Depersonalization

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of depersonalizing or the state of being depersonalized. countable, uncountable

    "He was in a critical state of depersonalization."

  2. 2
    representing a human being as a physical thing deprived of personal qualities or individuality wordnet
  3. 3
    The loss of one's sense of personal identity. countable, uncountable

    "His depersonalization causes a great deal of stress as he searches for an authentic personal identity."

  4. 4
    (existentialism) a loss of personal identity; a feeling of being an anonymous cog in an impersonal social machine wordnet
  5. 5
    A feeling of being unreal, detached or unable to feel emotion. countable, uncountable

    "His severe depersonalization causes an aloof demeanor."

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  1. 6
    emotional dissociative disorder in which there is loss of contact with your own personal reality accompanied by feelings of unreality and strangeness wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
depersonalisationdepersonalisation disorderdepersonalisation neurosisdepersonalization disorderdepersonalization neurosisdisconnection

Example

More examples

"He was in a critical state of depersonalization."

Etymology

Calque of French dépersonnalisation, equivalent to de- + personalization.

Related phrases

depersonalization-derealization disorder

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