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

See: Deal mania is back on Wall Street.

Read more on MarketWatch

A speculative mania in 2011 pushed prices close.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“I accidentally captured some widespread feeling of outrage, exhaustion, annoyance, discontent, hysteria, mania, worry, and the desire for candy,” she writes, explaining why the next day she was making media appearances about it.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The current mania for supercomputers, AI, superintelligence and the like is driven by the availability of cheap energy, mostly afforded by fossil fuels.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

You don’t have to be an AI skeptic to question the mania.

Read more on MarketWatch

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.