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.
Chopped In the wild conclusion of Alton Brown’s Maniacal Baskets tournament, the chefs open the baskets to discover one of the items staring back at them.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 20, 2021
Chopped Alton Brown brings more of his Maniacal Baskets for the contestants in this new episode.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 13, 2021
Maniacal as in two Auburn tattoos in less than a month.
From Washington Times • Jul. 29, 2017
Maniacal Passion cuts back to a sprint after losing for the second consecutive time as a 1-2 favorite.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 22, 2012
Maniacal attack; at time of test patient had improved, though not recovered.
From A Study of Association in Insanity by Kent, Grace Helen
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.
