Fetish Define

Fetish Define
something believed to bring good luck
Technically, this wasn’t part of my research, but I had a serious cute-geeky-girls-playing-ukuleles fetish that I can neither explain nor defend.
He always made a fetish of lateness, to indicate that his life was crammed with many things, all of them more important than I was, and today is no exception.
“You got a Korean boy fetish or what?”
Social note: Nothing today; Mother gone again, looking like a courtesan; one of her cohorts, you might like to know, has revealed his hopelessness by revealing a fetish for Greyhound buses.

Sign up now (it’s free!)
Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.
Get started

Our Story

Our Mission
Team / Jobs
Partnerships

A fetish is an extremely strong devotion to something. There are sexual fetishes and nonsexual fetishes : both are obsessive interests.
The most common use of the word fetish is probably the sexual meaning. Someone with a foot fetish is abnormally interested in feet and gets sexual pleasure from seeing, being around, and even thinking about feet. There are probably thousands of sexual fetishes, most of which are too inappropriate to write about here. A non-sexual fetish is just an excessive interest in something, like a football fan who lives and breathes everything NFL.
Boost your test score with programs developed by Vocabulary.com’s experts.

Medically Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD on January 27, 2015
While you might like the sight of your partner in a pair of high heels during sex, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have a shoe fetish.
A fetish is sexual excitement in response to an object or body part that’s not typically sexual, such as shoes or feet. They’re more common in men.
Many people with fetishes must have the object of their attraction at hand or be fantasizing about it, alone or with a partner, in order to become sexually aroused, get an erection, and have an orgasm .
A person with a fetish might masturbate while they hold, smell, rub, or taste the object. Or they might ask their partner to wear it or use it during sex.
People can “fetishize” almost anything.
There are many web sites about lots of fetish interests, says Richard Krueger, MD, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. “Anything you could imagine.”
According to a study, the most common fetishes involve body parts, such as feet, or body features, such as obesity, piercings, or tattoos. The feet are by far the most common. Body fluid, body size, and hair fetishes aren’t far behind.
After body parts comes things you wear. The same study put clothes worn on the hips and legs, such as stockings and skirts, at the top of the list. Footwear, then underwear, ranked closely behind.
Fetishes that involve the feel of a certain material, often leather or rubber, are also common. Some people like dressing themselves and their partner in furry animal costumes.
Sexual behavior experts don't agree on the causes. Some people can trace their attraction back to early childhood, before they were aware of their sexuality.
A fetish can also come from seeing inappropriate sexual behavior during childhood or from sexual abuse, says Kenneth Rosenberg, MD. He's a psychiatry professor at Weill Cornell Medical College.
A sexual fetish is not a disorder by definition, but it can reach that level if it causes intense, lasting distress.
“Whether somebody is doing this by themselves or with a partner, if they’re happy with it, then it’s not an issue," Krueger says, as long as it causes pleasure and no one is being forced to take part.
“My patients come to me because they feel it’s a problem,” Rosenberg says. “Their behaviors are not interesting, fun, or even sexy. They are not simply experimenting with novel means of sexual expression. They are desperate, compulsive, and sometimes so distressed by their behaviors that suicide is a consideration.”
When it's a disorder, it feels out of control. Someone might disappear from work or home to practice their fetish in secret. This fascination could also keep them from doing their job.
“A physician could have a foot fetish, for example, and spend a large amount of time and attention on his patients’ feet,” Krueger says.
People with these disorders might also steal to get the object of their desire. Often, they can’t have meaningful sexual relationships with other people. They might prefer to have time alone with their object, even when they're in a relationship with another person.
“If your partner said, ‘Wear a pair of sexy shoes tonight,' you’d probably say, ‘Why not?’ But if your partner said, ‘You can sleep in the other room, just leave me your shoes,’ that would be a problem,” Rosenberg says.
Standard treatment includes medication and talk therapy with a psychiatrist or counselor.
Still, some fetishes can be harmless. A recent study on “adult baby/diaper lovers” found that among nearly 1,800 men and 140 women who report having this fetish, most said they were "comfortable" with their fetish and that it wasn't a problem.
The same can be said of people who enjoy bondage, discipline or domination, sadism, and masochism, commonly known as “BDSM,” Rosenberg says. As long as everyone agrees, then chances are “no one’s getting hurt in a way that is extreme or permanent, and everyone’s happy with what’s happening.”
Scorolli, C. International Journal of Impotence Research , published online Feb. 15, 2007.
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5 th ed. (DSM-5). American Psychiatric Association, 2013.
Hawkinson, K. Archives of Sexual Behavior , published online Jan. 29, 2014.
Richard Krueger, MD, associate clinical professor, Columbia University, N.Y.
Kenneth Rosenberg, MD, clinical associate professor, Weill Cornell Medical College, N.Y.
Here's how to avoid the most common mistakes.
What do you know about locking lips?
© 2005 - 2022 WebMD LLC. All rights reserved.
WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
My profile
+Plus help
Log out

Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
My profile
+Plus help
Log out

Log in
/
Sign up

Search

Search

English–Russian

Grammar

English–Polish

a sexual interest in an object or a part of the body other than the sexual organs :
an activity or object that you are so interested in that you spend an unreasonable amount of time thinking about it or doing it:
She makes a fetish of organization - it's quite obsessive .
He has a fetish for/about cleanliness .

absorb

absorbed

axe

be devoured by something idiom

be hung up on something idiom

be wrapped up in something/someone idiom

devour

fixate

fixated

fixation

get into someone

have an axe to grind idiom

mania

nag

obsessive

obsessively

one-track mind

overactive

preoccupation

preoccupied

See more results »

ankh

brass

Calvary

censer

chalice

clerical collar

crozier

crucifix

crucifixion

dog collar

graven image

idol

kirpan

Madonna

relic

rosary

totemic

voodoo

votive candle

wafer

See more results »

an activity or object that someone is interested in to an extreme degree and that the person gives an unreasonable amount of time or thought to:

uygun olmayan şeylere duyulan aşırı cinsel istek, tapınırcasına sevilen/hürmet edilen şey, fetiş…

เครื่องราง, สิ่งที่ได้รับความสนใจมากเกินไป…

vật thờ, vật thần, sự khêu gợi chú ý…

Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes

rusm/iStock/Getty Images Plus/GettyImages
Pixelda Picture License/Moment/GettyImages

Learn
Learn
New Words
Help
In Print
Word of the Year

Develop
Develop
Dictionary API
Double-
Two Girl Squirt
Piss Flaps
Big Tits Neighbor

Fetish Define

Report Page