extroversion

noun

ex·​tro·​ver·​sion ˌek-strə-ˈvər-zhən 

-shən

variants or extraversion

psychology : the state of or tendency toward being predominantly concerned with and obtaining gratification from what is outside the self : a personality trait or style characterized by a preference for or orientation to engaging socially with others

Note: The psychologist Carl Gustav Jung first introduced the terms extroversion, extrovert, introversion, and introvert in the early 1900s to describe personality types that focus a person's energy on either the inner or outer world.

Extroversion focuses on any feelings of joy associating with others. Gregarious individuals enjoy large groups and the social aspects of any situation.

—Melinda L. Korzaan and Katherine T. Boswell

Extroversion is characterized by being outgoing and drawing energy from interacting with others …

—James M. Honeycutt

Wisconsin ranked among the top five states in America for "extraversion"—a trait associated with those who are sociable, energetic and enthusiastic …

—Bill Glauber

compare introversion sense 2

Examples of extroversion in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

All that has materially changed since 2016 is China’s strategic extroversion and its tentative entry into the region, and that is insufficient justification. —Steven Simon, Foreign Affairs, 9 Apr. 2024

There are perfumes inspired by tears, slow caresses, erotic nights, the color red, the trait of extroversion. —Molly Young, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2024

In the early self-interviews and writings, Mr. Samaras returned frequently to the question of how his reflexive isolation and solipsism could function alongside his equally instinctual exhibitionism and visual extroversion. —Randy Kennedy, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024

The weakest correlations were for traits like height, weight, medical conditions, and personality traits, although these were still mostly positive, apart from extroversion, which somewhat surprisingly showed almost no correlation. —Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 4 Jan. 2024

That movie was an introvert’s idea of extroversion. —Wesley Morris, New York Times, 2 Dec. 2023

To truly experience the positive emotions that come with extroversion, there may be no substitute to getting out and engaging with people, Wilmot says. —Addison Aloian, Women's Health, 3 July 2023

The research delves into how our faces can be a roadmap to understanding traits like extroversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. —Kurt Knutsson, Fox News, 20 Oct. 2023

One found that extroversion is a reliable indicator of compatibility, while another determined that only judging and extroversion are significant. —Jessica Morgan, refinery29.com, 3 Mar. 2022

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Extraversion, probably alteration, by change of extro- to Latin extrā extra-, of Extroversion "turning outward (of an organ, as the bladder)," borrowed from New Latin extrōversiōn-, extrōversiō, noun of action from extrōvertere "to turn outward," from extrō- extro- + Latin vertere "to turn" — more at worth entry 4, version

Note: Both Extraversion and its counterpart Introversion were introduced into psychology by Carl jung, apparently in the second decade of the twentieth century. The words occur in the text of a presentation given by Jung at a meeting of the International Psychoanalytical Congress in Munich (September 7-8, 1913), published in French in the same year ("Contribution à l'étude des types psychologiques," Archives de psychologie, tome 13 [1913], p. 290.) Introversion and the adjective introvertiert "introverted" appear earlier, in a somewhat different sense, in Jung's Über Konflikte der kindischen Seele (Leipzig/Vienna, 1910, pp. 6, 10). The above etymology assumes that Jung had in mind an already existing word, but he could have equally well formed Extraversion by substituting the prefix extra- for other prefixes joined to -version, taken as an independent formative. The choice of extra-, which ordinarily means "beyond," seems peculiar, and has led to re-formations of the word in English as extroversion, with extro- taken to mean "outward." On the other hand, extro- is a neologism made up as a correspondent to intro-, with no correspondent in classical Latin; perhaps this is why Jung avoided it.

First Known Use

1917, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

extroversion

noun

ex·​tro·​ver·​sion

variants or extraversion

ˌek-strə-ˈvər-zhən, -shən 

: the state of or tendency toward being predominantly concerned with and obtaining gratification from what is outside the self : a personality trait or style characterized by a preference for or orientation to engaging socially with others

Note: The psychologist C. G. Jung first introduced the terms extroversion, extrovert, introversion, and introvert in the early 1900s to describe personality types that focus a person's energy on either the inner or outer world.

compare introversion

extroversive adjective

or extraversive

-siv, -ziv