Illuminated by gas lamps; past participle of gaslight, meaning psychologically manipulated or made to doubt one's reality.
Irregular past participle of 'gaslight' (like 'lit' from 'light'), originally describing gaslit Victorian streets, now primarily used for the psychological manipulation meaning.
English has both 'gaslighted' (regular past tense) and 'gaslit' (irregular past participle), and the irregular form is winning—'gaslit' appears far more often than 'gaslighted,' showing how new irregular verbs are actually entering English.
Popularized in modern discourse via the 1944 film 'Gaslight' starring Ingrid Bergman, where a husband manipulates his wife into questioning her sanity. The term's cultural resonance amplified through feminist psychology in the 1980s-90s, making it gendered in its archetypal victim-perpetrator dynamic, though the underlying manipulative behavior is gender-neutral.
Use 'gaslit' for the psychological manipulation itself, but note that gaslighting affects all genders equally. Avoid framing as uniquely a women's experience.
["psychologically manipulated","reality-tested","credibility undermined"]
Ingrid Bergman's powerful performance in 'Gaslight' (1944) brought psychological manipulation into popular consciousness; her portrayal made visible forms of control previously unnamed in everyday language.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.