Meaning & use

megalomaniac

noun·Advanced

Last updated

A person with an obsessive desire for power, control, or grandeur, often accompanied by delusions of their own greatness.

See it in a sentence

The dictator was portrayed in the film as a megalomaniac obsessed with building monuments to himself.

Critics called the CEO a megalomaniac after he tried to rename the city after himself.

A note on using this word

Megalomaniac is often used informally and hyperbolically to criticize someone's excessive ambition or self-importance, not only in a clinical sense.

Words with a similar meaning

tyrantegomaniac

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