mania

[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.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek manía madness; akin to maenad, mind
Related forms
hypermania, noun
submania, noun

Mania

[mey-nee-uh, meyn-yuh] /ˈmeɪ ni ə, ˈmeɪn yə/
noun
1.
an ancient Roman goddess of the dead.

-mania

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).
Examples from the web for mania
  • Logomania is the medical condition and mania with underlying symptom logorrhoea.
  • The linguistic origins of mania, however, are not so clearcut.
British Dictionary definitions for mania

mania

/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
Word Origin
C14: via Late Latin from Greek: madness

-mania

combining form
1.
indicating extreme desire or pleasure of a specified kind or an abnormal excitement aroused by something: kleptomania, nymphomania, pyromania
Derived Forms
-maniac, combining_form:in_adjective, combining_form:in_noun:countable
Word Origin
from mania
Word Origin and History for mania
n.

late 14c., "mental derangement characterized by excitement and delusion," from Late Latin mania "insanity, madness," from Greek mania "madness, frenzy; enthusiasm, inspired frenzy; mad passion, fury," related to mainesthai "to rage, go mad," mantis "seer," menos "passion, spirit," all from PIE *men- "to think, to have one's mind aroused, rage, be furious" (see mind (n.)). Sense of "fad, craze" is 1680s, from French manie in this sense. Sometimes nativized in Middle English as manye. Used since 1500s (in imitation of Greek) as the second element in compounds expressing particular types of madness (cf. nymphomania, 1775; kleptomania, 1830; megalomania, 1890).

mania in Medicine

mania ma·ni·a (mā'nē-ə, mān'yə)
n.
A manifestation of bipolar disorder characterized by profuse and rapidly changing ideas, exaggerated gaiety, and excessive physical activity.

-mania suff.
An abnormal compulsion or an extreme love for: pyromania.

mania in Culture
mania [(may-nee-uh)]

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

Note: A “mania” in popular terms is an intense enthusiasm or craze.
Encyclopedia Article for mania

in psychiatric terminology, any abnormal or unusual state of excitement, as in the manic phase of bipolar disorder.

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