introversions

Noun

introversion (usually uncountable, plural introversions)

1. (usually) A turning inward, particularly
   • This disease is sometimes produced by the introversion of the edge of the lower eyelid.1796, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, volume II, page 186
2. (usually) The action of turning one's thoughts upon internal or spiritual matters.
   • ...their... Fastings, Prayings,... Introversions,... Humiliations, Mortifications...1654, Thomas Gataker, A Discours Apologetical, page 68
3. (usually) A personality orientation towards the self and mental abstraction; behavior expressing such orientation.
   • ...so that when in later life there occurs an introversion (in the sense of Jung), it consists of a harking back to regressive, reminiscent, infantile material.1912, Trigant Burrow, "Conscious and Unconscious Mentation from the Psychoanalytic Viewpoint", Psychological Bulletin, No. 9, p. 159
4. (usually) Arrangement of two similar words, lines, etc. to form the middle part of a structure.
   • Such introversion is merely a matter of form.1896, Richard Green Moulton, The Literary Study of the Bible, page 50