What does monomania mean?
Monomania means an intense and often excessive fascination with one idea, person, or activity. In contemporary English, it usually carries a critical tone, suggesting that the fixation has become so strong that it crowds out judgment, balance, or other interests. The word can describe personal obsessions, such as a monomania for collecting or a monomania for a particular public figure, and can also characterize social or political movements that appear dominated by a single idea. Although the expression sounds figurative today, it was once used in medicine for a condition in which one fixed belief or delusion dominated a person's thoughts. The modern sense is therefore both more figurative and more pejorative than the older clinical one.
Excessive, often irrational enthusiasm or obsession focused on one idea, person, or activity.
"Her monomania for collecting rare books made her overlook the condition of her house."
In current usage, the term is generally figurative and often disapproving.
Historically, a mental disorder in which one idea or delusion dominated a person's thoughts.
"The physician described the case as a form of monomania centered on a fixed belief."
This older clinical sense is uncommon in everyday English but appears in historical and specialized contexts.
The plural is used when referring to different instances of excessive or one-sided obsession.
"The novel explores the monomanias of several characters caught up in their own obsessions."
Monomania is the word for a passion that has become a one-track mind.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does monomania come from?
Monomania was formed in the early 19th century from Greek monos, meaning “single” or “only,” and mania, meaning “madness” or an intense enthusiasm. The term originally described a form of mental illness in which a single idea or delusion dominated thought. By the late 19th century, it had also developed a broader figurative sense for one-sided enthusiasm or obsession. Its relatives include monomaniac and monomaniacal, while mania comes from the same Greek root.
Related word forms
How monomania is actually used
Today it is mainly a formal or literary term, often used critically to describe a narrow, obsessive attachment. The historical medical sense is less common and may appear in specialized or historical writing.
Easily confused with monomania
Mania is a broad term for intense excitement or enthusiasm, whereas monomania specifically emphasizes an obsessive fixation on one subject or idea.