Word.ws English Dictionary

Barnum effect

Barnum effect noun: the tendency of individuals to give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people.

Noun

Barnum effect (plural Barnum effects)

  1. The tendency of individuals to give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people.
    Synonyms:
    Forer effect

Synonyms of Barnum effect

Forms of Barnum effect

pluralBarnum effects

Origin of Barnum effect

Named after American showman Phineas Taylor Barnum.

Questions about Barnum effect

What does Barnum effect mean?
Barnum effect means the tendency of individuals to give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people.
What part of speech is Barnum effect?
Barnum effect is a noun.
What is the plural of Barnum effect?
The plural of Barnum effect is Barnum effects.

Words near Barnum effect in the dictionary

  1. barnstormings
  2. barnstorms
  3. Barnt Green
  4. Barnton
  5. Barnum
  6. Barnum effect
  7. Barnum effects
  8. Barnumesque
  9. Barnumian
  10. Barnumise
  11. Barnumised

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Barnum effect (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Barnum effect.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/barnum_effect. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.