Nuance Dictionary / People & Relationships
가스라이팅 gaseu-ra-iting
Systematic psychological abuse by a romantic partner to make you doubt your own sanity, memory, and judgment.
What does 가스라이팅 mean?
가스라이팅 (gaseu-ra-iting) means: Systematic psychological abuse by a romantic partner to make you doubt your own sanity, memory, and judgment.
While borrowed directly from English ('gaslighting'), this term has exploded in modern Korean dating discourse, often used to call out toxic partners who twist arguments until *you* end up apologizing for *their* bad behavior. Learners usually treat it as a textbook psychological term, but natives throw it around casually in group chats the second a friend starts doubting their own perception because of an insecure boyfriend or girlfriend. It signals a sudden, sharp awakening to emotional captivity, shifting the blame entirely back onto the manipulator.
Other sides of 가스라이팅
◆ Workplace Power Dynamics — Textbooks teach gaslighting as clinical abuse, but in the Korean workplace, it's become the sharpest shorthand for a specific brand of office tyranny: the manager who changes deadlines retroactively, denies they ever approved a project, and then questions your basic competence. When employees use this in the breakroom, they aren't diagnosing a personality disorder; they are identifying a systemic power play designed to make you doubt your own memory so completely that you stop trusting your right to speak up. Learners often treat it like a trendy buzzword, but natives drop it with a heavy, exhausted sigh when HR refuses to see that the 'feedback' is actually psychological erosion.
How it's actually used
- 네가 너무 예민해서 그런 거라면서 나를 가스라이팅했어.
nega neomu yeminhaeseo geureon georamyeonseo nareul gaseu-ra-itinghaesseo.
They gaslit me by telling me I was just being way too sensitive.
💡 Reveals the classic manipulation tactic of invalidating your feelings to dodge accountability. - 그 사람과의 연애는 전부 가스라이팅이었어. 내가 이상한 줄 알았잖아.
geu saram-gwa-ui yeon-aeneun jeonbu gaseu-ra-iting-ieosseo. naega isanghan jul aratjana.
That entire relationship was pure gaslighting. I honestly thought I was losing my mind.
💡 Shows the retrospective realization that your self-doubt was artificially engineered. - 그 사람은 네가 헷갈리게 만들어서 자기를 의심하게 하는 게 바로 가스라이팅이야.
geu saramun nega hetgallige mandeureoseo jagireul uisimhage haneun ge baro gaseuraitingiya.
That person making you confused so you start doubting yourself is literally gaslighting.
💡 Used to point out manipulative behavior in interpersonal relationships.
Related words in People & Relationships
인맥 inmaek입이 무겁다 Ip-i mugeopda마음이 통하다 Ma-eum-i tong-ha-da맺다 maetda말을 놓다 Mal-eul no-ta