retail therapy

noun

Shopping that is done purely for pleasure, especially as a distraction from personal difficulties or disappointments.

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Meanings

nounretail therapy (uncountable)
  1. humorousuncountableShopping that is done purely for pleasure, especially as a distraction from personal difficulties or disappointments.

    This vicious cycle, "the loneliness loop," has been studied by economists for more than a decade. But surely, if retail therapy can be medicine, there must be a way for shopping to make us feel less lonely, right?

    2013 August 7, Derek Thompson, “The Loneliness Loop: Why Feeling Sad Makes Us Shop and Shopping Makes Us Sad”, in The Atlantic
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: retail therapy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.