sociopath

Etymology

It is formed from English socio- + -path, after psychopath.^[2][3][4][5] The first element goes back to Latin socius (“companion, associate”),^[2][4] and the second to Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “suffering”).^[2][4] Etymonline credits the word to the psychologist George E. Partridge (1870–1953), who coined or popularized it in 1930,^[4] but the OED records it from 1914.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who commits criminal or antisocial acts as a result of a moderate intellectual disability, a use now disused: 1914, in W. J. Hickson's report of a municipal court's psychopathic laboratory.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The related sociopathic (1917) and sociopathy (1918) were also first used of antisocial behaviour arising from intellectual disability.^[2] In later use the noun came to mean a person with a personality disorder shown in extreme antisocial attitudes and behaviour,^[2][3][6] the sense Etymonline dates to 1930, "one having a violent anti-social pattern of behavior".^[4] The OED notes a looser, hyperbolic use of sociopathic for antisocial, violent or selfish behaviour in general.^[2] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate equates the noun with psychopath,^[7] and the American Heritage Dictionary defines it as a psychopath or a person with antisocial personality disorder.^[8]

Timeline

• 1914 – a person whose antisocial acts result from intellectual disability (disused).^[2]
• 1917 – sociopathic, affected with sociopathy.^[2]
• 1918 – sociopathy, at first a condition of intellectual disability leading to antisocial behaviour.^[2]
• 1930 – a person with a violent antisocial pattern of behaviour, a use Etymonline credits to George E. Partridge.^[4] Merriam-Webster also dates the word to 1930.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person with a personality disorder marked by aggressive, antisocial attitudes and behaviour: The detective was convinced the arsonist was a sociopath.^[9][3][10]
2. A psychopath.^[8][7]

Word family

• sociopathic
• sociopathy

Related words

• psychopath
• social
• society
• pathos
• sympathy

Usage notes

Collins labels the word as no longer in technical use and compares psychopath,^[10] and Stedman's describes it as a designation for a person with an antisocial personality disorder.^[11]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins