maniacal
Americanadjective
adjective
-
affected with or characteristic of mania
-
characteristic of or befitting a maniac
maniacal laughter
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of maniacal
Explanation
This one's easy. If someone is maniacal then they're behaving like a maniac. Add an -ly to make it an adverb, and you get maniacally, as in "she's acting maniacally." The noun maniac is almost always used to describe people who do nutty things—serial killers, insane people on the street, crowds at soccer matches. But the adjective maniacal can be more loosely applied to situations, settings, animals, etc. You can use maniacal to describe almost anything that seems wildly crazy or dangerously out of kilter. I don't even remember what the Beatles played that first time on TV. It's the maniacal screaming from the fans that sticks in my head. No movie villain was ever as maniacal as Jason, in Friday the 13th.
Vocabulary lists containing maniacal
"Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began" by Art Spiegelman
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It's Madness!: Mania
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Catch-22
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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.
He also put a maniacal focus on Apple’s supply chain, owing to his prior stint as the company’s chief operating officer.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 20, 2026
We should only expect more maniacal threats as time goes on.
From Slate ● Apr. 11, 2026
O’Leary, who is maniacal about keeping costs down, didn’t want to add Starlink because of the fuel penalty.
From Barron's ● Jan. 21, 2026
“It’s that discipline mentally, physically, that maniacal focus that makes you the best in the world.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 3, 2026
There was something maniacal in the sound of his laughter.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
