depersonalization

[ dee-pur-suh-nl-uh-zey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act of depersonalizing.
2. the state of being depersonalized.
3. Psychiatry. a state in which one no longer perceives the reality of one's self or one's environment.

depersonalization

/ dɪˌpɜːsnəlaɪˈzeɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or an instance of depersonalizing
2. psychiatry an abnormal state of consciousness in which the subject feels unreal and detached from himself and the world

Word History and Origins

Origin of depersonalization¹

First recorded in 1905–10; depersonalize + -ation

Example Sentences

The product often lags behind technology and popular practice — as when female scholars fought for a rule change in the early 1990s to include their first names in citations, ending “rigid depersonalization and a sort of patriarchal system.”

From Washington Post

The piece is a protest against depersonalization, and indeed mortality itself, that pulses with life.

From Washington Post

Even a workman in a modern factory where depersonalization is extreme gets to have "his" machine and is perturbed at a change.

From Project Gutenberg