parapraxisn.
/ˌparəˈpraksɪs/, U.S. /ˌpɛrəˈpræksəs/ Psychology.
A minor error in speech or action, (supposedly) representing the fulfilment of an unconscious wish; a Freudian slip.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > theories of Freud > [noun] > revealing error
parapraxia1912
parapraxis1916
Freudian slip1959
1916 J. Strachey tr. S. Freud Introd. Lect. Psycho-anal. i. i. 25 Certain phenomena..are what are known as ‘parapraxes’, to which everyone is liable..for instance..a person who intends to say something may use another word.
1959 Observer 1 Feb. 19/4 Such forces in scientists may produce quite unpredictable parapraxes in their experimental work.
1975 New Society 11 Sept. 600/3 All too many malapropisms and misprints (or are they parapraxes? We get, for instance, ‘He apostasises’, followed by a quotation from Mill, for ‘He apostrophises’.).
1999 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 4 Nov. 20/3 There are three main kinds of experience in which this extension of motive-based explanation is exploited by Freud: dreams, the slips of the tongue or bungled actions he called parapraxes, and neurotic symptoms.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1916