psyop

• psy-op

Back-formation from psyops.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsaɪ.ɒp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

psyop (plural psyops)

1. An instance of psyops: a psychological operation, usually of a clandestine sort.
   • 2009 January 15, Cintra Wilson, “All’s Fair in Beauty and War”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 29 November 2013:

     The psyop wing of Disney’s marketing department is now so hair-raisingly effective that we can only wonder what will become of little girls imprinted so deeply with such cultish brand devotion.

   • 2024 February 12, Alaina Demopoulos, “Romcom ending: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s big night at the Super Bowl”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     If the Swift/Kelce pairing is a government psyop, as conservatives want to believe, the CIA sure knows how to stage damn good football.

2. A psychological operative; a person who participates in psychological operations.

psyop (third-person singular simple present psyops, present participle psyopping, simple past and past participle psyopped)

1. (informal, transitive, rare) To manipulate or influence someone's thoughts, emotions, or behavior in a surreptitious or strategic way.
   • 1984, Condé Nast Publications (publisher), Analog Science Fiction and Fact‎^[3], volume 104:

     "I didn't mean anything. I just wondered about them psyopping her father - if it still bothered her so much."

   • 1991, John Arden, Cogs Tyrannic, Four Stories, page 390:

     Undeterred by the presence of his most senior military sponsors, this spokesperson for the liberal arts psyopped the eager students of psyops itself;

   • 2008 May 21, flyin...@email.com, “INVASION MESSAGE RECIEVED”, in rec.games.chess.politics‎^[4] (Usenet):

     The CIA has been fomenting a civil war between St Kitts and Nevis for years. The Nevis successionists have all been bought and psyopped.

   • 2023, Matthew Lysiak, Fiat Food, Why Inflation Destroyed Our Health and How Bitcoin Fixes It:

     Anyone who eats in moderation ends up limiting the amount of healthy essential food he needs because he has been PSYOPPED into thinking their excess is bad.

• Yopps, popsy, soppy