What does egomaniacal mean?
Egomaniacal is an adjective describing someone consumed by an extreme, obsessive sense of their own importance. It combines ego, the Latin word for "I," with maniacal, suggesting a frenzy or madness — so to call a person egomaniacal is to portray their self-absorption as something close to a compulsion. The word is intensely critical: it goes beyond mere vanity or confidence to imply grandiosity, an appetite for admiration, and contempt for other people's views. It appears frequently in profiles of authoritarian executives, politicians, and artists whose success seems fueled by relentless self-belief at others' expense. Because it ends in -maniacal, it has a slightly clinical ring, yet it is not a medical diagnosis and functions mainly as vivid, often hyperbolic abuse. Related forms include the noun egomaniac, the noun egomania, and the adverb egomaniacally. Anyone needing to distinguish ordinary self-interest from destructive self-worship will find egomaniacal an unusually precise and forceful choice.
adjectiveObsessively preoccupied with oneself and one's own importance; exhibiting an extreme, pathological degree of egotism.
- Having or showing an extreme, obsessive preoccupation with oneself and one's own importance; pathologically egotistical.
"The director's egomaniacal insistence on taking credit for every idea eventually drove away his most talented collaborators."
"Critics described the tycoon as an egomaniacal figure who tolerated no dissent in his empire."
"Her egomaniacal refusal to share the stage made rehearsals unbearable for the rest of the cast."
It pairs a Greek root (ego, 'I') with another Greek root (mania, 'madness') — literally calling someone mad about themselves.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of egomaniacal
Egomaniacal derives from egomania, a nineteenth-century formation combining the Latin ego ("I") with mania, borrowed ultimately from Greek mania meaning "madness" or "frenzy." The adjective was formed by adding the suffix -al to egomaniac, the noun for someone afflicted with such self-obsession. Its cognates include all English words built on ego, such as egocentric and egoist, and on mania, such as kleptomania and maniacal. The word entered common use as psychological vocabulary spread into general speech during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Related word forms
How egomaniacal is actually used
The word is strongly pejorative and hyperbolic in everyday use, often applied to bosses, celebrities, and politicians. It carries a faintly clinical flavor because of its '-maniacal' ending, but it is not a formal psychiatric diagnosis. Register is neutral-to-informal; it is common in journalism and casual criticism alike.
Easily confused with egomaniacal
Egocentric describes someone who views everything from their own perspective, while egomaniacal implies a far more extreme, obsessive grandiosity about one's own importance.
Egotistical refers to ordinary excessive self-regard or boastfulness, whereas egomaniacal suggests a delusional, mania-like fixation on oneself.