Definition of eidetic in English:
eidetic
adjective ʌɪˈdɛtɪkaɪˈdɛdɪk
Psychology Relating to or denoting mental images having unusual vividness and detail, as if actually visible.
Example sentencesExamples
- She had formed an almost eidetic image of the room in her mind, one that had impressed itself on her memory in short flashes during her brief times here.
- Although in traditional practices of visualization, eidetic images of a divinity or his paradisal dwelling were constructed in the mind, these visions were not visible to the eyes.
- According to your file, you have an eidetic memory, remembering anything and everything you're exposed to.
- Many of those exceptional individuals who retained the ‘photographic’ or eidetic memory that is common in children but rare in adults, have had their lives blighted by their inability to forget unimportant details.
- You were supposed to read it once and then remember it, as if you were an eidetic reader who recalled every single word with equal intensity.
Derivatives
adverb
Psychology Many, if not all, young children apparently do normally see and remember eidetically, but this capacity is lost to most as they grow up.
Example sentencesExamples
- Remember every feature of her sleeping eyes, sleeping lips, sleeping nose-eidetically, like a handprint in cement.
- Eidetically remembering every word is not the goal of speed-reading comprehension.
Origin
1920s: coined in German from Greek eidētikos, from eidos 'form'.