mania
noun
Simple meaning
Excessive or unreasonable desire.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mayneeuhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmeɪ.ni.ə
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Excessive or unreasonable desire; insane passion affecting one or many people; fanaticism.
psychiatry
The state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/or energy levels.
Violent derangement of mind; madness; insanity.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Excessive or unreasonable desire; insane passion affecting one or many people; fanaticism.
In this sense, mania is a very strong, expressive word and usually reads as a strong judgement about someone's behaviour or state of mind. In casual exaggeration — a fitness maniac, driving like a maniac — it can sound playful or admiring, but it still carries far more force than simply saying someone is keen.
- Emotional tone
- Context-dependent
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Very strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use mania
- “There is a current mania for vintage clothing.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API (CC BY-SA 3.0). Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.