derealization

English

Alternative forms

derealisation

Etymology

From de- +‎ real +‎ -ization or derealize +‎ -ation.

Noun

derealization (countable and uncountable, plural derealizations)

(psychology) The psychological symptom in which the world appears to be unreal, and the patient has a sense of detachment from it.
Coordinate term: depersonalization
- 2008, Robert E. Hales, The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry, American Psychiatric Pub, →ISBN, page 680:
  Derealization frequently co-occurs with depersonalization disorder, in which affected individuals notice an altered perception of their surroundings, resulting in the world seeming unreal or dreamlike.
(The process of) making unreal, in general; detachment from reality or realness.
- 2015, Michael Malek Najjar, Arab American Drama, Film and Performance: A Critical Study, 1908 to the Present, McFarland, →ISBN:
  The derealization of Arab Americans created the conditions whereby, after the attacks of 9/11, the American public was willing to allow, and sometimes become complicit in, their government's detention, extradition, and torture of Arabs and Muslims […]
The loosening of the bonds of (an electron) so that it can move freely among a group of atoms; delocalization.
- 1976, R. O. C. Norman, Electron Spin Resonance, Royal Society of Chemistry, →ISBN, page 162:
  This section develops a theme mentioned […] in the previous section, namely the derealization of the unpaired electron away from the formal radical centre […]
- 2002, Prashant V. Kamat, Dirk M. Guldi, Karl M. Kadish, The Exciting World of Nanocages and Nanotubes: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Fullerenes, Nanotubes, and Carbon Nanoclusters, The Electrochemical Society, →ISBN, page 709:
  Indeed, cyclic derealization of π-electrons is at the heart of aromaticity. For benzene, it is found that the derealization of the density is greater between para-related carbons, […] than between meta-related atoms, […]