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Definition of mania in US English:

mania

noun

1Mental illness marked by periods of great excitement or euphoria, delusions, and overactivity.
- ‘The mania gave me energy and ideas, some of which were good and some of which were off the wall.’
- ‘And so what you're indicating there is that there are degrees of mania when it comes to manic depression.’
- ‘Since then, he has been a virtual recluse, dogged by rumours of mania and madness.’
- ‘The periods of highs and lows are called episodes of mania and depression.’
- ‘Chang said this indicates that mania is not what is fueling the creativity.’
- ‘In two striking chapters he describes an episode of acute mania and how his manic depression affects his life.’
- ‘Lithium carbonate is the primary treatment for bipolar disease, especially mania.’
- ‘The story also illustrates the most radical difference between mania and hypomania.’
- ‘When these types break down they tend to develop either hysteria or mania.’
- ‘She just was having so many prolonged periods of depression, and mania, she wasn't producing.’
- ‘The result is extreme mood fluctuations that cycle between mania and depression.’
- ‘Valproic acid is a second line treatment for mania.’
- ‘At that time there was no effective treatment for mania and she gradually recovered over a lengthy period.’
madness, derangement, dementia, insanity, lunacy, dementedness, psychosis, schizophrenia, mental illness, delirium, frenzy, hysteria, raving, violence, wildness
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1. 1.1 An excessive enthusiasm or desire; an obsession.
  ‘he had a mania for automobiles’
  ‘If the current mania surrounding the technology is anything to go by, they'll be everywhere.’
  ‘Those with a mania for tulips never let empty pockets sour a sale.’
  ‘Almost all manias, be they tulips, railways, Japanese real estate, have ended in busts.’
  ‘Like fashion and distinct from both fads and crazes, manias tend to develop by spreading downward through the social strata.’
  ‘And there is some dispute about whether events like the Asian crisis really constitute market manias and panics.’
  ‘America's mania for expensive bottled waters may be protecting hearts as it empties wallets.’
  ‘For some reason the urge for plastic surgery is becoming a mania world wide in both males and females.’
  ‘The significance of speculative manias is that they cause the buildup of debt and bad investments which creates slow growth.’
  ‘There will be gold rushes, booms, and manias aplenty in our future.’
  ‘These are technology-driven bubbles, not fad-fueled manias like tulips, or fraud like the South Sea scam.’
  ‘But when you look at the window display in any bookshop, do you sense a passion for literature, or a mania for marketing?’
  ‘The histories of market manias and their ensuing panics all tell a similar story: manias give rise to frauds, manipulations and swindles and their unwinding contributes to the bursting of the bubble.’
  ‘Financial manias and panics have attracted economists concerned with the efficiency of asset markets.’
  ‘Ofili has a mania for red, green and black, the colours of African unity, and by applying the oils and acrylics in dots he creates a beaded feel.’
  ‘Close friends always thought that his mania for publicity was connected with his illness.’
  ‘Some teachers suggest the problem is linked to a mania for safety outdoors which conditions people to avoid risks.’
  ‘Stories abound of the insanity that we remember as the 1990s stock mania.’
  ‘Whether it is a mania for the latest hot rock star singer, or a mania to buy a financial asset, manias have truly exerted their influence for centuries.’
  ‘In truth, the thugs merely use football as their excuse to indulge their mania for mindless violence.’
  ‘When I moved into my retirement residence in 1997, I gave an illustrated talk on previous stock manias but was unable to convince anyone that another big boom and bust cycle was coming in our future.’
  obsession, compulsion, fixation, fetish, fascination, preoccupation, passion, enthusiasm, desire, urge, craving, craze, fad, rage
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