impersonality

American  

[im-pur-suh-nal-i-tee] / ɪmˌpɜr səˈnæl ɪ ti /

noun

impersonalities plural

1. absence of human character or of the traits associated with the human character.

   He feared the impersonality of a mechanized world.

2. absence or reduction of concern for individual needs or desires.

   the impersonality of a very large institution.

3. lack of emotional involvement.

   His work reflected a certain impersonality.

4. lack of a personal agent or of a known personal agent.

   the impersonality of folk art.

5. the quality of not being concerned with particular persons.

   the impersonality and universality of his interests.

6. something that is impersonal.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• impersonalities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of impersonality

First recorded in 1760–70; impersonal + -ity

Example Sentences

He describes it, as we have seen, as "Impersonality."

From Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic by Gulick, Sidney Lewis

Impersonality and fatalism, the Eastern Proteus, in the grip of self-insistence and idealism, the British Hercules.

From Kimono by Paris, John

Impersonality of reason. primitively or spontaneously affirm cause, substance, time, space, &c., in this way.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6 "Coucy-le-Château" to "Crocodile" by Various

Impersonality, even in its strictest meaning, i.e., without "conscious separate existence as an intelligent and voluntary being," only partially expresses the conception of Buddhism.

From Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic by Gulick, Sidney Lewis

"Impersonality, by lessening the interest in one's self, induces one to take interest in others."

From Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic by Gulick, Sidney Lewis