Make Your Point: MONOMANIACAL

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MONOMANIACAL

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce MONOMANIACAL:

MON uh muh NYE uh kull

Hear it.

connect this word to others:

(Source)

If you're absolutely obsessed with one thing, you could say you're f_x__ed on it.

Or that you're monomaniacal about it. We're checking out that word today. Yes, it's silly, and unnecessarily long. But I've got a monomaniacal love for words like that.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

A mania is a madness or a craze. And a monomania is a craze for one specific thing.

The terms "monomania" and "monomaniac" (a person who's obsessed with one thing) started out as psychiatric terms. We don't use them that way now. We use them more generally.

If you're monomaniacal about something, you're totally obsessed with that one thing and extremely focused on it.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "a monomaniacal passion," "their monomaniacal pursuit," "He burns with a monomaniacal energy (New York Times)."

Other forms:

Monomania, monomaniac(s), monomaniacally.

how to use it:

Although "monomaniacal" is rare, it's easy to understand. So go ahead and use it if you don't mind how clunky, stuffy, and academic it sounds.

You might talk about monomaniacal people or their monomaniacal goals, missions, pursuits, passions, devotions, etc.

examples:

"Many lawyers are passionate about their careers, sometimes overly so, for a variety of reasons... I dunno if I'd necessarily call this monomania, though."
— Comrade-Chernov, Reddit.com, 18 March 2021

"In the name of their valor, war itself becomes a sort of white whale, a goal pursued furiously and monomaniacally, for its own sake, without regard to purpose or consequence."
— Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 24 December 2014

has this page helped you understand "monomaniacal"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "monomaniacal" without saying "consumed" or "preoccupied."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "When you (watch or read) (some story), you get (lost in, swept up in, or suffocated by) (some character's) monomaniacal focus on (something)."

Example: "When you watch Black Swan, you get suffocated by Nina's monomaniacal focus on ballet."

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for April: Interpret the Titles!

I'll give you the title of some book, movie, or other creation, along with a summary, and I'll challenge you to interpret the title in three different ways.

Try for a literal interpretation first. Then, go further: could a word have multiple meanings, or multiple parts of speech?

Don't worry if your interpretations are right! We don't care! We just want to come up with possibilities. They're a fun starting place for engaging with titles in a richer, more satisfying way.

For example, let's say I give you this: The Secret Garden is a 1912 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Here's the summary from the publisher: "When orphaned Mary Lennox comes to live at her uncle's great house on the Yorkshire Moors, she finds it full of secrets. The mansion has nearly one hundred rooms, and her uncle keeps himself locked up. And at night, she hears the sound of crying down one of the long corridors. The gardens surrounding the large property are Mary's only escape. Then, Mary discovers a secret garden, surrounded by walls and locked with a missing key. With the help of two unexpected companions, Mary discovers a way in—and becomes determined to bring the garden back to life."

Then you could give me this:

1. It's titled The Secret Garden because the garden is literally walled off and locked, so it's a secret place.

2. It's titled The Secret Garden because it’s about a garden where secrets can be planted and grow.

3. It's titled The Secret Garden because there’s something in the book that later is revealed to be a figurative garden. Until the revelation, the garden's gardenness is a secret. Maybe it's the uncle's heart. Maybe it's Mary's.

Try this one today: The Terminal is a 2004 movie directed by Steven Spielberg. Here's a summary posted by Nick Riganas on IMDb.com: "The moment Viktor Navorski sets foot on JFK airport, he finds himself on the wrong end of a nasty technicality, as his homeland of Krakozhia has dissolved in violent upheaval, and as a result, his passport is now void. With plans of immigrating to New York, instead, Viktor is unauthorized to leave Kennedy Airport, and unable to return home, he is trapped within the walls of the terminal's international transit lounge... Even though the strict airport official, Frank Dixon, is feeling uncomfortable by his presence, other airport employees, including Amelia, a beautiful flight attendant, consider him a friend. Little by little, as the days turn into weeks, which turn into months, the bustling terminal becomes Viktor's new home: a country within a country, filled with dreams, hopes, and the need for love. When will Viktor reach his goal?"

1. It's titled The Terminal because... ?

2. It's titled The Terminal because... ?

3. It's titled The Terminal because... ?

To see some possible answers, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. The opposite of MONOMANIA could be

A. GRAPHOMANIA, an obsession with writing.
B. HYLOMANIA, an obsession with materialism.
C. POLYMANIA, an obsession with everything.

2. In Pinky and the Brain, _____ has a monomaniacal _____.

A. Pinky .. overbite
B. Brain .. desire to take over the world
C. Phar Fignewton the race horse .. and open-minded friendliness

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MONOMANIACAL Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MONOMANIACAL

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.