megalomaniac

noun

as in jerk
a person who believes that he or she has unlimited power or importance Their CEO is a real megalomaniac who feels she can partake in any luxury with the company's profits.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of megalomaniac Most obviously, front and center, and in endlessly intrusive close-up, there’s Pattinson — who also serves as producer — playing the arrogant, fame-addicted, megalomaniac Hansen. — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026 She’s covered enough megalomaniacs to recognize that someone like Stensen won’t spend billions of dollars building an underground colony that will never be used. — Noel Murray, Vulture, 21 Aug. 2026 Stark, having been elected governor and already well along in his fateful descent from an idealistic man of the people to an entirely corrupt megalomaniac, is on the way to visit his childhood home. — Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 12 May 2026 And leading the country is a megalomaniac — Anthony Starr’s always riveting Homelander — who might be going insane. — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 7 Apr. 2026 Trump has a child’s attention span, a megalomaniac’s urge for a ribbon cutting before his term ends, zero willingness to listen to anyone who doesn not agree with him, and — most of all — an unshakable belief that his taste and judgment is far better than any arts commission’s. — Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 1 Apr. 2026 There are still many in this country who value truth, who believe that history should be preserved and not erased, who understand that constitutional rights should not be swept away to suit the whims of a megalomaniac, and who refuse to wallow in ignorance and hate. — Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 11 Feb. 2026 Pierre Bergé called me a megalomaniac and threw me out the next season. — James Fallon, Footwear News, 10 Sep. 2025 The Houthis are led by a family of clerical megalomaniacs who have been prophesying apocalyptic war since the early 2000s. — Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for megalomaniac
  1. jerk
  2. heel
  3. clown
  4. joker
Noun
  • Bella’s childhood friend Angus (Jake Simmance), a corporate jerk, condescendingly probes Johnny about his career.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026
  • There was significant excitement over the first-look footage revealing perhaps the world’s biggest movie star transforming himself to become a portly, gray-haired jerk in an offbeat feature focusing on climate change.
    — Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of jerk
Noun
  • The heel of the shoe and its tongue tag also feature co-branding with Nigo and j-hope’s names on them and, instead of standard cotton laces, the sneakers have braided, multicolor ropes that pick up on the overall color scheme.
    — Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Just be sure to keep your styling unfussy—a minimalist heel, delicate jewelry, and a small clutch are enough.
    — Corinne Pierre-Louis, Vogue, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of heel
Noun
  • Jean pays tribute to the oversized trousers worn by rodeo clowns.
    — Angela Velasquez, Footwear News, 8 Oct. 2026
  • The gasoline shortage has become such a feature of daily life that even clowns at Moscow’s circus have cracked jokes about it.
    — Ivan Nechepurenko, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of clown
Noun
  • The smart kids, the shy ones, the jokers and the loners — every one of them is caught in the pyroclastic flow of adolescence, every minute a negotiation between fitting in and standing out.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 14 Sep. 2026
  • The jokers Toth and Jackson, bless them, keep things endearing and funny.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of joker

Browse Nearby Words

megaliths
megalomaniac
megalomaniacs
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Cite this Entry

“Megalomaniac.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/megalomaniac. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

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