mania means the goddess of the dead and ghosts. It carries an Arena rating of 1570, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, mania ranks #423 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #645 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #751 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #813 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words.
mania is pronounced /ˈmeɪ.ni.ə/.
Why “mania” is a great word
An abnormal state of heightened mood, energy, and arousal, which may manifest as violent derangement, excessive desire, or rampant fanaticism. From Latin Mania, the goddess of the dead and ghosts, related to manes ("spirits of the dead"); subsequently from Greek manía ("madness, frenzy"). Unlike "delusion," which centers on a fixed false belief, or "enthusiasm," which signals a strong but healthy excitement, "mania" is an all-consuming affective tide, a condition rather than an opinion. It is the sleepless, glittering eye of the gambler at the faro table, the frenzied churn of the mob's collective pulse, and the collector bankrupting himself for one more stamp—the body alight with a fire it cannot feed, yet cannot stop burning.
Etymology
From Latin Mania, related to manes (“spirits of the dead”).
name
- The goddess of the dead and ghosts.
noun
- Violent derangement of mind; madness; insanity.
- Excessive or unreasonable desire; insane passion affecting one or many people; fanaticism.e.g.“One of the manias of the present day, which especially excites my spleen, is the locomotive rage which seems to possess all ranks—that necessity of going out of town in the summer...” — 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 233:
- The state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/or energy levels.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
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