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emotional deprivation

American  

noun

  1. a lack of adequate psychological nurturance, usually occurring in the early developmental years.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

IDA posted a video on Twitter in February that showed the pandas pacing in circles around their enclosure as proof they were suffering from "physical, mental, and emotional deprivation."

From Reuters • Dec. 21, 2022

It ends in 1990 with their marriage splintering on the rocks of infidelity, insecurity and emotional deprivation.

From New York Times • Nov. 17, 2020

Tribole and Resch also said that sometimes what people label as emotional eating is actually compensatory eating due to food restriction, or to other types of physical, mental and emotional deprivation.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 27, 2020

For Matthews, all that matters is to break the cycle of emotional deprivation.

From The Guardian • Aug. 6, 2011

In all of these cases, there was evidence of severe emotional deprivation in early life.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote