Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A minor error, such as a slip of the tongue, thought to reveal a repressed motive.

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

  • noun a mistake, such as a slip of the tongue, that reveals a concealed thought or motive

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a minor inadvertent mistake usually observed in speech or writing or in small accidents or memory lapses etc.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[para– + Greek praxis, act, action; see praxis.]

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Examples

  • What they recognized but quickly forgot -- in a process akin to what Freud in an earlier text called 'parapraxis' -- is in fact a key element of the classical tradition in art that extends back more than 2,500 years, at least to the age of Athens.

    Is That Legal?: Mona Lyndie 2007

  • What they recognized but quickly forgot -- in a process akin to what Freud in an earlier text called 'parapraxis' -- is in fact a key element of the classical tradition in art that extends back more than 2,500 years, at least to the age of Athens.

    Is That Legal?: March 2007 Archives 2007

  • "parapraxis" (as Freud himself preferred to call this sort of thing) in one of the online reference works gives another academic example:

    Inside Higher Ed 2009

  • You wrote 'femous' instead of 'famous', which is a charming instance of pure Freudian parapraxis.

    Little Green Men juliette 2009

  • At first, Turner's tongue slipped him into a parapraxis, as he stated that, without immediate and radical mass action, this would all come to pass before the year 2020, "in ten years", but then, realizing that he would probably still be alive to be told how stupid he is in 2018 or 2019, he quickly extruded the forthcoming apocalypse out sometime between the year 2030 and 2040 (allowing for rounding-off).

    Parapraxis (Or, Ted Turner's Tongue Slips Out) 2008

  • It's the same mentality that chose to render Freud's Besetzung by "cathexis," Fehlleistung by "parapraxis," and Ich by "ego."

    languagehat.com: SUBLATE. 2005

  • There are still a few missing, but I think it is ... parapraxis: Nnoel's response is typical of a naturalistic evolutionist.

    Uncommon Descent 2008

  • There are still a few missing, but I think it is ... parapraxis: Nnoel's response is typical of a naturalistic evolutionist.

    Uncommon Descent 2008

  • Freudian slip ', or parapraxis, is an example of the unconscious mind slipping past our conscious editing of speech and action, potentially revealing the true beliefs of desires of the person in question. study where he followed up patients who had been diagnosed with hysteria to see if they later showed definite signs of neurological illness.

    Mind Hacks 2008

  • Reik, who loved language, would have greatly enjoyed such a parapraxis.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XVIII No 4 1991

Comments

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  • So I presume the plural is -xes?

    edit: Ah, it seems I am correct.

    April 3, 2008

  • a.k.a Freudian slip.

    July 27, 2008

  • "Then came the strange events that I wrote off at the time as a kind of self-undermining parapraxis. First I forgot to pack the book; then I forgot to collect my bag from the carousel in the airport."

    The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas, p 277

    January 1, 2014

  • orthopraxis

    January 6, 2014

  • At times when a pet passion waxes

    Our mask of discretion relaxes.

    What we meant to conceal

    By mistake we reveal

    When we slip and commit parapraxis.

    May 6, 2014