displacement
Shifting from place
Displacement is the act of moving something from its usual place or position.
People experience displacement when forced from their homes by war, disaster, or development: The flooding caused mass displacement of residents.
In physics, displacement measures the volume of fluid pushed aside by an object—a ship's displacement is the weight of water it displaces.
In psychology, displacement is redirecting emotions toward a safer target: anger at your boss becomes snapping at your spouse.
The word captures both physical removal and the sense of something being where it doesn't belong.
Change in position
- shiftMovement or work period
- relocationPermanent change of residence
- translationConverting between languages
- offsetCompensate by opposing force
repositioning · migration · transfer · slide · shunt · trajectory · vector · distance
Wealthy influx displacing locals
- redliningRefusing loans by neighborhood
- blockbustingScaring homeowners into selling
- ghettoizationForced residential segregation
- rezoningChanging land-use designation
eviction · buyout · neighborhood · community · housing · tenant · landlord · developer
Banishment from homeland
- asylumShelter from persecution
- statelessWithout national belonging
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- exodusMass departure from somewhere
humanitarian · refugee · migrant · crisis · camp · UNHCR · resettlement · border
Fluid's upward resistance
- ArchimedesGreek polymath, physicist
- volumeAmount of space filled
- submersionBeing entirely underwater
- immersionState of being submerged
waterline · hull · draft · tonnage · ballast · flotation · submerged · overflow
Unconscious blocking of thoughts
- sublimationSolid to gas directly
- projectionSomething that extends outward
- transferenceRedirecting feelings to substitutes
- denialRefusal to accept reality
rationalization · suppression · anxiety · unconscious · coping · ego · conflict · neurosis
Substituting associated name
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- synecdochePart standing for whole
- substitutionExchange of one for another
- transferMove between locations
figuration · reference · allusion · association · symbolism · representation · connotation · transposition
Location via three points
- parsecInterstellar length measure
- parallaxPosition change from different vantages
- baselineStandard for comparison
- angleGeometric measure of rotation
distance · measurement · astrometry · stellar · position · binocular · stereoscopic · perspective
movement
Change in position
- shiftMovement or work period
- relocationPermanent change of residence
- translationConverting between languages
offset · repositioning · migration · transfer · slide · shunt · trajectory · vector · distance · motion
gentrification
Wealthy influx displacing locals
- redliningRefusing loans by neighborhood
- blockbustingScaring homeowners into selling
- ghettoizationForced residential segregation
rezoning · eviction · buyout · neighborhood · community · housing · tenant · landlord · developer · demolition
exile
Banishment from homeland
- asylumShelter from persecution
- statelessWithout national belonging
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
exodus · humanitarian · refugee · migrant · crisis · camp · UNHCR · resettlement · border · sanctuary
buoyancy
Fluid's upward resistance
- ArchimedesGreek polymath, physicist
- volumeAmount of space filled
- submersionBeing entirely underwater
immersion · waterline · hull · draft · tonnage · ballast · flotation · submerged · overflow · density
repression
Unconscious blocking of thoughts
- sublimationSolid to gas directly
- projectionSomething that extends outward
- transferenceRedirecting feelings to substitutes
denial · rationalization · suppression · anxiety · unconscious · coping · ego · conflict · neurosis · avoidance
metonymy
Substituting associated name
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- synecdochePart standing for whole
- substitutionExchange of one for another
transfer · figuration · reference · allusion · association · symbolism · representation · connotation · transposition · analogy
triangulation
Location via three points
- parsecInterstellar length measure
- parallaxPosition change from different vantages
- baselineStandard for comparison
angle · distance · measurement · astrometry · stellar · position · binocular · stereoscopic · perspective · observation
- immigrant literatureimmigrant stories, cultural memory, belonging, assimilation, alienation
- measurementsheight, stature, meters, depth, pound
- sailing knowledgenavigation, knots, tides, currents, anchoring
- alienationestrangement, social isolation, disconnection, exclusion, outsider
- Car Specshorsepower, torque, MPG, RPM, fuel economy
- coping mechanismsrepression, denial, projection, sublimation, rationalization
displacementstaying put
Remaining in place
stability · immobility · return · placement · emplacement
displacementorder
Methodical arrangement or request
arrangement · organization · alignment · coordination · systematization
displacementsettlement
Resolved dispute or colony
homecoming · return · repatriation · rootedness · emplacement
- water displacementVolume of liquid moved aside
- native displacementForcing indigenous people elsewhere
- forced displacementCoerced removal from home
- job displacementLoss of employment position
- cultural displacement
- civilian displacementForced movement of noncombatants