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megalomania

UK/ˌmɛɡəloʊˈmeɪniə/US/ˌmɛɡəloʊˈmeɪniə/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,960 of 15,258neutral

Megalomania is an obsession with your own power and greatness. Sheer megalomania, a touch of megalomania, accused of megalomania.

It is not a formal diagnosis and has not been for a long time, though it survives everywhere as an accusation. The Greek behind it is great plus madness, which is exactly what the word claims.

Definitions of megalomania

  1. 1nounmegalomaniaAn obsession with your own power and greatness.C1

    “His megalomania grew until he had giant statues of himself built in every town.”

megalomania is an obsession.

Where it comes from

French megalomanie is built on Greek megas, great, plus mania, madness.

  1. French

    mégalomanie

  2. English, today

    megalomania

French mégalomanie; equivalent to megalo + mania.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

megalomania in the wild

  • The (original) Iraqi Communist Party press stated that as-Sayegh did not represent the working class and that he suffered from megalomania.

    Daud as-Sayegh

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.