split personality
Americannoun
noun
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the tendency to change rapidly in mood or temperament
-
a nontechnical term for multiple personality
Etymology
Origin of split personality
First recorded in 1925–30
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.
Their split personality is always there, you just don't know what's coming first, the Jekyll or the Hyde.
From BBC • Nov. 20, 2025
Created by Ben Watkins, the series is solidly made and stylistically straightforward but does suffer a bit from its split personality.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 13, 2024
Because of the derivation of the term and because it literally meant "split," people decided schizophrenia meant split personality.
From Salon • Sep. 8, 2023
Golden State developed a split personality as it proceeded in fits and starts, displaying the pride and potency that marked its dynasty years and a baffling new alter ego that seemed scattered and, frankly, mediocre.
From Washington Post • Apr. 15, 2023
"Elly, Elly, Elly," the first voice mumbled, while the other voice went on hissing, "Miss Greenwood, Miss Greenwood, Miss Greenwood," as if I had a split personality or something.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
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.
