Meanings
- uncountableThe inability to urinate in the presence of others.
Piss-shyness (paruresis) may prevent sufferers from using a public restroom.
2003, Clara Greed, Inclusive Urban Design: Public Toilets, page 1002 more examples
Completely normal men who develop prostatitis will suddenly come down with urinary paruresis as one of their symptoms.
1996, Bradley Hennenfent, M.D.; Roseville Books, The Prostatitis Syndromes: Approaches to Treating Bacterial Prostatitis, page 59Paruresis had previously been classified as a social phobia but current thinking about paruresis is that for diagnostic purposes it is classified as a Social Anxiety Disorder in ...DSM-IV.
2006, Bernie Warren, Suffering the Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune, page 105Synonyms: shy bladder, shy bladder syndrome, stage fright, performance anxiety
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe inability to urinate in the presence of others.
Origin
From para- (“abnormal, defective”) + -uresis (“urination”). The term was coined by Williams and Degenhart in their 1954 paper "Paruresis: A survey of a disorder of micturition" in the Journal of General Psychology 51:19-29.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch paruresis, plasangst
- paruresisTranslations
- plasangstTranslations
- plasvreesTranslations
French parurésie, urinophobie
- parurésieTranslations
- urinophobieTranslations
German Paruresis
- ParuresisTranslations
Spanish paruresis
- paruresisTranslations
Cite this entry
paruresis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paruresis
“paruresis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paruresis. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “paruresis,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paruresis.
Source: paruresis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.