Monomanias

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An intense obsession or fixation on a single idea or subject, often to the exclusion of all else
2. A dominant preoccupation with one narrow topic or thought, leading to an impaired perspective on other matters
3. A psychological condition characterized by excessive focus or devotion to one particular interest, overshadowing broader considerations

Etymology: This word is the plural of "monomania," and the plural is a little more interesting than the singular. "Monomania" was formed in the early 19th century from the Greek "monos" ("single, alone") and "mania" ("madness, frenzy"), and it entered English around the 1830s, when it was used in medical and psychiatric writing for a condition in which a person was fixated on a single idea while otherwise appearing rational. The Greek elements are ancient, but the compound itself is a modern coinage built from them, much like many other scientific-sounding words of that period. Over time the word moved out of the clinic. By the mid-1800s it had become a general term for any obsessive devotion to one subject, and the plural "monomanias" is used the same way, for several distinct fixations or for the condition in general. The "-s" simply marks more than one instance of the condition.