personality disorder

noun

plural personality disorders
: any of various psychological disorders that are characterized by persistent inflexible or impaired patterns of thought and behavior that usually cause difficulties in forming and maintaining interpersonal relationships and in meeting the daily demands of one's personal and work life and that typically become apparent during adolescence or early adulthood

Note: Personality disorders are typically accompanied by three types of presentations: intense and unstable emotions, eccentric and odd behavior, or extreme fear or nervousness.

As a diagnosable personality disorder, narcissism occurs more often in males than females, often developing in the teenage years or early adulthood and becoming more extreme with age.—Jane E. Brody
Recent studies have shown that personality disorders, especially the one seen most frequently in clinical settings—borderline personality disorder—are common …, are associated with high levels of self-injury and suicide, and have a considerable, stressful effect on families.—S. Charles Schultz
see antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, multiple personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder

Examples of personality disorder in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web This condition is classified as a cluster B personality disorder, alongside antisocial, narcissistic, and histrionic personality disorders.12 How BPD affects people can vary. —Joy Emeh, Health, 5 July 2024 The disorder is underdiagnosed, partly because symptoms can be confused with other personality disorders and partly because most narcissists aren’t rushing into therapy. —Abby Ellin, Washington Post, 1 July 2024 The study also found those with attention-seeking behaviors due to a personality disorder were prone to sadfishing. —Kristina Behr, Parents, 13 June 2024 If this self-loathing isn’t a symptom of a mental illness or personality disorder, nothing is. —Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 30 Mar. 2024 Shot on a budget, this thriller about a man with dissociative personality disorder (as well as a few other, um, issues) who takes a group of teenage girls hostage arrived with relatively little hype and wound up being one of the director’s biggest hits. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 18 Jan. 2024 The presence of such symptoms, the researchers found, was strongly predictive of personality disorders in young adulthood. —Victoria Costello, Scientific American, 1 Mar. 2012 The committee charged with designing measures for personality disorders for the DSM-III discussed its confusing status when debating its inclusion. —Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 6 May 2024 These are often people who have PTSD, depression, anxiety, or personality disorders, says Hallford. —Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 14 May 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'personality disorder.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1919, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of personality disorder was in 1919

Dictionary Entries Near personality disorder

personality cult

personality disorder

personality inventory

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Personality disorder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/personality%20disorder. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.

Copy Citation

Share

Medical Definition

personality disorder

noun
: any of various psychological disorders that are characterized by persistent inflexible or impaired patterns of thought and behavior that usually cause difficulties in forming and maintaining interpersonal relationships and in meeting the daily demands of one's personal and work life and that typically become apparent during adolescence or early adulthood

Note: Personality disorders are typically accompanied by three types of presentations: intense and unstable emotions, eccentric and odd behavior, or extreme fear or nervousness.

As a diagnosable personality disorder, narcissism occurs more often in males than females, often developing in the teenage years or early adulthood and becoming more extreme with age.—Jane E. Brody
Recent studies have shown that personality disorders, especially the one seen most frequently in clinical settings—borderline personality disorder—are common …, are associated with high levels of self-injury and suicide, and have a considerable, stressful effect on families.—S. Charles Schultz
see antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, multiple personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

Plural and Possessive Names: A Guide

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Absent Letters That Are Heard Anyway

How to Use Accents and Diacritical Marks
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

12 Star Wars Words

'Swash', 'Praya', and 12 More Beachy Words

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A crossword with a twist
winning words from the national spelling bee logo
Spelling Bee Quiz Can you outdo past winners of the National Spelli...