mania

¹ American  

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

noun

1. excessive excitement or enthusiasm; craze.

   The country has a mania for soccer.

2. Psychiatry. manic disorder.

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Mania ² American  

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

noun

1. an ancient Roman goddess of the dead.

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-mania ³ American  

1. 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 ).

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mania ¹ British  

/ ˈmeɪnɪə /

noun

1. a mental disorder characterized by great excitement and occasionally violent behaviour See also manic-depressive

2. an obsessional enthusiasm or partiality

   a mania for mushrooms

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-mania ² British  

combining form

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

   kleptomania

   nymphomania

   pyromania

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mania Cultural  

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

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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

• -maniac combining form
• hypermania noun
• submania noun

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 sportsmania. 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).

Example Sentences

Retail investors have limited opportunities to get in on trendy private companies that are disrupting the U.S. economy, hence the initial mania.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 26, 2026

Cole Smead, CEO and portfolio manager of Smead Capital Management, talked about the mania in American capital expenditure cycles, with hyperscalers spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI.

From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026

All this at a time when Hutchcroft was swinging between episodes of mania and depression.

From BBC • Mar. 14, 2026

China has become a driving force behind the metals mania that has captivated traders around the world.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 8, 2026

He had to actually fall asleep in order to dream, and it wasn’t coming easily, with his mind racing from the mania of the day.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Related Words

• craving
• craze
• craziness
• enthusiasm
• fad
• fascination
• frenzy
• infatuation
• lunacy
• obsession
• passion
• rage