monomania (monomania)

[= F. mono manie = Sp. monomanía = Pg. It. monomania, Frederic was as anxious as any prince could be about the efficiency of his But this anxiety never degen erated into a monomania, like that which led his father to pay fancy prices for giants. Macaulay, Frederic the Great. Instinctive monomania, the exce ive tendency to do some particular thing without intelligible motive and unrestrained by considerations of propriety, morality, or personal prudence. Persons manifesting this form of mental derangement usually have exhibited signs of more or le extensive mental degeneration. It includes suicidal insanity, homicidal insanity, dipsomania, pyromania, kleptomania, and certain forms of perverted sexual instinct. Also called impulsive insanity. =Syn. 1. Lunacy, Derange ment, etc. See insanity.