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:
Walking and typing is dangerous, but walking and talking like a maniac into my own recorder is merely antisocial.
From Slate ● May 24, 2026
Bardem already proved with his Oscar-winning portrayal of the stun-gun-toting maniac in “No Country for Old Men” that he has a mesmerizing power in playing sinister characters.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
I was expecting Rob Lowe to be some maniac.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2024
“And I’m not some crazed maniac set out to destroy this nation.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2023
And laughing like a maniac, he dragged Harry back upstairs.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
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
King and Aunt Sophie holding the sign, waiting to lift it into the air and scream like maniacs.
From "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds
Definitions 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.
