(Medicine)a relatively mild mental illness that is not caused by organic disease, involving symptoms of stress (depression, anxiety, obsessive behaviour, hypochondria) but not a radical loss of touch with reality (医)神经机能病,神经(官能)症。 比较 psychosis ■(in non-technical use) excessive and irrational anxiety or obsession (非技术用语)恐惧症 apprehension over mounting debt has created a collective neurosis in the business world. 对债务攀升的忧惧在商界造成了集体性的恐惧症。
语源
mid 18th cent.: modern Latin, from neuro- 'of nerves' + -osis