Meanings
- uncountableA system of training to improve the memory.
Leamas who normally read nothing, read newspapers slowly and with concentration. He remembered details, like the names and addresses of people who were the subject of small news items. He did it almost unconsciously as a kind of private pelmanism, and it absorbed him entirely.
1963, John le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Penguin Canada, published 2009, page 87
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA memory card game in which a pack of cards is spread out face-down and players try to turn up pairs with the same symbol.
Origin
From Pelman + -ism. Named after the Pelman Institute, founded in London in 1898.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch memory
- memorymemory card game
Finnish muistipeli
- muistipelimemory card game
German Memory
- Memorymemory card game
Japanese 神経衰弱
- 神経衰弱 (shinkei suijaku)memory card game
Cite this entry
pelmanism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pelmanism
“pelmanism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pelmanism. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pelmanism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pelmanism.
Source: pelmanism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.