manic-depressive

[man-ik-di-pres-iv]

adjective

1. having or experiencing bipolar disorder.

noun

1. a person with this disorder.

manic-depressive

adjective

1. denoting a mental disorder characterized either by an alternation between extreme euphoria and deep depression (bipolar manic-depressive disorder or syndrome) or by depression on its own or (rarely) by elation on its own (unipolar disorder)

noun

1. a person afflicted with this disorder Compare cyclothymia

Word History and Origins

Origin of manic-depressive¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

At the top of the list of “characteristics targeted for elimination from the human population” from the late 19th century up through at least the 1950s were “manic-depressive psychosis” and “bipolar disorder.”

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I know only that my mother, while still in fourth grade, watched Tomoyo go through a manic-depressive episode.

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Violaine was 10 at the time of that crash; her mother, subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed as manic-depressive, was 42.

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Characterized by extreme shifts in mood, “manic-depressive illness” was officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1952.

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Iris, stately in her silk trousers and Nehru jacket, introducing herself in the group meetings as “a manic-depressive of 27 years’ standing.”

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Related Words

• demented 
• insane 
• mad 
• unhinged