gaslight
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause (a person) to doubt their judgment, memory, or sanity through the use of psychological manipulation.
How do you know if your partner is gaslighting you?
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to deceive (a person or group of people) through repetition of a constructed false narrative.
The cable news networks have been gaslighting their viewers with partisan coverage of the bill.
noun
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gaslights
plural
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light produced by the combustion of illuminating gas.
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a gas burner or gas jet for producing light through the process of combustion.
adjective
noun
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a type of lamp in which the illumination is produced by an incandescent mantle heated by a jet of gas
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the light produced by such a lamp
Usage
What does gaslighting mean? Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse or psychological manipulation involving distorting the truth in order to confuse or create doubt in another person to the point they question their sanity or reality.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of gaslight
First recorded in 1800–10; gas ( def. ) + light 1 ( def. ); gaslight def. 1 in reference to the 1944 movie Gaslight, in which an abusive husband secretly and repeatedly dims and brightens the gaslights in the house while accusing his wife of imagining the flickering
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.
See Examples For:
He also has to gaslight us by claiming that this system he’s creating is normatively good!
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
Esther Crain, the author of ‘The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910,’ says gold interiors served a practical purpose: brightening rooms lit by gaslight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
But if they are willing to gaslight you about pay, exploring other options might be smart.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 21, 2026
Some of the transgressors try to gaslight the audience in their confessionals despite what they’ve recently burned into our eyes and ears.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2025
She wants to switch from gaslight to electric light someday so that she’ll have a little red light under the statue forever.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
Among other instances, he insists her complains over the constant dimming of their London townhouse’s gaslights is a figment of her troubled mind.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 27, 2022
My research shows that gaslighting may be unintentional—for example, Audrey doesn't think her mother gaslights her on purpose.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 22, 2022
He’s aghast and gaslights his way into the story.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2022
In 1886, when he arrived in suburban Englewood, Illinois, the gaslights were five years old, and electricity was just a few years away.
From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2019
Beyond the few gaslights, the night was as black as mud and I could see no figure there.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
I have spoken to others who left; their stories are not mine to share, but feeling unsupported and gaslighted when trying to advocate are common themes.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
"We are massively gaslighted and invalidated by healthcare professionals," said Charl Davies from Blaenavon, Torfaen.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2024
“I was being gaslighted by Wells Fargo,” Doe said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2023
As to Martha Mitchell, then, was she indeed being gaslighted or simply, well, Martha Mitchell-effected?
From Washington Post ● Apr. 27, 2022
We had not much fancy for returning amongst the patriotic crowd gathered about the gaslighted Valhalla, so we made our way out.
From Round About the Carpathians by Andrew F. Crosse
"With endometriosis, most people end up minimising their pain, gaslighting themselves so they don't reach out for help," Abbie Filer explains.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Theodore Boutrous, a Times lawyer, accused the administration at a hearing before Friedman in a Washington court on Monday of "gaslighting" and "bad faith."
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
Yet we may be gaslighting ourselves about the likelihood of either nation meeting its deadline for putting humans on the lunar surface—China in 2030, the U.S. in 2028.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
“The days of gaslighting should be over,” he called out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2026
There is simply too much gaslighting going on to spend adequate time debunking everything.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2025
But worse than the price hikes is the unsettling feeling that consumers are being gaslit by tech giants paying lip service to the gaming community while delaying product releases or peddling AI-generated “slop.”
From MarketWatch ● May 23, 2026
"I felt like I was gaslit," Hanya says, "like all of these things were made up. Like none of it was true."
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2025
It’s bad enough that the public is being gaslit about an ongoing measles outbreak that has so far spread across 25 states, infecting more than 700 people, with more than 540 in Texas alone.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2025
We yearn for the dopamine hit of a good deal, but at the same time feel gaslit by retailers that aren’t transparent about their pricing policies.
From Slate ● Mar. 1, 2025
New Yorkers knew when the Fox sisters were at home because once again carriages full of spirit seekers lined the gaslit street, this time in front of their house.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
