anankastic meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

anankastic

adj

/ænənˈkæstɪk/

Etymology Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀναγκαστικός (anankastikós), from ἀναγκάζω (anankázō, “to force, to compel”).

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Imperative, as in the anankastic conditional.

Human sciences, Psychology, Sciences Characterised by compulsion; obsessive-compulsive.

1991: ‘You’re a classic anal-retentive,’ he says, ‘tirelessly absorbed by minutiae, anankastic in the extreme – it’s lucky you have me to deal with the broad sweep of things, to do the abstract thinking.’ — Will Self, ‘Mono-Cellular’, The Quantity Theory of Insanity

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀναγκαστικός (anankastikós), from ἀναγκάζω (anankázō, “to force, to compel”).

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences An anankastic phrase or utterance.

Human sciences, Psychology, Sciences Rare An obsessive-compulsive individual.

Like many anankastics, he suffers from a disturbance in the capacity to act, which is revealed especially as an impediment to beginning something new and completing something.2012, Matthew R. Broome, The Maudsley Reader in Phenomenological Psychiatry, page 235:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.