Deindividuation
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The situation where antinormative behaviour is released in groups in which individuals are not seen or paid attention to as individuals; immersion in a group to the point at which the individual ceases to be seen as such. uncountable
"Digital media allow almost unlimited opportunity for wilful deindividuation. They almost require it. The implications of those liberties, of the ubiquity of anonymity and the language of the crowd, are only beginning to be felt."
Example
More examples"Digital media allow almost unlimited opportunity for wilful deindividuation. They almost require it. The implications of those liberties, of the ubiquity of anonymity and the language of the crowd, are only beginning to be felt."
Etymology
From de- + individuation, first described in 1952 by Leon Festinger and colleagues.
More for "deindividuation"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.