psychology
noun
Simple meaning
The study of human or animal behavior.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sykahluhjeeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
saɪˈkɑlədʒi
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
uncountable
The study of human or animal behavior.
uncountable
The study of the human mind.
countable
The mental, emotional, and behavioral characteristics pertaining to a specified person, group, or activity.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The study of human or animal behavior.
In this sense, psychology 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
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Very strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use psychology
- “She is studying psychology to understand human behavior.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A scientist trained in psychology.
A person apparently sensitive to things beyond the natural range of perception.
Related to The study of human or animal behavior.
With regard to psychology.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An approach to psychology that emphasizes observable measurable behavior.
An approach to psychology that emphasizes observable measurable behavior.
The branch of psychology that studies the social and mental development of children.
The branch of psychology concerned with the treatment of abnormal mentation and behavior.
An approach to psychology that emphasizes internal mental processes.
The branch of psychology concerned with the behavior of animals.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The branch of psychology concerned with abnormal behavior.
An erroneous belief that is held in the face of evidence to the contrary.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- behavioraladjective
- sociologynoun
- anthropologynoun
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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.