schizophrenic
Americanadjective
-
Psychiatry. of or relating to schizophrenia.
Not all of these patients are schizophrenic.
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of or relating to conflicting or inconsistent elements; characterized by unusual disparity.
It wavers from comedy to thriller to docudrama—a totally schizophrenic plot!
noun
adjective
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exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia
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informal experiencing or maintaining contradictory attitudes, emotions, etc
noun
Usage
It is preferable to refer to a person as someone with a diagnosis of schizophrenia rather than as a schizophrenic . The general use of the word to mean 'contradictory' is also best avoided. Suitable alternatives are contradictory , inconsistent , incoherent
Etymology
Origin of schizophrenic
First recorded in 1910–15; schizophren(ia) ( def. ) + -ic ( def. )
Explanation
If you are schizophrenic, you suffer from a mental disorder that includes auditory hallucinations and paranoid behavior. Schizophrenics used to be thought to have "split personalities," and the roots of the word attests to that early understanding. The word schizophrenia combines the Greek skhizein, "split," and phren, "mind." Now, the disease is understood differently, but schizophrenic is still sometimes used to refer to anything that changes erratically. A movie that's alternately enthralling and boring might be said to be schizophrenic in its pacing.
Vocabulary lists containing schizophrenic
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
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The Pigman
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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.
“You almost have a schizophrenic personality on AI right now,” Kolano said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026
Zarutska’s suspected killer, DeCarlos Brown Jr., is a homeless man with a long criminal record and is a paranoid schizophrenic, according to his family.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 14, 2025
I did a film called “The Saint of Fort Washington,” where I played a homeless schizophrenic.
From Salon • Mar. 25, 2025
“If we’re to a point where you’re not even having empathy for someone that you think is schizophrenic, then we’re at a really bad point,” he said.
From Slate • Apr. 7, 2024
But at the same time if he was really schizophrenic like I thought, it would make mad sense, right?
From "We Were Here" by Matt De La Peña
Definitions 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.
