Word.ws English Dictionary

Paris syndrome

Paris syndrome noun: an alleged transient psychological disorder encountered by some people visiting or vacationing in Paris, France, resulting from shock at their discovery that Paris is not what they had expected it to be.

Noun

Paris syndrome (uncountable)

  1. An alleged transient psychological disorder encountered by some people visiting or vacationing in Paris, France, resulting from shock at their discovery that Paris is not what they had expected it to be.
    • Moreover, his fantasy and idealization of Paris, characteristic of Paris syndrome, played a great part in his abnormal behaviors searching for his lost youth and love affaire.^([sic])1998, Katada Tamami, “Reflexions on a case of Paris syndrome”, in Journal of the Nissei Hospital, volume 26, number 2, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 Oct 2013
    • The Paris syndrome apparently affects only the Japanese and only when visiting Paris; women in their early thirties on their first international trip are particularly prone to the affliction.2008, Barbara Mennel, “The city of love: Paris”, in Cities and Cinema, Routledge, →ISBN, The Paris syndrome, or the city of love, page 62

Questions about Paris syndrome

What does Paris syndrome mean?
Paris syndrome means an alleged transient psychological disorder encountered by some people visiting or vacationing in Paris, France, resulting from shock at their discovery that Paris is not what they had expected it to be.
What part of speech is Paris syndrome?
Paris syndrome is a noun.

Words near Paris syndrome in the dictionary

  1. Paris doll
  2. Paris dolls
  3. Paris green
  4. Paris greens
  5. Paris of the East
  6. Paris syndrome
  7. Paris tea
  8. Paris white
  9. Paris-Brest
  10. Paris-Brests
  11. Paris-Harrington theorem

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Paris syndrome (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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