Psychedelia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A cultural and artistic expression that emphasizes vibrant visuals and surreal experiences stemming from altered consciousness and frequently connects to music and the 1960s subculture
2. A movement associated with vivid imagery and immersive soundscapes representing experiences of altered states and often tied to the artistic revolution of the 1960s
3. A style of art and music characterized by vivid colors, surreal imagery, and themes drawn from hallucinogenic experiences

Etymology: "Psychedelia" is a made-up-on-the-spot combination of two existing words: "psychedelic" with the suffix "-ia" tacked onto the end. The adjective "psychedelic" was coined in 1956 by the psychologist Humphry Osmond, who was experimenting with mescaline and LSD, and he built it from Greek roots meaning "mind-manifesting," a phrase he suggested to a novelist friend, Aldous Huxley, when he was looking for a term to describe the drugs' effects. The "-ia" ending comes ultimately from Latin "-ia," the same ending that gives English words like "mania" and "utopia," used here to turn an adjective into a noun for a whole scene or culture. That is all the word needs. Its ancestry is a bit of Greek and Latin grammar that was already in English for centuries, applied in the 1960s to a fresh and very specific cultural moment: the psychedelic music, posters, fashion and light shows of the counterculture. The noun thus names the style as a whole rather than any single drug, song or artwork.

Synonyms: psychedelic art, trippy art, hallucinogenic imagery, counterculture, mind expansion