Word.ws English Dictionary

hypervigilance

hypervigilance noun: an enhanced state of sensory sensitivity accompanied by an exaggerated intensity of behaviors whose purpose is to detect threats.

Noun

hypervigilance (uncountable)

  1. An enhanced state of sensory sensitivity accompanied by an exaggerated intensity of behaviors whose purpose is to detect threats.
    • Studies that support the hypervigilance theory have largely used electrical stimulation or focal pressure to elicit the judgement of pain threshold.2012, Winston C.V. Parris, Contemporary Issues in Chronic Pain Management, page 138

Origin of hypervigilance

From hyper- + vigilance.

Questions about hypervigilance

What does hypervigilance mean?
Hypervigilance means an enhanced state of sensory sensitivity accompanied by an exaggerated intensity of behaviors whose purpose is to detect threats.
What part of speech is hypervigilance?
Hypervigilance is a noun.

Words near hypervigilance in the dictionary

  1. hypervesiculating
  2. hypervesiculation
  3. hypervibration
  4. hypervibrations
  5. hypervibronic
  6. hypervigilance
  7. hypervigilant
  8. hypervigilantly
  9. hyperviolence
  10. hyperviolent
  11. hypervirtual

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hypervigilance (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.

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