Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Fwd: cathexis: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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From: Dictionary.com <doctor@dictionary.com>
Date: 2013/12/17
Subject: cathexis: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
To: "Hector William G." <hectorpinillos@gmail.com>

Word of the Day for Tuesday, December 17, 2013

cathexis \kuh-THEK-sis\, noun:

1. Psychoanalysis. the investment of emotional significance in an activity, object, or idea.
2. Psychoanalysis. the charge of psychic energy so invested.

She remembered so clearly the surprise of that first cathexis with Earth across the light-years…
-- Ian Watson, Very Slow Time Machine, 1979

Now our primary libidinal cathexis is with machines. Cars, power tools, computers, Kitchen Aids, audiophile equipment.
-- Curtis White, Requiem, 2001

Cathexis ultimately comes from the Proto-Indo-European root segh- meaning "to hold." It entered English in the 1920s.

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