CACOETHES

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

Meaning:

An irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action

Synonyms:

cacoethes; mania; passion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting goals

Hypernyms ("cacoethes" is a kind of...):

irrational motive (a motivation that is inconsistent with reason or logic)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cacoethes"):

agromania (an intense desire to be alone or out in the open)

alcoholism; dipsomania; potomania (an intense persistent desire to drink alcoholic beverages to excess)

egomania (an intense and irresistible love for yourself and concern for your own needs)

kleptomania (an irresistible impulse to steal in the absence of any economic motive)

logomania; logorrhea (pathologically excessive (and often incoherent) talking)

monomania; possession (a mania restricted to one thing or idea)

necromania; necrophilia; necrophilism (an irresistible sexual attraction to dead bodies)

phaneromania (an irresistible desire to pick at superficial body parts (as in obsessive nail-biting))

pyromania (an uncontrollable desire to set fire to things)

trichotillomania (an irresistible urge to pull out your own hair)