neurosis
noun
Simple meaning
A mental or personality disturbance not attributable to any known neurological or organic dysfunction.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nuurohsuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
nʊˈɹoʊsəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A mental or personality disturbance not attributable to any known neurological or organic dysfunction
datedpathologycurrent in psychology and philosophy
A mental disorder, less severe than psychosis, marked by anxiety or fear which differ from normal measures by their intensity, which disorder results from a failure to compromise or properly adjust during the developmental stages of life, between normal human instinctual impulses and the demands of human society.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: A mental or personality disturbance not attributable to any known neurological or organic dysfunction
Used this way, neurosis is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Emotional dissociative disorder in which there is loss of contact with your own personal reality accompanied by feelings of unreality and strangeness.
Emotional dissociative disorder in which there is loss of contact with your own personal reality accompanied by feelings of unreality and strangeness.
Neurotic disorder characterized by violent emotional outbreaks and disturbances of sensory and motor functions.
An anxiety disorder characterized by extreme and irrational fear of simple things or social situations.
Characterized by diffuse anxiety and often somatic manifestations of fear.
A mental disorder caused by stress of active warfare.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Keep learning “neurosis” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.
- Practice sentence writingWrite sentences with vocabulary and get instant feedback.
- Practice in contextAnswer short vocabulary questions drawn from real situations.
- Review vocabularyTest your recall and strengthen words over time.
- Practice typingType vocabulary in short rounds that draw from words you've learned and saved.
Want to type words like this one without looking at the keyboard? Each typing round draws from words you've learned, saved or need to review. Follow the free Learn to Type lessons and type your own vocabulary with confidence.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.