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

See Examples For:

multiple personality

Bianchi did so under hypnosis, and convinced more than one psychiatrist that he suffered from multiple personality disorder.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2025

Within just a few years, however, multiple personality disorder was renamed dissociative identity disorder, a change that was “more than an act of diagnostic housecleaning,” he wrote.

From New York Times ● May 28, 2023

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

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 4, 2023

Hillyard noted that Walker's own book reveals he has a kind of multiple personality problem called "dissociative identity disorder."

From Salon ● Dec. 5, 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