What does gaslight mean?
Gaslight is most commonly used today for psychological manipulation: a pattern of deception that makes a person doubt their own perceptions, memory, judgment, or sanity. The noun gaslighting names that conduct, and the verb gaslight takes a person as its object: “Her partner constantly gaslights her until she questions what she remembers.” The expression is strongly negative and connotes deliberate, sustained undermining rather than an ordinary disagreement or mistake. Gaslight also retains an older, literal meaning: a lamp illuminated by burning gas, or the light such a lamp provides. That physical sense is still common in historical and theatrical contexts, but the psychological sense dominates modern usage. The term is useful because it identifies a recognizable form of emotional abuse without requiring that every deceptive interaction be clinically labeled. It should nevertheless be applied carefully, because persistent contradiction and control can also occur in circumstances that do not fit every feature of the term.
The systematic psychological manipulation of someone through deception that makes them doubt their perceptions, memory, judgment, or sanity. In its older literal sense, a gaslight is a gas-powered lamp or the illumination it provides.
"The report characterized the partner's contradictory statements as gaslight."
The abstract abuse is normally expressed as the mass noun “gaslighting.” The plural “gaslights” is chiefly used for individual lamps in the literal sense.
To subject someone to gaslighting, especially by persistently denying facts or altering reality so that they doubt their perceptions, memory, or sanity.
"He tried to gaslight her by insisting that she had imagined the entire conversation."
The plural is chiefly used in the older literal sense of individual gas-powered lamps. For the psychological abuse, “acts of gaslighting” is more natural than “gaslights.”
"The old street was lined with rows of gaslights."
Gaslight began with literal light: before it became a label for psychological abuse, it meant illumination produced by burning gas.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does gaslight come from?
Gaslight first referred literally to illumination produced by gas, and the figurative sense for deceptive manipulation developed later in the 19th century. The English word gas was coined in the 17th century by the Flemish chemist Jan Baptista van Helmont, apparently with reference to the Greek khaos, meaning “chaos.” Gaslight combines gas with light, a word continuing Old English lēoht; related terms such as gasoline and gaseous preserve the first element, while lamplight preserves the second.
Related word forms
How gaslight is actually used
The verb normally takes a person or group as its object, as in “gaslight his partner.” In contemporary usage, the gerund “gaslighting” is more common than the count noun “gaslight” for the abusive behavior, while the older literal noun sense remains established.