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psychic distance

American  
Or psychical distance

noun

  1. the degree of emotional detachment maintained toward a person, group of people, event, etc.


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.

The fees put some psychic distance between the products and the extra money, making the charges seem akin to a sales tax—totally out of a business owner’s control.

From Slate • May 2, 2025

I get the clear sense that she was raised to allow people in but also keeps a safe psychic distance, a spiritual boundary that, when respected, falls away.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2025

“God’s Caravan” is very much thinking through close third-person, especially from the perspective of a child who has no psychic distance from the action.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 28, 2019

Were girls and women somehow taught to keep a psychic distance from their physical selves?

From The Guardian • Jul. 5, 2013

Yet her physical commute this weekend will be negligible compared to the psychic distance between Marian the Librarian and Émilie du Châtelet.

From New York Times • Jul. 18, 2012

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