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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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
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.
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
Your duty is to have spoken honestly once, respectfully and without coercion; to ensure that your values were clearly expressed; and to refuse to gaslight yourself into believing that fairness does not matter.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 26, 2026
The reason “You” worked for five seasons is that Badgley’s love-obsessed stalker has the charisma to gaslight himself and others into believing he’s a good guy.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2025
Sandy and her team have tried to gaslight me in a sense where I'm supposed to be making all of this up or I'm being dramatic, but it happened.
From BBC • Mar. 27, 2025
In contrast, Holmes’s building was dead space, like the corner of a room where the gaslight could not reach.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
