maniac
Americannoun
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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
“And I’m not some crazed maniac set out to destroy this nation.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2023
But there is one name that eagle-eyed observers who have closely followed this story will note is missing: Mike Lindell, the comically self-important maniac who founded the second-rate linens company MyPillow.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2023
He’s a maniac, but to me, he was absolutely believable.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2023
It was rush hour, but the gentle-hearted policeman must have seen a potential maniac in me.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Along with driving like maniacs, F1 is much about branding.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
The sorrow and anger repressed within him are as fearsome as the cinematic zombies, ghouls and homicidal maniacs that have seized his imagination.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 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
Would my first trip to Europe be spent evading drunken maniacs and watching birds evacuate their bowels on rocky beaches?
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
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.
