neurosis
/n(j)ʊˈɹoʊ̯.sɪs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.57 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A mental disorder, less severe than psychosis, marked by anxiety or fear differing from normal measures by its intensity, and resulting from a failure to compromise or properly adjust during the developmental stages of life, between normal human instinctual impulses and the demands of human society.
Countable; Dated; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "On inquiry it was found that this neurosis corresponded in time with the oncome of the catamenia."
- "In the period from Spinoza to the end of the 19th century, the reading of design into nature received such devastating attacks from naturalists to non-naturalists alike that there developed an epistemological neurosis which Von Baer aptly termed “teleophobia.”"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-wr̥ Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥der. Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron) Ancient Greek νευρο- (neuro-)der. English neuro- English -sis English neurosis From neuro- + -sis.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /n(j)ʊˈɹoʊ̯.sɪs/
- British English: /n(j)ʊˈɹəʊ̯.sɪs/