psychopathy

American  

[sahy-kop-uh-thee] / saɪˈkɒp ə θi /

noun

Psychiatry.

• psychopathies
  plural

1. a mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.

2. any mental disease.

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psychopathy British  

/ saɪˈkɒpəθɪ /

noun

1. another name for psychopathic personality

2. any mental disorder or disease

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• psychopathies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of psychopathy

First recorded in 1840–50; psycho- + -pathy

Explanation

Someone who suffers from a mental illness that makes them violent without any sense of remorse or empathy has psychopathy. Although it's a common term in criminal justice, psychopathy isn't an official psychiatric diagnosis. If someone has psychopathy, they're referred to as a psychopath. As common as these terms are, a psychiatrist or psychologist won't diagnose someone with psychopathy — a patient with these symptoms will likely get a diagnosis of "antisocial personality disorder." A common test measuring psychopathy is used to study prison populations and for sentencing violent criminals. Psychopathy comes from the Greek roots psykhe, "mind," and pathos, "suffering."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

psychopathy

He believes some of the traits that helped him climb the ranks were those associated with psychopathy.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

Geraint Anderson, a former London banker-turned author, said he was assessed by a clinical psychologist who told him he may have had "situational psychopathy" in order to succeed in the cut-throat corporate world.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

In one 2022 study, researchers explored whether increasing agreeableness would decrease levels of what is called the dark triad — or Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

The Journal of Psychiatric Research findings added evidence that psychopathy is not shaped only by social and environmental experiences.

From Science Daily ● May 10, 2026

Whether he saw anything or not belongs among the obscurer questions of psychopathy.

From Where the Pavement Ends by John Russell