psych out

P p

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [sahyk out]
- /saɪk aʊt/
- /saɪk ˈaʊt/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [sahyk out]
- /saɪk aʊt/

Definitions of psych out words

verb with object psych out to intimidate or frighten psychologically, or make nervous (often followed by out): to psych out the competition. 1
verb with object psych out to prepare psychologically to be in the right frame of mind or to give one's best (often followed by up): to psych oneself up for an interview. 1
verb with object psych out to figure out psychologically; decipher (often followed by out): to psych out a problem. 1
noun psych out an act or instance of psyching out. 1
phrasal verb psych out If you psych out your opponent in a contest, you try to make them feel less confident by behaving in a very confident or aggressive way. 0
verb psych out to guess correctly the intentions of (another); outguess 0

See all 11 definitions of psych out

Information block about the term

Origin of psych out

First appearance:

before 1915

One of the 14% newest English words

1915-20 in earlier sense “to subject to psychoanalysis”; originally a shortening of psychoanalyze; in later use (especially indefs 1, 2) perhaps independent use of psych-

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Psych out

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Psych out

psych out popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 78% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

psych out usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for psych out

verb psych out

augur — If something augurs well or badly for a person or a future situation, it is a sign that things will go well or badly.
befog — to surround with fog
blow out — If you blow out a flame or a candle, you blow at it so that it stops burning.
bluff — A bluff is an attempt to make someone believe that you will do something when you do not really intend to do it.
bollix — to make a muddle of; bungle; botch

All 56 Synonyms of psych out