multiple personality

American  

noun

Psychiatry.

1. a rare disorder in which an individual displays several functionally dissociated personalities, each of a complexity comparable to that of a normal individual.

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multiple personality British  

noun

1. Nontechnical name: split personality.  psychiatry a mental disorder in which an individual's personality appears to have become separated into two or more distinct personalities, each with its own complex organization

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Etymology

Origin of multiple personality

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

Some are wildly extravagant, proliferating heads and arms into delirious phantasms of multiple personality and manifold temperaments.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 21, 2025

In total, the caretakers completed more than 800 questionnaires, offering the researchers multiple personality surveys on each tiger.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 4, 2023

But in his 2008 memoir, “Breaking Free,” he revealed that he had been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder.

From New York Times • Oct. 20, 2022

A former pastor, Mungadze has held a counselor’s license in Texas for over three decades and offers himself as an expert in treating dissociative identity disorder, which was once known as multiple personality disorder.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 10, 2022

Her fondness for transformation began at an early age and has developed into something closely resembling a multiple personality disorder.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris