impersonality
Americannoun
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absence of human character or of the traits associated with the human character.
He feared the impersonality of a mechanized world.
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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.
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lack of a personal agent or of a known personal agent.
the impersonality of folk art.
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the quality of not being concerned with particular persons.
the impersonality and universality of his interests.
-
something that is impersonal.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of impersonality
First recorded in 1760–70; impersonal + -ity
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:
Yet the particulars of Tarantino’s men — their identical suits, their color-coded pseudonyms, their hidden identities — underscore the impersonality of their expected behaviors, rendering them interchangeable, and thus impotent, as the salesman of “Glengarry.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2022
Peck’s ballets do feel classical, in the sense that they have a certain formality and impersonality about them; they’re not gushy or overly emotive.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 29, 2019
Though he was polite, his response highlighted the crushing impersonality of bureaucracies, telling us the guards were not advised of the activities of “tenant agencies.”
From Slate ● Jun. 28, 2018
Their stories, filtered through Cusk’s coolly detached, narcotically gorgeous writing, attain a kind of exalted impersonality.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2018
Innumeracy and the Tendency to Personalize One important such factor is the impersonality of mathematics.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
Mr. Ochs and Mr. Reid are great conservative impersonalities.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is true that we stand as abstract impersonalities, as disembodied spirits, unknown even by name to one another.
From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy by Various
"We didn't hardly say a word about you," said her mother, and now she saw what a good thing it was that she had staid and talked impersonalities with Mrs. Burton.
From The Coast of Bohemia by Howells, William Dean
Every householder has suffered such moments, and knows by experience the painful pause which ensues before one of the diners bursts vivaciously into impersonalities, but to-day there was no pause.
From An Unknown Lover by Vaizey, George de Horne, Mrs.
The awful impersonalities of sky and earth swept away its small human importance.
From Hidden Creek by Burt, Katharine Newlin
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.
