schizophrenia
/ˌskɪtsə(ʊ)ˈfriːnɪə
/noun [mass noun]
1A long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behaviour, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.The appellant suffers from paranoid schizophrenia which is a mental illness within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1983....
- Shortly after he finished his first album, he was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia.
- Some of these studies have now shown that children who develop schizophrenia are developmentally different.
1.1(In general use) a mentality or approach characterized by inconsistent or contradictory elements: Gibraltar’s schizophrenia continues to be fed by colonial pride...
- Abrupt changes in mood, the destruction of comfort, and schizophrenia are all elements at work here.
- Now that growth is faltering, the inconsistencies of our political schizophrenia are emerging.
Origin
Early 20th century: modern Latin, from Greek skhizein 'to split' + phrēn 'mind'.