hypnosis

The definition of hypnosis is a calm state of altered-consciousness that allows a person to recall memories or be guided to change a behavior.

(noun)

An example of hypnosis is a technique that is sometimes used to help someone stop smoking.

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See hypnosis in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun pl. hypnoses

  1. a trancelike condition usually induced by another person, in which the subject is in a state of altered consciousness and responds, with certain limitations, to the suggestions of the hypnotist
  2. hypnotism

Origin: ModL: see hypno- & -osis

See hypnosis in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun pl. hyp·no·ses (-sēz)
  1. An artificially induced altered state of consciousness, characterized by heightened suggestibility and receptivity to direction.
  2. Hypnotism.
  3. A sleeplike condition.

See hypnosis in Ologies

Hypnosis

See also psychology.

autohypnosis

1. the process of hypnotizing oneself.

2. the resulting state.

biomagnetism

1. animal magnetism, or the power that enables some people to induce a hypnotic state in others.

2. physical attraction between members of opposite sexes. —biomagnetic, adj.

hypnoanalysis

psychoanalysis of a patiënt while he is under hypnosis. —hypnoanalytic, hypnoanalytical, adj.

hypnogenesis

the process of inducing a state of hypnosis. —hypnogenetic, adj.

hypnotherapy

psychotherapy employing hypnosis. —hypnotherapeutic, adj.

hypnotism

the science that studies hypnosis and the process of inducing a hypnotic state. —hypnotist, n.

mesmerism

1. hypnosis as induced by Dr. F. A. Mesmer through “animal magnetism,” a 19th-century therapy.

2. hypnotism.

3. a compelling attraction; fascination. —mesmerization, n. —mesmerist, mesmerizer, n.

mesmeromania

an obsession with hypnosis.

monoideism

the focusing of the attention on a single thing, especially as a result of hypnosis.

narcohypnosis

hypnosis with the aid of drugs.

odylism

the theory of od, a hypothetical force formerly held to pervade all nature and to reveal itself in magnetism, mesmerism, chemical action, etc. —odylic, adj.

psycheism

Rare. the state of being in a hypnotic trance.

somnipathy

a state of sleep induced by hypnosis or mesmerism. —somnipathist, n.

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