Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or marked by extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall of visual images.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Pertaining to a memory or mental image of perfect clarity, as though actually visible; or to a person able to see such memories.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of visual imagery of almost photographic accuracy

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German eidetisch, from Greek eidos, form; see weid- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From German eidetisch, from Ancient Greek εἰδητικός (eidetikos), from εἶδος (eidos, "form").

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Examples

  • Some people have what are called eidetic visualizations.

    The Vision Board Book John Assaraf 2008

  • Some people have what are called eidetic visualizations.

    The Vision Board Book John Assaraf 2008

  • Some people have what are called eidetic visualizations.

    The Vision Board Book John Assaraf 2008

  • Stile was good at this, in human terms-but how could he be sure that Noh did not possess long-term eidetic memory, and be virtually invinci - ble?

    Blue Adept Anthony, Piers 1981

  • Opponents say he has an eidetic or photographic memory ( 'eidetic' - that's at least 83 on a triple).

    Home | Mail Online 2010

  • Despite its age, this remains a useful literature review, especially because it covers not only mental imagery in the narrower sense in which the term is usually used today (what Richardson calls “memory imagery”), but also other more or less distantly related quasi-perceptual phenomena such as eidetic imagery, hypnagogic imagery, hallucinations, and after-images.

    His Name Was Do Re Mi 2009

  • I have at least ten times that many, and half of them are behind the other half and they keep changing places every time we move, which recently has been once a year, so I'm fortunate to have the kind of eidetic book-memory Tatyana talks about.

    languagehat.com: THE LIBRARIAN'S HOME. 2005

  • The characters are all characters--that is, people with distinctive traits and personalities: The baby's a smart-ass biter, Violet's an inventor, Klaus a book fiend who must have a kind of eidetic memory to put to use what he's read, their aunt a grammarian paranoic, and a distant uncle, Count Olaf, will stop at nothing to gain the three children's fortune.

    Archive 2004-12-01 2004

  • The characters are all characters--that is, people with distinctive traits and personalities: The baby's a smart-ass biter, Violet's an inventor, Klaus a book fiend who must have a kind of eidetic memory to put to use what he's read, their aunt a grammarian paranoic, and a distant uncle, Count Olaf, will stop at nothing to gain the three children's fortune.

    The Fortune of the Unfortunate 2004

  • The characters are all characters--that is, people with distinctive traits and personalities: The baby's a smart-ass biter, Violet's an inventor, Klaus a book fiend who must have a kind of eidetic memory to put to use what he's read, their aunt a grammarian paranoic, and a distant uncle, Count Olaf, will stop at nothing to gain the three children's fortune.

    The Fortune of the Unfortunate 2004

Comments

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  • eidetic can also refer to photographic visual memory. or: intuitively apprehended.

    July 29, 2009

  • From the Greek Eidos (εἶδος), meaning "image," "form," or "shape." It also can have the meaning of "essence", as in Husserlian phenomenology's "eidetic reduction", which is a method for finding the essential characteristics of our experience of objects.

    November 1, 2009

  • from essay "Jonathan Williams" by Guy Davenport

    January 19, 2010

  • Eidetic

    memory or mental image of perfect clarity, as though actually visible; or to a person able to see such memories

    April 23, 2022

  • EIDETIC

    "essence", as in Husserlian phenomenology's "eidetic reduction", which is a method for finding the essential characteristics of our experience of objects.

    April 23, 2022