schizophrenia
English
Etymology
First attested 1908, from New Latin schizophrenia, from German Schizophrenie, coined by Eugen Bleuler, from Ancient Greek σχίζω (skhízō, “to split”) + φρήν (phrḗn, “mind, heart, diaphragm”) + -ia.
Pronunciation
Noun
schizophrenia (countable and uncountable, plural schizophrenias)
- (pathology) A psychiatric diagnosis denoting a persistent, often chronic, mental illness characterised by abnormal perception, thinking, behavior and emotion, often marked by delusions.
- (informal, figurative) Any condition in which disparate or mutually exclusive activities coexist; a lack of decision between options.
- 2006, Bertus Praeg, Ethiopia and Political Renaissance in Africa (page 213)
- […] one can understand how the cultural disorientation which beset the African Continent has confused Africa's political behaviour, creating a political schizophrenia that made nation-building impossible.
- 2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes[1], page 305:
- Nevertheless, a certain amount of schizophrenia pertains to the study of World Englishes as New Englishes, for while new Englishes are regarded as valid varieties in their own right, the description and delineation of them in linguistic terms is conducted through the gaze of native-speaker norms.
- 2006, Bertus Praeg, Ethiopia and Political Renaissance in Africa (page 213)
Usage notes
- In popular usage, the term is often confused with dissociative identity disorder (also known as multiple personality disorder).
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
- antischizophrenia
- borderline schizophrenia
- catatonic schizophrenia
- disorganized schizophrenia
- hebephrenic schizophrenia
- latent schizophrenia
- nonschizophrenia
- object schizophrenia
- paranoid schizophrenia
- paraphrenic schizophrenia
- pseudoschizophrenia
- reactive schizophrenia
- schizophrene
- schizophrenese
- schizophreniac
- schizophrenialike
- schizophrenic
- schizophreniform
- schizophrenogenesis
- schizophrenogenic
- sluggish schizophrenia
Translations
mental disorder
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informal: condition in which disparate activities coexist
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See also
- schizothymia
- schizoid personality disorder
- paranoid personality disorder
- schizotypal personality disorder
- autism
References
- schizophrenia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “schizophrenia”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. “schizophrenia”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Categories:
- English terms derived from New Latin
- English terms derived from German
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms suffixed with -ia
- English 5-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Pathology
- English informal terms
- English terms with quotations