervals of greater or lesser regularity.
Degeneracy | Eugene S. TalbotHe is as yet not ready to agree that some sex difficulty is the only conflict back of kleptomania.
Studies in Forensic Psychiatry | Bernard GlueckThe awful impulse of kleptomania alone seemed to explain but scarcely palliate his first offence against society.
The Streets of Ascalon | Robert W. ChambersI recollect how there used to be a regular little joke at her expense on the subject of kleptomania.
She and I, Volume 1 | John Conroy Hutcheson
British Dictionary definitions for kleptomania
/ (ˌklɛptəʊˈmeɪnɪə) /
psychol a strong impulse to steal, esp when there is no obvious motivation
Origin of kleptomania
1Derived forms of kleptomania
- kleptomaniac, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for kleptomania
[ (klep-tuh-may-nee-uh) ]
A compulsion to steal, usually without either economic need or personal desire.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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