maniac

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ma=ni=ac

CIDE DICTIONARY

maniac, a. [F. maniaque. See Mania.].

 Raving with madness; raging with disordered intellect; affected with mania; mad.  [1913 Webster]

maniac, n. 

 A raving lunatic; a madman.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

maniac, n. & adj.
--n.
1 colloq. a person exhibiting extreme symptoms of wild behaviour etc.; a madman.
2 colloq. an obsessive enthusiast.
3 Psychol. archaic a person suffering from mania.
--adj. of or behaving like a maniac.

Derivative

maniacal adj. maniacally adv.

Etymology

LL maniacus f. late Gk maniakos (as MANIA)

THESAURUS

maniac

aliene, batty, bedlamite, berserk, borderline case, crackbrain, cracked, crackpot, crazed, crazy, delirious, dement, demented, demoniac, deranged, energumen, enthusiast, fan, fanatic, fiend, flake, fou, frantic, freak, frenetic, frenzied, furious, idiot, kook, loon, loony, lunatic, mad, madman, meshuggenah, non compos, noncompos, nut, phrenetic, psychopath, psychotic, rabid, raging, ranting, raving lunatic, screwball, unsound, violent, weirdo, wild, zealot

ROGET THESAURUS

maniac

Madman

N madman, lunatic, maniac, bedlamite, candidate for Bedlam, raver, madcap, crazy, energumen, automaniac, monomaniac, dipsomaniac, kleptomaniac, hypochondriac (low spirits), crank, Tom o'Bedlam, dreamer, rhapsodist, seer, highflier, enthusiast, fanatic, fanatico, exalte, knight errant, Don Quixote, idiot.