Word + Quiz: megalomaniac

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megalomaniac \ ˌme-gə-lō-ˈmā-nē-ə , -nyə \ noun

: a pathological egotist

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The word megalomaniac has appeared in 20 articles on nytimes.com in the past year, including on Sept. 20 in the movie review “‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’ Sticks to the Instruction Manual” by A.O. Scott:

.... “The Lego Ninjago Movie,” directed by Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan from a script with an army of credited authors, attaches itself to some of the tropes and images of Asian action cinema with sloppy affection. Mr. Chan, who voices a wise and venerable teacher in addition to playing the wise and venerable shopkeeper, doesn’t really belong to the ninja genre. But neither do the young fighters who protect the city of Ninjago from an evil four-armed warlord named Garmadon, voiced by Justin Theroux. They prefer big, noisy machines to stealth, guile and swordsmanship.

Garmadon, who wants to be a mayor, is a megalomaniac whose regular assaults on peace and normalcy are breathlessly covered by the news media and whose favorite pastime is firing his underlings. His estranged teenage son, Lloyd (Dave Franco), is ostracized and mocked for being the child of such a monster. But Lloyd, whose alter ego is the Green Ninja, works behind the scenes to check his father’s worst tendencies. Does every movie have to be a political allegory now? Can’t we just have fun?

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