uncanny valley
uncanny valley noun: a range of appearances, mannerisms, or behaviors of a humanoid figure that are subtly different from a human and thereby cause feelings of discomfort, such as fear or revulsion.
Noun
uncanny valley (usually uncountable, plural uncanny valleys)
- A range of appearances, mannerisms, or behaviors of a humanoid figure that are subtly different from a human and thereby cause feelings of discomfort, such as fear or revulsion.
- So in this case, the appearance is quite human like, but the familiarity is negative. This is the uncanny valley.1970, Masahiro Mori, “The Uncanny Valley”, in Energy, volume 7, number 4, pages 33–35
- However, when the robot is so similar that it may be momentarily mistaken for real, the transition has a local minimum characterized by a sudden decrease of familiarity, the "uncanny valley"—a dip of frustration due to unmet expectations.2006, Sebastiano Bagnara, Gillian Crampton Smith, Theories and Practice in Interaction Design
- Digital or ambiguous physical spaces that create a sense of unease or eeriness due to deviations from familiar patterns that challenge perception and categorization, leading to discomfort. (e.g., liminal spaces, haunted houses, the Backrooms, etc.)
uncanny valley meaning in Tamil, Arabic and Persian
uncanny valley in Tamil
- வியப்பான பள்ளத்தாக்கு
uncanny valley in Arabic
- subtle differences from human behavior that may cause negative reactions
- وَادٍ غَرِيب wādin ḡarīb
uncanny valley in Persian
- subtle differences from human behavior that may cause negative reactions
- دره وهمی
Examples of uncanny valley in a sentence
- The realm these creatures occupy is called the uncanny valley […].2007, Jonathon Keats, Control + Alt + Delete: A Dictionary of Cyberslang:
- More unusual is perhaps the appropriation of a psychoanalytical theory to robotics–which is, in effect, what the uncanny valley aims to do.2015, Kathleen Richardson, An Anthropology of Robots and AI, Routledge, →ISBN:
- There’s an uncanny valley effect occurring: Your friends look more like brands, and brands look more like your friends, so it’s increasingly hard to tell which is which.2016 September 22, Kyle Chayka, “Instagram's Creepy New Ads Look Like Posts From Your Friends”, in The Atlantic:
Forms of uncanny valley
| plural | uncanny valleys |
|---|
Origin of uncanny valley
Calque of Japanese 不気味の谷 (bukimi no tani), from 不気味 (bukimi, “eerie, uncanny”, of Middle Chinese origin, literally “bad taste and smell”) + の (no, noun modifier particle) + 谷 (tani, “valley”). First used in 1970 by roboticist Masahiro Mori.
Questions about uncanny valley
- What does uncanny valley mean?
- Uncanny valley means a range of appearances, mannerisms, or behaviors of a humanoid figure that are subtly different from a human and thereby cause feelings of discomfort, such as fear or revulsion.
- What is uncanny valley in Tamil?
- Uncanny valley in Tamil is வியப்பான பள்ளத்தாக்கு. See Uncanny valley meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use uncanny valley in a sentence?
- The realm these creatures occupy is called the uncanny valley […].
- What part of speech is uncanny valley?
- Uncanny valley is a noun.
- What is the plural of uncanny valley?
- The plural of uncanny valley is uncanny valleys.
Words near uncanny valley in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: uncanny valley (page history and authors); uncanny valley (Tamil Wiktionary) (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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Cite this entry: “uncanny valley.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/uncanny_valley. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.