extroversion

Noun

extroversion (usually uncountable, plural extroversions)

1. (obsolete, usually) Consideration of the material world as an aid to spiritual insight.
   • in mystical Divinity... a scattering or distracting ones thoughts upon exterior objects.1656, Thomas Blount, Glossographia, s.v. "Extroversion"
   • The turning of the eye of the mind from [Christ] to outward things [mystics] call Extroversion.1788, John Wesley, Works, volume VI, page 451
2. (usually) The condition of being inside out, especially in relation to the bladder.
   • In extroversion of the bladder the anterior part of this organ is more or less completely wanting.1835, Robert Bentley Todd, editor, The Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, volume I, page 391
3. (informal, usually) A personality orientation towards others and things outside oneself; behavior expressing such orientation.
   • Extroversion is the thrusting out of the mind on to life, the use of the mind in practical affairs, the pouring out of the libido on external objects.1920, Arthur George Tansley, The New Psychology and Its Relation to Life, page 88
   • In a genre characterized by brassy extroversion, The Dead is a quiet revolutionary: a musical that dares to be diffident.1999 October 29, Ben Brantley, “‘The Dead’: a Musical That Dares to be Quiet”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2022