mania

¹ American  

[mey-nee-uh, meyn-yuh] / ˈmeɪ ni ə, ˈmeɪn yə /

noun

1. excessive excitement or enthusiasm; craze.

   The country has a mania for soccer.

2. Psychiatry.  manic disorder.

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Mania ² American  

[mey-nee-uh, meyn-yuh] / ˈmeɪ ni ə, ˈmeɪn yə /

noun

1. an ancient Roman goddess of the dead.

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-mania ³ American  

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 ).

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mania ¹ British  

/ 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

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-mania ² British  

combining form

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

   kleptomania

   nymphomania

   pyromania

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mania Cultural  

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

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Usage

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.

Discover More

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

Other Word Forms

• -maniac combining form
• hypermania noun
• submania noun

Etymology

Origin of mania

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

Example Sentences

But that one-year crypto surge—and the meme-stock mania that happened around the same time—got a generation of troops hooked on investing.

From The Wall Street Journal

Meme-stock mania hit the military with similar force.

From The Wall Street Journal

The massive mania for AI stocks on Wall Street only makes sense if artificial intelligence is going to sweep through the jobs market like a tornado.

From MarketWatch

The period in our chart pretty much coincides with the period since ChatGPT’s launch sparked the AI mania.

From MarketWatch

Last month, OpenAI published a study based on ChatGPT usage that found the mental health conversations that trigger safety concerns like psychosis, mania or suicidal thinking are “extremely rare.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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