Meaning & use
anima
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Meanings
nounsingulartechnical
In the psychology of Carl Jung, the inner feminine side of a man's unconscious mind.
Grammar: Usually used with the: the anima, not normally plural.
Patterns
- the anima of someone
- a man's anima
Jung believed that a man's anima shapes the kind of partner he is drawn to.
The therapist asked how the dreamer's anima appeared in his dreams.
In the lecture, the anima was described as an inner image rather than a real person.
nounsingularliteraryrare
The soul or inner life of a person, especially in philosophy and older writing.
Grammar: A rare Latin-derived use meaning soul or breath of life.
Patterns
- the anima of something
Ancient writers saw the anima as the breath that animates the body.
The poet spoke of the anima of the forest.
Word forms
| plural | animae |
|---|
Common combinations
- Jungian anima
- The Jungian anima is a core idea in his writings.
- anima and animus
- Jung described the anima and animus as pairs of inner images.
- the anima figure
- In the dream, the anima figure appeared as a guide.
- projection of the anima
- He saw his idealized love as a projection of his anima.
- integrate the anima
- Therapy can help a man integrate his anima.
Synonyms and how they differ
- soul
- Soul is the everyday word for a person's spirit and has no Jungian technical meaning.
- psyche
- Psyche is the whole mind, whereas anima is only one part of it in Jung's theory.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: anima or animus?
anima vs animus
Animus is the male-aspect counterpart in a woman's psyche in Jung's theory, and in everyday use it also means hostility. Anima refers to the feminine aspect in a man.
Practice
In Jungian psychology, what does the anima refer to?
Choose one answer.
Jung used anima for the feminine inner image in a man. The masculine counterpart in a woman is the animus.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “anima”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.