transference

[ trans-fur-uhns, trans-fer-uhns ]

noun

1. the act or process of transferring.
2. the fact of being transferred.
3. Psychoanalysis.
   1. the shift of emotions, especially those experienced in childhood, from one person or object to another, especially the transfer of feelings about a parent to an analyst.
   2. displacement ( def 3 ).

transference

/ -frəns; ˈtrænsfərəns; ˌtrænsfəˈrɛnʃəl /

noun

1. the act or an instance of transferring or the state of being transferred
2. psychoanal the redirection of attitudes and emotions towards a substitute, such as towards the analyst during therapy

Derived Forms

• transferential, adjective

Other Words From

• nontrans·ference noun
• retrans·ference noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of transference¹

From the New Latin word trānsferentia, dating back to 1675–85. See transfer, -ence

Example Sentences

Eli feels a strong connection to Noah, sometimes feeling what he feels, but as a man of science, he frames it as “some extreme case of transference-counter transference.”

From Los Angeles Times

The training helps chaplains learn how to serve untethered to their faith so “transference or reactivity doesn’t get in the way of really attending to people’s needs,” Johnson said.

From Seattle Times

Her research focuses on the microbiomes of Arctic species and how they connect to traditional Greenlandic food culture via the transference of microbial communities—from capelin fish, through seals to humans, for example.

From National Geographic

“And I can see this sort of pay-it-forward transference. There’s a lineage there. My gratitude for Poehler enables me in some small way to know how to do the same with Novak.”

From Los Angeles Times

Refocusing his anger in fashioning the pterodactyl was a therapeutic process of transference through which he allows the sculpture to own the anger instead of the anger owning him.

From Seattle Times

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