psychiatry

noun

psy·​chi·​a·​try sə-ˈkī-ə-trē 

sī-

: a branch of medicine that deals with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders

psychiatric

ˌsī-kē-ˈa-trik 

adjective

psychiatrically

ˌsī-kē-ˈa-tri-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Examples of psychiatry in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The study's principal investigator, David Mandell, professor of psychiatry and director of the Penn Center for Mental Health, shared details regarding the initial results the center recently shared with the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) organization in New Orleans. —MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Aug. 2025

The discovery of the illness put pressure on the artificial division between psychiatry and neurology—the only two fields of medicine that focus on the same organ. —Rachel Aviv, New Yorker, 21 July 2025

Some grads are hopeful of being pioneers in intertwining AI into the field of psychiatry. —Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025

During the therapy, a machine delivers pulses that felt — as Katharine Marder, associate physician of psychiatry at the Advanced Psychiatric Therapeutics Clinic at the UC Davis — put it, like a woodpecker tapping steadily on the scalp. —Olivia Cyrus, Sacbee.com, 2 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably from French psychiatrie, from psychiatre psychiatrist, from psych- psych- + Greek iatros physician — more at -iatry

First Known Use

1828, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for psychiatry

• gayatri
• neuropsychiatry
• orthopsychiatry

Kids Definition

psychiatry

noun

psy·​chi·​a·​try sə-ˈkī-ə-trē 

sī-

: a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the mind, emotions, or behavior

psychiatric

ˌsī-kē-ˈa-trik 

adjective

Medical Definition

psychiatry

noun

psy·​chi·​a·​try -trē 

plural psychiatries

: a branch of medicine that deals with the science and practice of treating mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders especially as originating in endogenous causes or resulting from faulty interpersonal relationships