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psychal

psychal

9.9
Relating to the mind or soul rather than the body
  • adjective
  • /ˈsaɪkəl/
  • Archaic
translation icon : psíquico
  • The ancient teachings emphasized the importance of psychal well-being for achieving spiritual enlightenment.

Examples

  • If we can take him at his word, then Poe himself claimed to be able to express any mere thought (as distinct from "psychal impressions") through words, but his own narrators often confess an inability to convey verbally some thoughts related to their own extraordinary experiences.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Poe had great faith in the power of human language to express thoughts, but believed it is not adequate to convey those "psychal impressions" of the hypnagogic state:

    Academic text (1997)
  • Many philosophers explore psychal concepts that delve into the nature of consciousness and existence.

  • In her writings, the author often reflects on psychal connections between humanity and the universe.

Synonyms

psychic
vspsychal
57 7.6

About the mind and a person's feelings and thoughts

is archaic and focuses on soul or spiritual aspects not modern mental terms
psychical
vspsychal
9.1

Relating to the mind rather than the body

is older and stresses soul or spiritual rather than only mental processes

Surface Forms

psychal positive

Morphology

psychal = psych (semi-transparent) = psych + al

The word is formed by the classical stem psych- plus the adjectival suffix -al, but the stem is specialized and the archaic sense is not fully obvious to average learners.

Etymology

The word psychal comes from the Greek root psyche, which means 'soul' or 'mind'. So psychal describes the inner mind or soul and is used for spiritual or non-physical aspects of a person, much like psychology points to the study of the mind.