Dictionary

anankastic en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ænənˈkæstɪk/

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. Imperative, as in the anankastic conditional.
2. 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

Forms

anankastic en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ænənˈkæstɪk/

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. An anankastic phrase or utterance.
2. (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:

Forms

Synonyms

anancastic