Adience

/ˈeɪdiəns/ noun

Definition

Movement or orientation toward a stimulus, particularly used in psychology and biology to describe approach behavior.

Etymology

From Latin 'ad-' (toward) + '-ience' (movement or condition). Coined in the 20th century by psychologists to be the opposite of 'abience' (moving away).

Kelly Says

When psychologists needed a word for 'moving toward something,' they borrowed from Latin, but it's so technical that most people say 'approach' instead—a reminder that scientists' perfect logical words sometimes lose out to simpler everyday language.

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