Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Without affection; unfeeling; emotionless.
  • adjective psychology Incapable of empathy.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The Bush twins came out and embraced their dad, but it was an affectionless embrace, like those brief pats the American girl gymnasts gave each other after one of them after a routine, and immediately broken.

    What Goes Unsaid: James Wolcott Wolcott, James, 1952- 2009

  • If attachment is disrupted during the first three years of life, children can suffer what is called "affectionless psychopathy."

    Just Another Kid Losing It With a Gun���PART II 2009

  • We are seeing the emergence of "affectionless psychopaths" -- kids who kill without guilt or sympathy.

    Wanted: Police Who Think Like Killers 2008

  • In adolescence, schizophrenic patients had manifested high percentages of poor social adjustment, loneliness, and running away, poor school performance, dropping out of school, drug usage, inordinate dependence, and affectionless homes.

    Clinical Work with Adolescents Judith Marks Mishne 1986

  • As a god, he is to be great, secure, and mighty; but he is also to be passionless, affectionless, wholly impartial; for Godhead, if it is to live with Law, must have no weaknesses, no respect for persons.

    The Perfect Wagnerite, Commentary on the Ring George Bernard Shaw 1903

  • Lowe and Regan were genuine friends rather than “Washington friends,” those utilitarian, affectionless acquaintanceships prevalent in the nation’s capital.

    O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011

  • Lowe and Regan were genuine friends rather than “Washington friends,” those utilitarian, affectionless acquaintanceships prevalent in the nation’s capital.

    O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011

  • Lowe and Regan were genuine friends rather than “Washington friends,” those utilitarian, affectionless acquaintanceships prevalent in the nation’s capital.

    O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011

  • Lowe and Regan were genuine friends rather than “Washington friends,” those utilitarian, affectionless acquaintanceships prevalent in the nation’s capital.

    O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011

  • Lowe and Regan were genuine friends rather than “Washington friends,” those utilitarian, affectionless acquaintanceships prevalent in the nation’s capital.

    O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011

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