impersonality

[im-pur-suh-nal-i-tee]

noun, plural im·per·son·al·i·ties for 6.

absence of human character or of the traits associated with the human character: He feared the impersonality of a mechanized world.
absence or reduction of concern for individual needs or desires: the impersonality of a very large institution.
lack of emotional involvement: His work reflected a certain impersonality.

lack of a personal agent or of a known personal agent: the impersonality of folk art.
the quality of not being concerned with particular persons: the impersonality and universality of his interests.
something that is impersonal.

Origin of impersonality

First recorded in 1760–70; impersonal + -ity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for impersonality

Contemporary Examples of impersonality

Behind the impersonality of money lies an intensely personal, often compensatory compulsion.
The Brotherhood of Money
Daphne Merkin
January 2, 2009

Historical Examples of impersonality

It has not the impersonality of that method or its flat and lifeless effect.
The Legacy of Greece
Various
Impersonality was in fashion, and as a rule he believed in thinking impersonally.
The Patrician
John Galsworthy
The difference lies, it is urged, in the impersonality of the enjoyment.
The Sense of Beauty
George Santayana
Well, he would answer her from behind the same veil of impersonality.
Flint
Maud Wilder Goodwin
Reason, conscience, understanding, have no impersonality to him.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 121, November, 1867
Various

Word Origin and History for impersonality

n.

1769, from impersonal + -ity.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper