: to psychologically manipulate (a person) usually over an extended period of time so that the victim questions the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and experiences confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, and doubts concerning their own emotional or mental stability : to subject (someone) to gaslighting
You might think someone who is gaslighting you would only lie about big things that they could cover up or hide. But that's not the case. They often lie about all things big and small just to throw you off. Amy Morin
But sexual abuse claims against the powerful stall more easily. There were experts willing to attack my credibility. There were doctors willing to gaslight an abused child. Dylan Farrow
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Davis captures the exterior scenes (shot on Inishmore, in the Aran Islands) in somber natural light, with candles and gaslight for the interiors, as befits an area where electricity would not have arrived until the 1970s. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Sep. 2022 So Dickens says, on this day when the sun seems to have died, and the haggard glow of gaslight can barely brighten the mist. Michael Gorra, The New York Review of Books, 6 Apr. 2022 In discussing these books, Wolff explores the profound impact of gaslight and the development of projection technologies on opera. Larry Wolff, The New York Review of Books, 22 July 2021 The series includes Sloan’s famous etching of a woman kneeling in her nightgown while turning down a gaslight before joining her lover amid the rumpled sheets of their bed. Steven Litt, cleveland, 29 Aug. 2021 Its rooftop cupola was reproduced as a reminder of the gaslight era. Jacques Kelly, baltimoresun.com, 15 May 2021 In George Smith’s time, the museum lacked not only electrical light, but gaslight as well. Joan Acocella, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2019
Verb
Don’t fall into the trap of trying to gaslight the public to avoid liability or to save face. Expert Panel®, Forbes, 21 June 2022 This documentary profiles the Cabinet wife who spoke out during Watergate — and the Nixon administration’s campaign to gaslight her into silence. Jacob Siegal, BGR, 12 June 2022 The Cabinet wife who spoke out during Watergate and the Nixon administration’s campaign to gaslight her into silence. Rodney Ho, ajc, 12 June 2022 Another, Cora, is saddled with a swinish husband who tries to gaslight her whenever his chronic infidelity is exposed. Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 27 May 2022 Sadly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, those posts, too, inspired ire from their followers, who claimed Hart was lying and trying to gaslight them. Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 21 Mar. 2022 Here are five examples of Russian officials essentially trying to gaslight Western officials and the broader public regarding Ukraine. Tara Subramaniam, CNN, 13 Mar. 2022 Because this form of toxic bullying can be hard to detect, and even harder to prove, leaders who regularly gaslight can often cause extensive harm to their team over an extended period of time. Jonathan H. Westover, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2021 In my experience, the perpetrator would gaslight me. India Oxenberg, PEOPLE.com, 26 Aug. 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
Verb
after Gas Light, a play (1938) by British writer Patrick Hamilton, subsequently made into British and American films entitled Gaslight (1940 and 1944), in which a man attempts to trick his wife into believing that she is going insane