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Apanthropy

Withdrawal or alienation from society or human interaction, often as a result of disappointment or disillusionment with people or society.

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Origin

From the Greek apanthropia, composed of apo ('away from') and anthropos ('human being'). The earliest documented English use dates to 1753, in Chambers's Cyclopaedia. In 18th- and 19th-century medical literature, it was classified as a species of melancholy — distinct from misanthropy in that it denotes withdrawal from, rather than hatred of, people.

Updated February 22, 2026