psychosis

noun

psy·​cho·​sis sī-ˈkō-səs 

plural psychoses sī-ˈkō-ˌsēz 

: a serious mental illness (such as schizophrenia) characterized by defective or lost contact with reality often with hallucinations or delusions

Examples of psychosis in a Sentence

The patient suffers from some kind of psychosis.

Recent Examples on the Web

But by OpenAI’s own numbers, that amounts to some half a million people regularly exhibiting mania or psychosis on the platform. —Charlie Campbell, Time, 11 Dec. 2025

Preda, who studies psychosis, laid out a path from simulation to human clinical trials. —Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2025

The report recommended that AI companies share more information about their internal processes and assessments, use independent safety evaluators, increase efforts to prevent AI psychosis and harm and reduce lobbying, among other measures. —Jared Perlo, NBC news, 3 Dec. 2025

Players embody a young woman named Katja, whose family fell victim to the Hush, and is desperately trying to survive day-to-day as the psychosis of sleep depravation make real life indistinguishable from dreams. —Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 3 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

New Latin

First Known Use

1847, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for psychosis

• cirrhosis
• fibrosis
• gliosis
• hypnosis
• ichthyosis
• ketosis
• kurtosis
• lordosis
• meiosis
• miosis
• mitosis
• mycosis

Kids Definition

psychosis

noun

psy·​cho·​sis sī-ˈkō-səs 

plural psychoses -ˈkō-ˌsēz 

: a serious mental illness marked by loss of or greatly lessened ability to test whether what one is thinking and feeling about the real world is really true

Medical Definition

psychosis

noun

psy·​cho·​sis sī-ˈkō-səs 

plural psychoses -ˌsēz 

: a serious mental illness (as schizophrenia) characterized by defective or lost contact with reality often with hallucinations or delusions