psy ‧ che /ˈsaɪki/ BrE AmE noun [countable usually singular] technical or formal
[ Date: 1600-1700 ; Language: Greek ; Origin: 'breath, life, soul, mind' ]
someone’s mind, or their deepest feelings, which control their attitudes and behaviour:
Freud’s account of the human psyche
A characteristic of the feminine psyche is to seek approval from others.
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THESAURUS
▪ mind what you use to think and imagine things:
My mind was full of big ideas.
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I never know what's going on in her mind.
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At the back of my mind I had the funny feeling that I’d met her somewhere before.
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The same thoughts kept going through my mind and I couldn’t get to sleep.
▪ head the place where someone’s mind is – use this especially when talking about the thoughts that are in someone’s mind:
I can't get him out of my head.
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You need to get it into your head that you've done nothing wrong.
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To keep myself calm, I counted to ten in my head.
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She’s so quiet – you never quite know what’s going on inside her head (=what she is thinking) .
▪ subconscious the part of your mind that influences the way you think or behave, even though you may not realize this is happening, and which makes you have dreams:
She suddenly remembered a traumatic incident that had been buried deep in her subconscious.
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During the daytime our conscious minds are active, but during the night the subconscious takes over.
▪ psyche formal someone’s mind, especially their feelings and attitudes, and the way these influence their character - used especially when talking about people's minds in general:
The need for love is deeply buried in our psyche.
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Freud has provided an account of the human psyche's stages of development.
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The child is simply searching his psyche to find some past event that relates to his new experiences.
▪ mentality a particular way of thinking that a group of people have, especially one that you think is wrong or bad:
I just don't understand the mentality of these people.
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They all seem to have a kind of victim mentality, which makes them think that the world is permanently against them.
▪ the ego technical the part of your mind that gives you your sense of who you are - used especially in Freudian psychology:
the rational world of the ego and the irrational world of the unconscious