Standard Lemma guide

cathexis

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /kəˈθɛk sɪs/

1

noun

Meaning 1

The concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, medicine, psychoanalysis, psychology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

(psychoanalysis) the libidinal energy invested in some idea or person or object

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Freud thought of cathexis as a psychic analog of an electrical charge

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: charge

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: libidinal energy

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κάθεξις (káthexis, “holding, retention”). The term entered the English language as a translation for the common everyday German word Besetzung, which in the context of psychoanalysis means "occupation" in the sense of a position or something being occupied or filled, and not a military occupation of a place or the filling of job positions (although it can also mean either of these in other contexts). (In English translations, a Greek word was used to be more scientific.)

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: catexi — the concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea
  • German: Objektbesetzung — the concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea
  • Korean: 주의 집중 (juui jipjung) — the concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea
  • Polish: kateksja — the concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea
  • Portuguese: catexia — the concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea
  • Portuguese: catexe — the concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea
  • Turkish: kateksis — the concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea