maniacal
/məˈnaɪək(ə)l/
maniacal adjective: like a maniac; insane; frenzied.
Adjective
maniacal (comparative more maniacal, superlative most maniacal)
- Like a maniac; insane; frenzied.
- In other cases of moral alienation there will be found to have been more or less congenital moral defect, with maniacal exacerbations of positive moral insanity occurring perhaps at puberty, perhaps at the menstrual periods, perhaps after severe disappointment.1867, Henry Maudsley, The Physiology and Pathology of the Mind, New York: D. Appleton & Company, page 318
- He suddenly exploded into about three seconds of maniacal laughter and stopped again.1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 155
Examples of maniacal in a sentence
- They were like tribbles, multiplying by the dozens, cackling, giggling their maniacal joy at the game.
- He started to laugh that maniacal laugh that sounded like the Joker on speed.
- He found a group of patients showing no hallucinations, but being depressed, grandiose, maniacal, or fabricatory.
Forms of maniacal
| comparative | more maniacal |
|---|---|
| superlative | most maniacal |
Origin of maniacal
From maniac + -al.
Words formed from maniacal
Words that rhyme with maniacal
Questions about maniacal
- What does maniacal mean?
- Maniacal means like a maniac; insane; frenzied.
- What part of speech is maniacal?
- Maniacal is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce maniacal?
- Maniacal is pronounced /məˈnaɪək(ə)l/.
Words near maniacal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: maniacal (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-maniacal.wav.
Cite this entry: “maniacal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/maniacal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.