psychoanalysis
noun
Simple meaning
A family of theories and methods within the field of psychotherapy that work to find connections among patients' unconscious mental processes.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sykohuhnaluhsuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
saɪkoʊəˈnæləsəs
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 family of theories and methods within the field of psychotherapy that work to find connections among patients' unconscious mental processes.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: A family of theories and methods within the field of psychotherapy that work to find connections among patients' unconscious mental processes.
In this sense, psychoanalysis is a very strong, expressive word and usually reads as a strong judgement about someone's behaviour or state of mind. In casual exaggeration — a fitness maniac, driving like a maniac — it can sound playful or admiring, but it still carries far more force than simply saying someone is keen.
- Emotional tone
- Context-dependent
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Very strong
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
- Family/home
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.
More ways to use psychoanalysis
- “His physician recommended psychoanalysis.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- psychologynoun
- psychotherapynoun
- psychiatrynoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: family of theories and methods within the field of psychotherapy that work to find connections among patients' unconscious mental processes
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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.