neurosis
Meaning
A mental and emotional disorder that involves distress and anxiety but does not include losing touch with reality.
(In non-technical use) Excessive and irrational anxiety or obsession.
Structure
Usage
His chronic anxiety was diagnosed as a form of neurosis.
The compulsive behavior was a symptom of her neurosis.
In classic psychoanalytic theory, neurosis arises from unresolved unconscious conflicts.
Etymology
The term 'neurosis' is a modern scientific construction built directly from ancient Greek components. It combines neuron, which originally referred to sinews or tendons before its meaning specialized to denote the nerves, with the suffix -ōsis, indicating a pathological state. Coined in the late 18th century within medical Latin, the word literally meant a "disease of the nerves." This reflected the historical belief that such psychological conditions had a physical origin in the nervous system. Over time, as psychiatric understanding evolved, the term's meaning shifted from a presumed neurological disorder to describe a category of functional mental disorders characterized by internal conflict and anxiety, while retaining its core etymological link to the psyche's "nervous" distress.
Analysis
neur: From Greek neuron, meaning "nerve, sinew, tendon." In this word, it functions as the root indicating a connection to the nervous system. osis: From Greek -ōsis, a suffix used to form nouns denoting a state, condition, or process, especially a diseased or abnormal condition.