impersonality

[im-pur-suh-nal-i-tee]

im·per·son·al·i·ty

[im-pur-suh-nal-i-tee]
noun, plural im·per·son·al·i·ties for 6.
1.
absence of human character or of the traits associated with the human character: He feared the impersonality of a mechanized world.
2.
absence or reduction of concern for individual needs or desires: the impersonality of a very large institution.
3.
lack of emotional involvement: His work reflected a certain impersonality.
4.
lack of a personal agent or of a known personal agent: the impersonality of folk art.
5.
the quality of not being concerned with particular persons: the impersonality and universality of his interests.
EXPAND
6.
something that is impersonal.
COLLAPSE

Origin:
1760–70; impersonal + -ity
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Impersonality has a plethora of syllables.
So is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. Does it mean:
a white, crystalline, water-insoluble solid, C14H9Cl5, usually derived from chloral by reaction with chlorobenzene in the presence of fuming sulfuric acid: used as an insecticide and as a scabicide and pediculicide: agricultural use prohibited in the U.S.
an obscure term ostensibly referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust, sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language.
Collins
World English Dictionary
impersonal (ɪmˈpɜːsənəl)
 
adj
1.  without reference to any individual person; objective: an impersonal assessment
2.  devoid of human warmth or sympathy; cold: an impersonal manner
3.  not having human characteristics: an impersonal God
4.  grammar (of a verb) having no logical subject. Usually in English the pronoun it is used in such cases as a grammatical subject, as for example in It is raining
5.  grammar (of a pronoun) not denoting a person
 
imperson'ality
 
n
 
im'personally
 
adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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