Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Psychical

{

Psy′chic

,

Psy′chic-al

, }
Adj.
[L.
psychicus
, Gr. [GREEK], fr.
ψυχή
the soul, mind; cf. [GREEK] to blow: cf. F.
psychique
.]
1.
Of or pertaining to the human soul, or to the living principle in man.
☞ This term was formerly used to express the same idea as psychological. Recent metaphysicians, however, have employed it to mark the difference between
ψυχή
the living principle in man, and
πνεῦμα
the rational or spiritual part of his nature. In this use, the word describes the human soul in its relation to sense, appetite, and the outer visible world, as distinguished from spiritual or rational faculties, which have to do with the supersensible world.
Heyse.
2.
Of or pertaining to the mind, or its functions and diseases; mental; – contrasted with
physical
.
Psychical blindness
,
Psychical deafness
(Med.)
,
forms of nervous disease in which, while the senses of sight and hearing remain unimpaired, the mind fails to appreciate the significance of the sounds heard or the images seen.
Psychical contagion
,
the transference of disease, especially of a functional nervous disease, by mere force of example.
Psychical medicine
,
that department of medicine which treats of mental diseases.

Definition 2024


psychical

psychical

English

Adjective

psychical (not comparable)

  1. Performed by or pertaining to the mind or spirit; mental, psychic. [from 17th c.]
    • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Vintage 2007, p. 53:
      Who could say where the fleshly impulse ceased, or the psychical impulse began?
  2. (theology) Pertaining to the animal nature of man, as opposed to the spirit. [from 18th c.]
  3. Outside the realm of the physical; supernatural, psychic. [from 19th c.]

Related terms

Translations