bipolar

Etymology

From bi- +‎ polar.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /baɪˈpəʊ.lə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /baɪˈpoʊ.lɚ/
• Rhymes: -əʊlə(ɹ)

Adjective

bipolar (comparative more bipolar, superlative most bipolar)

1. Involving or having both extremes or poles at the same time.
   • 1992, Paul Gilbert, Depression: The Evolution of Powerlessness:

     (4) the unipolar-bipolar distinction is important in regard to these personality variables; the trait of extraversion (associated as it is with positive affectivity) may mean that individual variation here leads to a more bipolar pattern; ...

   • 1997, David A. Lake, Patrick M. Morgan, Regional Orders: Building Security in a New World:

     Pakistan greatly resents this, but its efforts to adjust the complex have involved trying to make it more bipolar (via nuclear weapons), and not to move to another security order.

   • 2006, Leandro Herrero, The Leader with Seven Faces: finding your own ways to practice leadership in today's organization:

     And today, the world has become more and more bipolar.

2. Relating to both polar regions.
3. (physics) Relating to a bipole.
4. Relating to or having bipolar disorder.

   Synonym: (dated) manic-depressive

   • 2005, Barbara E. Bryden, Sundial: Theoretical Relationships Between Psychological Type, Talent, and Disease:

     And in both visual artists and creative writers, there is a considerably higher risk of affective disorder, more unipolar (depression only) in artists, and more bipolar (mania and depression) in writers, and leading to higher rates of alcoholism and suicide, particularly in writers (Andreasen 1987; DeLong & Aldershof, 1988; Jamison, 1986, 1995).

   • 2005, Robert H. Coombs, editor, Family Therapy Review: Preparing for Comprehensive and Licensing Examinations:

     Since many childhood depressions become more bipolar in adult life, and because Jay's father was bipolar, I added Depakote to "protect" him against this bipolar possibility.

   • 2006, Jon P. Bloch, Jeffrey A. Naser, The everything health guide to adult bipolar disorder:

     If a bipolar person you work with is receiving successful treatment, you might not even know that she is bipolar.

5. (politics) Of or relating to an international system in which two states wield most of the cultural, economic, and political influence.

Noun

bipolar (countable and uncountable, plural bipolars)

1. (countable) A bipolar cell.
2. (uncountable) Ellipsis of bipolar disorder.
   • 2018 April 26, Tobias A Rowland, Steven Marwaha, “Epidemiology and risk factors for bipolar disorder”, in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology‎, volume 8, number 9, →DOI, pages 251–269:

     [R]ecent meta-analyses have shown asthma, obesity, migraine and head injury are associated with bipolar.

Anagrams

• parboil

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bi.puˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [bi.poˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [bi.poˈlaɾ]

Adjective

bipolar m or f (masculine and feminine plural bipolars)

1. bipolar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bipolar/, [ˈb̥ipʰoˌlɑːˀ]

Adjective

bipolar

1. bipolar (involving two poles)

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

bipolar (strong nominative masculine singular bipolarer, not comparable)

1. bipolar

   Synonyms: doppelpolig, manisch-depressiv, zweipolig

Further reading

• “bipolar” in Duden online
• “bipolar” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Pronunciation

Adjective

bipolar m or f (plural bipolares)

1. bipolar (involving both poles)
2. (psychiatry) bipolar (relating to or having bipolar disorder)

Etymology

Borrowed from French bipolaire. Equivalent to bi- +‎ polar.

Adjective

bipolar m or n (feminine singular bipolară, masculine plural bipolari, feminine and neuter plural bipolare)

1. bipolar

Etymology

From bi- +‎ polar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bipoˈlaɾ/ [bi.poˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: bi‧po‧lar

Adjective

bipolar m or f (masculine and feminine plural bipolares)

1. bipolar

Further reading

• “bipolar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10