anankastic

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ænənˈkæstɪk/

Adjective

anankastic (comparative more anankastic, superlative most anankastic)

  1. (grammar) Imperative, as in the anankastic conditional.[1]
  2. (psychology) 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

Noun

anankastic (plural anankastics)

  1. (grammar) An anankastic phrase or utterance.
  2. (psychology, rare) An obsessive-compulsive individual.
    Synonym: anancastic
    • 2012, Matthew R. Broome, The Maudsley Reader in Phenomenological Psychiatry, page 235:
      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.

References

  1. ^ Janneke Huitink Analyzing anankastic conditionals and sufficiency modals
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