psychological
Americanadjective
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of or relating to psychology.
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pertaining to the mind or to mental phenomena as the subject matter of psychology.
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of, pertaining to, dealing with, or affecting the mind, especially as a function of awareness, feeling, or motivation.
psychological play;
psychological effect.
adjective
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of or relating to psychology
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of or relating to the mind or mental activity
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having no real or objective basis; arising in the mind
his backaches are all psychological
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affecting the mind
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of psychological
First recorded in 1785–95; psycholog(y) + -ical
Compare meaning
How does psychological compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Psychological means mental or emotional rather than physical. After a shock, your problems, and even your physical pain, stem from psychological sources rather than any bodily ailment. The word psychological is used to describe things that are primarily mental or emotional, but it can also be used when referring to the field of psychology. You might be interested in studying the psychological issues of teen and childhood in college. Watch out if someone uses psychological warfare on you. He or she uses your own emotions to attack you as when someone tries to guilt you into doing something.
Vocabulary lists containing psychological
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
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myPerspectives 8.1
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
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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.
“This is a true story,” he states, but also “a work of narrative nonfiction” and “an attempt to reconstruct a lost world and chart the emotional, psychological and political terrain beneath the headlines.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026
After a month of psychological rehabilitation, Tetiana mustered the strength to start the public fight for the return of her son -- and the hundreds of others.
From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2026
"Formerly a man of considerable physical prowess, the Claimant suffered considerable physical de-conditioning," with limitations to his mobility, and also suffered psychological symptoms, his claim said.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026
During the long rehabilitation process, he said the psychological component mattered the most but he struggled to trust the psychologists assigned to help him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
Welfare, she said, would cause irreparable psychological damage to us kids.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
