Bisociation

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A blending of elements drawn from two previously unrelated patterns of thought into a new pattern. countable, uncountable

    "Arthur Koestler's concept of bisociation was introduced in the last chapter to explain how associating two absurd or ridiculous ideas gives rise to humour. Koestler goes on to describe how bisociation may be the key to creativity."

Example

More examples

"Arthur Koestler's concept of bisociation was introduced in the last chapter to explain how associating two absurd or ridiculous ideas gives rise to humour. Koestler goes on to describe how bisociation may be the key to creativity."

Etymology

Blend of bi- + association; coined by Hungarian-British author Arthur Koestler in his 1964 book The Act of Creation.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.