kleptomania
/ˌklɛp.təˈmeɪ.ni.ə
kleptomania means A psychological disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsession with stealing without economic or material need. It carries an Arena rating of 1577, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, kleptomania ranks #332 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #474 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #661 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #1,892 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
kleptomania is pronounced /ˌklɛp.təˈmeɪ.ni.ə.
Why “kleptomania” is a great word
A recurrent inability to resist the impulse to steal items, typically without economic motive or personal need. From the Ancient Greek κλέπτω (kléptō, “to steal”) + -mania (from μανία, manía, “madness, frenzy”), first attested in English circa 1830. Unlike “theft,” a deliberate criminal act born of gain, or “pilfering,” a casual habit of petty opportunism, kleptomania is an internal, inexplicable compulsion. It is the hand moving independently toward a spool of thread already owned in duplicate, the cool weight of a lipstick rolling into a palm, the unopened drawer of meaningless trophies—a madness measured not in grand larceny but in the hollow aftertaste of a private, repeated fracture of the will.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek κλέπτω (kléptō, “to steal”) + -mania, analyzed as klepto- + -mania.
noun
- A psychological disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsession with stealing without economic or material need.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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