displacement activity

noun

Aimless, often self-comforting behavior displayed when in doubt, blocked or frustrated.

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Meanings

noundisplacement activity (plural displacement activities)

plural displacement activities

  1. human sciencesAimless, often self-comforting behavior displayed when in doubt, blocked or frustrated.
  2. more broadlySomething done needlessly when procrastinating.

    At last week’s meeting of Infantino’s expanded Fifa Council – the world’s best attended displacement activity – there was instead much discussion of the proposal to bulk up football’s flagship tournament to 40 or 48 teams.

Origin

First mentions in 1940 by two Dutch researchers Nikolaas Tinbergen and Adriaan Kortlandt

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Hungarian pótcselekvés
  • pótcselekvésaimless behaviour; something done needlessly
Cite this entry
APA

displacement activity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/displacement%20activity

MLA

“displacement activity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/displacement%20activity. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “displacement activity,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/displacement%20activity.

Source: displacement activity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.