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monomania

[mon-uh-mey-nee-uh, -meyn-yuh]
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noun
  1. (no longer in technical use) a psychosis characterized by thoughts confined to one idea or group of ideas.
  2. an inordinate or obsessive zeal for or interest in a single thing, idea, subject, or the like.
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Origin of monomania

From New Latin, dating back to 1815–25; see origin at mono-, -mania
Related formsmon·o·ma·ni·ac [mon-uh-mey-nee-ak] /ˌmɒn əˈmeɪ niˌæk/, nounmon·o·ma·ni·a·cal [mon-uh-muh-nahy-uh-kuh l] /ˌmɒn ə məˈnaɪ ə kəl/, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for monomaniac

Historical Examples

  • Had much study made of him a monomaniac babbling in a dream of absurdities?

    The Bacillus of Beauty

    Harriet Stark

  • "I shall not say anything," said the monomaniac, with a wonderful and peaceful face.

  • I am full of the fellow; a little more, and he'll make a monomaniac of me.

  • "She is a monomaniac on the subject, I should imagine," observed Albert.

    Uncle Terry

    Charles Clark Munn

  • She became a monomaniac, and of that sort of which rulers of men are made.

    The Threatening Eye

    Edward Frederick Knight

British Dictionary definitions for monomaniac

monomania

noun
  1. an excessive mental preoccupation with one thing, idea, etc
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Derived Formsmonomaniac, noun, adjectivemonomaniacal (ˌmɒnəʊməˈnaɪəkəl), adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for monomaniac

n.

1833; see monomania + maniac. Related: Monomaniacal.

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monomania

n.

"insanity in regard to a single subect or class of subjects," 1820, probably on model of earlier French monomanie, from Modern Latin monomania, from Greek monos "single, alone" (see mono-) + mania (see mania).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
monomaniac in Medicine

monomania

(mŏn′ə-mā′nē-ə, -mān′yə)
n.
  1. Pathological obsession with one idea or subject, as in paranoia.
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Related formsmon′o•ma′ni•ac′ (-mā′nē-ăk′) n.mon′o•ma•ni′a•cal (-mə-nī′ə-kəl) adj.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.