Definition of "transference" []

• The act or process of transferring. (noun)
• The fact of being transferred. (noun)
• In psychoanalysis, the process by which emotions and desires originally associated with one person, such as a parent or sibling, are unconsciously shifted to another person, especially to the analyst. (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.

• "The term transference is derived from adult psychoanalytic therapy and refers to the views and relations the patient presents about significant early childhood objects, namely parents, sibs, and significant caretakers."
• "It's obviously going to -- one of the speculations or one of the things that's a very good possibility is what we call transference, you know, where something that was touched by the officer was transferred over to that."
• "Here's another trait of the GOP: They constantly accuse their opponents of their own bad behavior (psychologists call it "transference")."