stereotypy
Americannoun
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the stereotype process.
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Also called stereotyped behavior. Psychiatry. persistent mechanical repetition of speech or movement, sometimes occurring as a symptom of schizophrenia, autism, or other mental disorder.
noun
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the act or process of making stereotype printing plates
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a tendency to think or act in rigid, repetitive, and often meaningless patterns
Etymology
Origin of stereotypy
First recorded in 1860–65; stereotype + -y 3
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.
At first blush, such spinning might look like a stereotypy, a repeated movement that some animals make when bored.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 28, 2023
For example, one macaque developed "severe behavioural problems" including "stereotypy" - repetitive nervous actions such as rocking - and had to be "euthanised".
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2014
Virga knew that he wasn’t likely to cure her — she had been prone to stereotypy and anxiety throughout her life.
From New York Times ● Jul. 3, 2014
Farts lack the structural stereotypy of laughs, coughs, sneezes, and hiccups, and their duration is determined by the highly variable supply of available gas.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2012
Thus the affected, silly behavior, impulsive actions, temporary verbigeration, senseless word salad, grimacing, stereotypy, attitudinizing, etc., which these patients exhibit, may easily be mistaken for the typical catatonic picture of dementia præcox.
From Studies in Forensic Psychiatry by Bernard Glueck
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.
