uncanny valley

American  

[uhn-kan-ee val-ee] / ʌnˈkæn i ˈvæl i /

noun

1. 1. a psychological concept that describes the feelings of unease or revulsion that people tend to have toward artificial representations of human beings, as robots or computer animations, that closely imitate many but not all the features and behaviors of actual human beings.

   2. the dip in positive feelings toward such artificial representations.

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Etymology

Origin of uncanny valley

1970; coined by Masahiro Mori, Japanese roboticist (born 1927), from Japanese bukimi no tani (genshō) “uncanny valley (phenomenon)”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

uncanny valley

The uncanny valley is live for consumption, for free, at No. 300 on the Roku Channel’s Live TV Guide.

From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2026

“A lot of this content ends up in the uncanny valley of ‘Sounds like humans, but isn’t quite human, and this is giving me a bad feeling’,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

"We humans are just wired that way, and we can't help it. We are close to crossing the uncanny valley," Hu added.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 16, 2026

Each 11-minute episode follows mundane escapades, like hosting a movie night or getting in a hot tub, punctuated by a somewhat disturbing art style and clumsy-on-purpose animation that strays into the uncanny valley.

From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2025

It doesn’t always work: Many of these projects drift into an unappealing uncanny valley.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2024