gaslights
Makes someone doubt
Gaslights can be lamps that burn gas for illumination, the kind that lit streets and homes before electricity.
More commonly now, gaslights is the verb form of gaslight—to manipulate someone into questioning their own perception or sanity: He gaslights her by denying conversations that happened.
The psychological sense comes from the 1944 film *Gaslight*, where a husband dims the gas lamps while telling his wife she's imagining it.
Pole-mounted road illuminator
- VictorianOf a prim era
- lanternEnclosed portable light
- flameBurning gas made visible
- mantleCovering or wrap
wick · burner · Dickensian · lamplighter · ornamental · cobblestone · London · incandescent
Cause false belief
- misleadCause false belief
- lieDeliberate falsehood
- distortTwist from original form
- fabricateInvent or manufacture
deny · twist · falsify · misrepresent · disinformation · trickery · duplicity · deceit
Coercive psychological manipulation
- doubtLack of firm belief
- confusionMental disorientation or bewilderment
- denialRefusal to accept reality
- invalidationAct of nullifying
dismissal · undermining · destabilizing · crazy-making · second-guessing · victim · abuser · isolation
streetlamp
Pole-mounted road illuminator
mantle · wick · burner · Dickensian · lamplighter · ornamental · cobblestone · London · incandescent · flicker
deceive
Cause false belief
fabricate · deny · twist · falsify · misrepresent · disinformation · trickery · duplicity · deceit · manipulation
brainwashing
Coercive psychological manipulation
- doubtLack of firm belief
- confusionMental disorientation or bewilderment
- denialRefusal to accept reality
invalidation · dismissal · undermining · destabilizing · crazy-making · second-guessing · victim · abuser · isolation · dependency
- Victorianaseances, Dickens, spiritualism, Sherlock Holmes, phrenology
- Victorian LondonLondon, Thames, Big Ben, Westminster, East End
- 1840s-1850sOregon Trail, California Gold Rush, Mexican-American War, Manifest Destiny, Underground Railroad
- cabaretcabaret, cancan, showgirls, burlesque, Moulin Rouge
- 1860sAbraham Lincoln, American Civil War, Appomattox, Confederacy, Confederate States
- 1810s-1820sNapoleonic Wars, Waterloo, Congress of Vienna, Regency, Monroe Doctrine
gaslightsvalidates
Confirms accuracy or legitimacy
affirms · reassures · supports · empowers · encourages
gaslightsvalidates
Confirms accuracy or legitimacy
levels with · affirms · confirms · comes clean · acknowledges
gaslightsbelieves
Regards as true
trusts · hears · acknowledges · confirms · corroborates
- gaslight eraPre-electric illumination period