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Definition of "neurosis" []

  • Any of various mental or emotional disorders, such as hypochondria or neurasthenia, arising from no apparent organic lesion or change and involving symptoms such as insecurity, anxiety, depression, and irrational fears, but without psychotic symptoms such as delusions or hallucinations. No longer in scientific use. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "neurosis" in a sentence
  • "It's only another -- what you call neurosis, and what I call kink!"
  • "I actually think it's a pretty good draft, though post-draft neurosis is starting to set in and within an hour I will be convinced that it's awful and broken and I hate it."
  • "I would have guessed that high neurosis is meant to be correlated with low love in real life."