schizophrenic

From schizophrenia +‎ -ic.

• IPA^(key): /ˌskɪtsəˈfɹɛnɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnɪk

schizophrenic (comparative more schizophrenic, superlative most schizophrenic)

1. Of or relating to schizophrenia.
2. (of a person) Afflicted with schizophrenia; having difficulty with perception of reality.
3. (informal or dated) Exhibiting more than one personality; having a wildly changeable personality.
   • 1951, Wyman Guin, “Beyond Bedlam”, in Galaxy Science Fiction‎^[1]:

     Schizophrenia is where two or more personalities live in the same brain. The ancients of the 20th Century actually looked upon schizophrenia as a disease! Everyone felt it was very shameful to have a schizophrenic person in the family,

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 220:

     The average person is afraid that such a common experience means that he is "splitting off" and becoming schizophrenic.

4. (informal or dated) Having qualities that strongly conflict or are at odds.
   • 1975, Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews 1933-1945:

     Höss, a man of schizophrenic sensibility, preferred gassing to shooting because he was “spared all these bloodbaths.”

   • 1986 August 9, Christopher Wittke, “Joe Jackson: Friend or 'Phobe?”, in Gay Community News, page 6:

     That feverish response and Jackson's infamous negative attitude towards his fans contributed to a performance which was schizophrenic at best. The program was divided into three sections, distinguishable only by the fact that slide projections on the side of the stage informed us that we were now watching "Part 1, 2, or 3."

   • 2011, Edmund Hey, Neonatal Formulary: Drug Use in Pregnancy and the First Year of Life:

     Society currently displays a schizophrenic attitude to drug abuse. We seem to accept alcohol intake and smoking during pregnancy even though we know that these drugs can be addictive, and that regular use can affect the baby.

   • 2012, Thomas Boylan, Paschal O'Gorman, Hahn and Economic Methodology:

     The neoclassical synthesis was a schizophrenic approach to economics – a way of subscribing to both Keynesian and classical analysis.

• The informal use of this word (confusing the condition with multiple personality disorder) is discouraged to avoid stigmatization and misunderstanding of the disorder.

• schizophrenic number

• nonschizophrenic
• paranoid schizophrenic
• schizo

schizophrenic (plural schizophrenics)

1. A person suffering from schizophrenia.
   • 1980 March 3, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “The Whisky Priest”, in Yes, Minister, season 3, episode 20, spoken by Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne):

     Oh, what an extraordinary idea! I have served 11 governments in the past 30 years. If I'd believed in all their policies, [proceeds to describe contradictory policies by different parties], but above all, I would have been a stark-staring raving schizophrenic! (laugh track).