MANIA Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com (original) (raw)

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mania
Mania
-mania

[mey-nee-uh, meyn-y_uh_] / ˈmeɪ ni ə, ˈmeɪn yə /

noun

excessive excitement or enthusiasm; craze.

The country has a mania for soccer.
Psychiatry. manic disorder.

Mania 2 American

[mey-nee-uh, meyn-y_uh_] / ˈmeɪ ni ə, ˈmeɪn yə /

noun

an ancient Roman goddess of the dead.

a combining form of mania (megalomania ); extended to mean “enthusiasm, often of an extreme and transient nature,” for that specified by the initial element (bibliomania ).

mania 1 British

/ ˈmeɪnɪə /

noun

a mental disorder characterized by great excitement and occasionally violent behaviour See also manic-depressive
an obsessional enthusiasm or partiality

a mania for mushrooms

"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

combining form

indicating extreme desire or pleasure of a specified kind or an abnormal excitement aroused by something

kleptomania

nymphomania

pyromania

"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

Violent, abnormal, or impulsive behavior. In psychological terms, mania is wild activity associated with manic depression.

Usage

What does -mania mean? The combining form -mania is used like a suffix meaning literally “mania,” often in the sense of "enthusiasm, often of an extreme or transient nature." It is often used in scientific and technical terms, especially in psychology. The form -mania comes from Greek manía, meaning “madness.” Latin has three translations for manía: dēmentia, furor, and rabiēs, all meaning “madness.” Find out more at our entries for dementia, furor, and rabies.

Discover More

A “mania” in popular terms is an intense enthusiasm or craze.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of mania

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin, from Greek manía “madness”; akin to maenad, mind

Explanation

Mania is an extreme interest, desire, or craze. If you dye your dog's fur to match the colors of your favorite football team, you might be suffering from sports_mania._ Mania has for centuries been associated with “madness” or “mental derangement.” It's still used in the mental health fields to mean the excitable, overactive phase of bipolar disorder or, as a suffix, to describe a compulsion, such as kleptomania (to steal) or pyromania (to set fires). More generally, it might be used as a suffix to describe enthusiasm, as in Beatlemania (The Beatles) or Pottermania (Harry Potter).

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing mania

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.

Michael Hull, a retired lettuce farmer, says he is aware of the duplex mania.

FromThe Wall Street Journal • May 11, 2026

Or consider the dot-com mania of the late 1990s, when eToys, Pets.com and hordes of other flash-in-the-pan internet companies drenched the market with initial public offerings of stock.

FromThe Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

The chip sector outperformed the S&P 500 on Friday to a degree not seen in over a year, as artificial-intelligence mania kicked into a new gear.

FromMarketWatch • May 8, 2026

Quantum mania has become a staple of the tech sector, dismissed by some as irrational exuberance.

FromBarron's • May 6, 2026

A look I can only describe as Dauntless mania enters his eyes, but rather than recoil from it, as I might have a few weeks ago, I catch it, like it’s contagious.

From"Divergent" by Veronica Roth

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023