Standard Lemma guide

neurosis

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.

  • n(y)o͝o-rō′sĭs
  • Received-Pronunciation: /n(j)ʊˈɹəʊ̯.sɪs/
  • Canada, General-American: /n(j)ʊˈɹoʊ̯.sɪs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /n(j)ʊˈɹəʉ̯.sɪs/
  • New-Zealand: /n(j)ʊˈɹɐʉ̯.səs/
  • Scotland: /n(j)ʉˈɹo.sɪs/
  • rhymes with -əʊsɪs
  • CMU ARPABET: N UH0 R OW1 S AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A mental disorder, less severe than psychosis, marked by anxiety or fear which differ from normal measures by their intensity, which disorder results from a failure to compromise or properly adjust during the developmental stages of life, between normal human instinctual impulses and the demands of human society.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, dated, uncountable

Qualifier: current in psychology and philosophy

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: psychoneurosis[Appendix:Glossary

Antonyms: physioneurosis

2

noun

Meaning 2

a mental or personality disturbance not attributable to any known neurological or organic dysfunction

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: neuroticism, psychoneurosis

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mental disorder, mental disturbance, disturbance, psychological disorder, folie

Narrower terms: hysteria, hysterical neurosis, anxiety neurosis

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh1- Proto-Indo-European *-wr̥ Proto-Indo-European *snéh1wr̥der. Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron) Ancient Greek νευρο- (neuro-)der. English neuro- English -sis English neurosis From neuro- + -sis.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: неўро́з (njewróz) — mental disorder
  • Bulgarian: невро́за (nevróza) — mental disorder
  • Catalan: neurosi — mental disorder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 神經症 /神经症 (shénjīngzhèng) — mental disorder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 神經官能症 /神经官能症 (shénjīng guānnéng zhèng) — mental disorder
  • Czech: neuróza — mental disorder
  • Dutch: neurose — mental disorder
  • Dutch: zenuwziekte — mental disorder
  • Esperanto: neŭrozo — mental disorder
  • Finnish: neuroosi — mental disorder
  • French: névrose — mental disorder
  • Galician: neurose — mental disorder
  • German: Neurose — mental disorder
  • Greek: νεύρωση (névrosi) — mental disorder
  • Hungarian: neurózis — mental disorder
  • Irish: néaróis — mental disorder
  • Italian: nevrosi — mental disorder
  • Italian: neurosi — mental disorder
  • Japanese: 神経症 (shinkeishō) — mental disorder
  • Japanese: ノイローゼ (noirōze) — mental disorder
  • Korean: 신경증 (sin'gyeongjeung) — mental disorder
  • Occitan: neuròsi — mental disorder
  • Polish: nerwica — mental disorder
  • Polish: neuroza — mental disorder
  • Polish: nerwy — mental disorder
  • Portuguese: neurose — mental disorder
  • Russian: невро́з (nevróz) — mental disorder
  • Slovak: neuróza — mental disorder
  • Spanish: neurosis — mental disorder
  • Swedish: neuros — mental disorder
  • Turkish: nevroz — mental disorder
  • Ukrainian: невро́з (nevróz) — mental disorder
  • Vietnamese: chứng loạn thần kinh chức năng — mental disorder