mythomaniac
/ˌmɪθəˈmeɪniæk/
mythomaniac means someone who suffers from mythomania. It carries an Arena rating of 1467, earned across 62 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, mythomaniac ranks #1,342 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #3,121 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #3,450 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #3,994 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
mythomaniac is pronounced /ˌmɪθəˈmeɪniæk/.
Why “mythomaniac” is a great word
MYTHOMANIAC — [Noun] A person afflicted with a pathological compulsion to lie or exaggerate. Formed within English by compounding the combining forms mytho- (from Greek 'muthos', meaning "story, myth") and -maniac (from Greek 'mania', meaning "madness, frenzy"). Attested since the 1950s. Unlike a "fabulist," who weaves tales with creative intent, or a "perjurer," who commits the specific criminal act of lying under oath, the mythomaniac is driven by an interior compulsion to reconstruct the self. It is the colleague who claims a doctorate from a university that does not exist, the distant relative who recounts an elaborate childhood you never shared, the stranger in the bar who wears an impossible biography like a threadbare coat. The tragedy lies not in the falsehood, but in the profound truth it reveals: a self so intolerably ordinary that it must be perpetually escaped.
Etymology
Borrowed from French mythomane. By surface analysis, mytho- + -maniac. Attested in English since 1950s.
noun
- Someone who suffers from mythomania.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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