Meaning & use
kleptomania
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountabletechnicalmedical
A mental condition that makes someone feel a strong, repeated urge to steal things, even when they do not need or want them.
Grammar: Uncountable: say 'suffers from kleptomania', not 'a kleptomania'. The person is called a kleptomaniac.
Patterns
- suffer from kleptomania
- be diagnosed with kleptomania
- treat kleptomania
The court heard that she suffered from kleptomania and had been receiving treatment for years.
Doctors do not fully understand what causes kleptomania, though it often begins in the teenage years.
He was diagnosed with kleptomania after being caught taking items he never used.
noununcountablefigurativehumorousinformal
An informal, exaggerated way of describing a strong habit of taking things that are not yours.
Grammar: Used figuratively and humorously in everyday speech; not a medical use.
Patterns
- a case of kleptomania
- accuse someone of kleptomania
My little brother's kleptomania when it comes to my snacks is getting out of hand.
She jokes that her office-supply kleptomania started when she was a student.
Common combinations
- suffer from kleptomania
- People who suffer from kleptomania often feel ashamed after they steal.
- be diagnosed with kleptomania
- He was diagnosed with kleptomania at the age of twenty.
- treat kleptomania
- Therapists can treat kleptomania with a combination of talk therapy and medication.
- a symptom of kleptomania
- A rising sense of tension before stealing is a common symptom of kleptomania.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shoplifting
- This is the act of stealing from shops, which anyone might do once; kleptomania is the diagnosed urge to steal repeatedly, regardless of need.
- compulsive stealing
- A plain descriptive phrase for the same behavior; kleptomania is the formal clinical term used in medicine and law.
Word family
- kleptomaniac noun
- A person who has kleptomania.
- kleptomaniac adjective
- Describing behavior typical of kleptomania, as in 'kleptomaniac tendencies'.
Commonly confused: kleptomania or pyromania?
kleptomania vs pyromania
Pyromania is a similar-sounding condition involving a compulsion to set fires, not to steal.
Practice
The doctors believe his repeated thefts are a sign of ______, not ordinary dishonesty.
Choose one answer.
'Kleptomania' is the uncountable name of the condition, which fits after 'a sign of'. 'A kleptomania' is wrong because the noun is uncountable, 'kleptomaniac' is the person, and 'shoplifting' names the act rather than the mental condition.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “kleptomania”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.