arithmomania · noun — an obsessive-compulsive disorder in which the subject feels the need to count things. It carries an Arena rating of 1512, earned across 74 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, arithmomania ranks #1,036 of 17,176 for Most Incisive Words, #1,093 of 17,201 for Funniest Words, #2,230 of 17,171 for Scariest Words, #3,377 of 17,205 for The Improbable.
Why “arithmomania” is a great word
ARITHMOMANIA — [Noun] An obsessive neurosis manifesting as an irresistible compulsion to count objects or perform repetitive arithmetic, often symptomatic of obsessive-compulsive disorder. From the Greek arithmos ("number, counting") and mania ("madness, frenzy"). First attested in English in 1884, borrowed from French arithmomanie. Unlike the broad diagnostic category of obsessive-compulsive disorder or the mystical belief system of numerology, arithmomania is a specific, involuntary tyranny of quantification. It is the silent tallying of sidewalk cracks, the fevered counting of ceiling tiles, and the relentless summation of one's own breaths—a private liturgy where numbers become the only tangible proof the world holds, a fragile arithmetic against the encroaching uncountable.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From arithmo- + -mania.
noun
- an obsessive-compulsive disorder in which the subject feels the need to count things
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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