Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
metempsychosis

metempsychosis

1 9.9
A belief that after death a soul moves into another person or animal to live again
  • noun
  • /ˌmɛtəmpaɪˈkoʊsɪs/
  • Literature
translation icon : metempsicosis
  • Many ancient philosophers discussed metempsychosis to explain the cycle of life and death.

Examples

  • According to the doctrine of metempsychosis, a person's soul may be reborn into a different species.

  • Metempsychosis would be against the rule that nothing takes place by leaps.

    Academic text (1998)

  • He says, "Surely, metempsychosis is not more reasonable than materialism."

    Academic text (2001)

  • That does not mean we should be indifferent to the truth of doctrines; metempsychosis is inferior to most other immaterial doctrines because it does not represent the truth about distinctively human individuality.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The belief of metempsychosis suggests that after death, the soul starts a new life in another body.

Synonyms

reincarnation
vsmetempsychosis
41 7.1

Belief that a person's soul is born again in a new body after death

shares the idea but highlights transfer into animals as well
rebirth
vsmetempsychosis
9 7.2

The belief that a soul begins a new life in a different human body after death

also covers transfers into animal bodies, not only different human bodies
transmigration
vsmetempsychosis
  • Literature
2 9.9

A belief that a soul moves into another body after death

emphasizes movement into human or animal bodies rather than a single lifelong state
cycle of rebirth
vsmetempsychosis
  • Literature
1 7.6

A process of being born again after death many times until you become free

is about a single soul transfer rather than the ongoing liberation cycle
reincarnationism
vsmetempsychosis
9.9

A belief that a person's soul lives again in a new body after death

is the general belief phrased in ordinary language rather than a formal term

Surface Forms

metempsychosis singular
metempsychoses plural

Morphology

metempsychosis = meta + em + psych + osis

This is a learned Greek borrowing built from classical elements, but an average B1 learner would not be able to recover its meaning from the visible parts.

Etymology

Metempsychosis is made of the parts meta- ('after') and psyche ('soul'), the same psyche you see in psychology. So it pictures a soul moving 'after' death into a new body, and that is why the word means the belief that a soul passes into another person or animal to live again.