mania

¹

[mey-nee-uh, meyn-yuh]

noun

1. excessive excitement or enthusiasm; craze.

   The country has a mania for soccer.

2. Psychiatry.,  manic disorder.

Mania

²

[mey-nee-uh, meyn-yuh]

noun

1. an ancient Roman goddess of the dead.

-mania

³

1. a combining form of mania (megalomania ); extended to mean “enthusiasm, often of an extreme and transient nature,” for that specified by the initial element (bibliomania ).

mania

¹

/ ˈmeɪnɪə /

noun

1. a mental disorder characterized by great excitement and occasionally violent behaviour See also manic-depressive

2. an obsessional enthusiasm or partiality

   a mania for mushrooms

-mania

²

combining form

1. indicating extreme desire or pleasure of a specified kind or an abnormal excitement aroused by something

   kleptomania

   nymphomania

   pyromania

mania

1. Violent, abnormal, or impulsive behavior. In psychological terms, mania is wild activity associated with manic depression.

A “mania” in popular terms is an intense enthusiasm or craze.

Other Word Forms

• hypermania noun
• submania noun
• -maniac combining form

Word History and Origins

Origin of mania¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin, from Greek manía “madness”; akin to maenad, mind

Word History and Origins

Origin of mania¹

C14: via Late Latin from Greek: madness

Origin of mania²

from _mania

Example Sentences

Fans assumed that The Fate of Ophelia would tether Swift Shakespeare's story of a noblewoman who drowns in a fit of mania after being driven mad by grief.

From BBC

Her daughter, Vivian Ruvalcaba, believes her mother was experiencing mania during much of the interactions with the person she thought was Burton, allowing her to fall deeper into the sham relationship.

From Los Angeles Times

“The Lowdown” tames Lee’s mania for his cause through the barely obscured current of hangdog defeat weakly powering his personal life.

From Salon

The mania could be summed up by the philosophy of Fox Mulder, the paranormal investigator played by David Duchovny on “The X-Files”: “I want to believe.”

From Los Angeles Times

Baron comes not to bury the Mars mania, but to examine the reasons why we choose to believe what we believe.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• craving 
• craze 
• craziness 
• enthusiasm 
• fad 
• fascination 
• frenzy 
• infatuation 
• lunacy 
• obsession 
• passion 
• rage 

When To Use

What does -mania mean?

The combining form -mania is used like a suffix meaning literally “mania,” often in the sense of "enthusiasm, often of an extreme or transient nature." It is often used in scientific and technical terms, especially in psychology.The form -mania comes from Greek manía, meaning “madness.” Latin has three translations for manía: dēmentia, furor, and rabiēs, all meaning “madness.” Find out more at our entries for dementia, furor, and rabies.