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fetishism

American  
[fet-i-shiz-uhm, fee-ti-] / ˈfɛt ɪˌʃɪz əm, ˈfi tɪ- /
Or fetichism

noun

  1. belief in or use of fetishes.

  2. Psychiatry. the compulsive use of some object, or part of the body, as a stimulus in the course of attaining sexual gratification, as a shoe, a lock of hair, or underclothes.

  3. blind devotion.

    a fetishism of sacrifice to one's children.
fetishism British  
/ ˈfɛtɪˌʃɪzəm, ˈfiː- /

noun

  1. a condition in which the handling of an inanimate object or a specific part of the body other than the sexual organs is a source of sexual satisfaction

  2. belief in or recourse to a fetish for magical purposes

  3. excessive attention or attachment to something

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • fetishist noun
  • fetishistic adjective
  • fetishistically adverb

Etymology

Origin of fetishism

First recorded in 1795–1805; fetish + -ism

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.