Monomania

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌmɒnəʊˈmeɪnɪə/

Definitions

1. An intense and obsessive preoccupation with a specific subject can result in narrowed thinking and behavioral changes
2. A condition characterized by an overwhelming fixation on one idea, often to the detriment of broader awareness and mental clarity
3. An extreme and singular obsession with a particular topic can lead to distorted perceptions and an inability to consider other viewpoints

Etymology: Monomania is built from two Greek elements, "mono" meaning "single" or "alone," and "mania," which in Greek meant frenzy or madness. The English word is either a native formation from those parts or a borrowing from French "monomanie" or from Modern Latin "monomania," so the exact route is not settled from the available evidence. The sense it carries is narrower than the parts suggest. Mania in the older medical vocabulary named a broad disorder of excitement and wild behaviour, while monomania described a disorder confined to one subject: a person otherwise reasoning sensibly who became fixed on a single idea. That limited madness, rather than general insanity, is what the word originally named, and it is the reason the modern sense of an overwhelming fixation on one thing has stayed attached to it.

Synonyms: obsession, fixation, preoccupation, compulsion, mania

Antonyms: indifference, apathy, disinterest, unconcern, detachment