monomania means excessive interest or concentration on a singular object or subject. It carries an Arena rating of 1590, earned across 13 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, monomania ranks #448 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,023 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #2,182 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,606 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
monomania is pronounced /ˌmɒnəʊˈmeɪnɪə/.
Why “monomania” is a great word
A pathological obsession with a single idea, object, or subject, to the exclusion of all else. Formed within English from mono- (from Greek monos, “single, alone”) and -mania (from Greek mania, “madness, frenzy”); modeled on French monomanie, coined in the early 1800s by French psychiatrist Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol. Unlike “obsession,” which names a general preoccupation, or “enthusiasm,” which suggests a robust and joyful interest, “monomania” describes the narrowing of the world to a single, burning point. It is the collector whose life contracts around a specific porcelain teacup, the scholar who sees a conspiracy in every cloud formation, the lover blind to all but the curve of a particular lip—a mind become a lens so focused it burns, leaving all else as ash.
Etymology
Either: * Formed in English as mono- + mania; * From the French monomanie; or, * From the Modern Latin monomania.
noun
- Excessive interest or concentration on a singular object or subject.e.g.“It was apparent to all but himself that what was once idle curiosity had become a monomania.”
- A pathological obsession with one person, thing or idea.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.