psychical

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ψυχικός (psukhikós) +‎ -al. By surface analysis, psyche +‎ -ical.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌɪkɪk(ə)l/

Adjective

psychical (not comparable)

1. Performed by or pertaining to the psyche (the mind, spirit, or both): mental, psychic. [from 17th c.]
   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter IV, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 85:

     Who could say where the fleshly impulse ceased, or the psychical impulse began?

   • 1902, William James, “Lecture I”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience […] ‎^[1], London: Longmans, Green & Co.:

     Even more perhaps than other kinds of genius, religious leaders have been subject to abnormal psychical visitations. Invariably they have been creatures of exalted emotional sensibility.

   • 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "The physical body has rather been a source of pain and fatigue to us. It is the constant index of our limitations. Why then should we worry about its detachment from our psychical selves?" "If they can indeed be detached," Summerlee grumbled.

2. (theology) Pertaining to the animal nature of man, as opposed to the spirit. [from 18th c.]
3. Outside the realm of the physical; supernatural, psychic. [from 19th c.]

Antonyms

• physical

Related terms

• psychic
• psychological

Translations

pertaining to the mind; mental

• Finnish: henkinen (fi), psyykkinen (fi)
• Polish: psychiczny (pl) m

pertaining to the animal nature of man

• Polish: psychiczny (pl) m

outside the realm of the physical

• Polish: psychiczny (pl) m