Hypnosis
//hɪpˈnoʊsɪs// noun
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A trancelike state, artificially induced, in which a person has a heightened suggestibility, and in which suppressed memories may be experienced. countable, uncountable
"clinical hypnosis"
- 2 a state that resembles sleep but that is induced by suggestion wordnet
- 3 Any of various sleep-like conditions. countable, uncountable
- 4 The art or skill of hypnotism. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"The hypnotist said, "All hypnosis is self hypnosis.""
Etymology
From modern scholarly Ancient Greek ὕπνωσις (húpnōsis), which formation closes the derivational gap between the ancient words ὑπνόω (hupnóō, “I put to sleep”) and ὑπνωτικός (hupnōtikós, “sleep-inducing, soporific”). Ultimately traces back to ὕπνος (húpnos, “sleep”).
Related phrases
More for "hypnosis"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.