diatropism

Noun

diatropism (countable and uncountable, plural diatropisms)

1. The growth or movement of a plant or animal in a direction perpendicular to a stimulus.
   • As a special result of diatropism, a transverse position is assumed which is exactly at right angles to the direction in which the iinfluence which acts as a stimulus is exerted.1903, Eduard Strasburger, Fritz Noll, Heinrich Schenck, A Text-book of Botany, page 250
   • It is either positive, making the animal creep perpendicularly downward, or it causes a horizontal movement, (diatropism) at right angles to the axis of gravity, the result of which for the organism is the so-called maintenance of equilibrium.1916, Robert Mearns Yerkes, The Journal of Animal Behavior - Volume 6, page 345
2. An orthogonal arrangement of groups of atoms within a molecule, often associated with aromaticity.
   • The phenomena of antiaromaticity and paratropism are less well known than those of aromaticity and diatropism.1984, Erik Neil Farley, Dicyclooctabiphenylenes, page 7
   • There can be two limiting variants of the structure of the nearest surroundings of a molecule: parallel pairs and a mutually orthogonal arrangement (paratropism and diatropism [22] respectively).1994, Russian Journal of General Chemistry
3. The choice of an object of libidinal attachment on the basis of dissimilarity from early childhood protective and parental figures.
   • This is the precise point of either the "optimal frustration" that Spitz requires of the mother towards the child, or of Winnicott's mysterious "good enough mother": they are called upon to break the primary narcissism in which the mother and child are bound, from anaclisis to diatropism, so that...1976, October, page 103