Definition of "introverted"

simple past and past participle of introvert  examples

Turned or thrust inward, particularly:

1. Thinking about internal or spiritual matters.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • ...Self-searching with an introverted eye...

     1782, William Cowper, “Conversation”, in Poems, l. 230

2. (psychology) Of or characteristic of the personality of an introvert: thoughtful, reflective.  quotations

   Quotations

   • An extraverted individual can hardly understand the necessity that forces the introverted to accomplish his adaptation by first formulating a general conception.

     1915, Carl Jung, “On Psychological Understanding”, in Journal of Abnormal Psychology, number 9, page 397

   • The introverted type is characterised by the fact that his libido is turned towards his own personality to a certain extent.

     1916, Constance Ellen Long transl. Carl Jung as Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology, p. 348

   • There is a tendency to equate ‘introverted’ with ‘withdrawn’ or ‘schizoid’.

     1968, Charles Rycroft, A Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, page 48

3. (poetry, literature) Arranged so that two similar words, lines, etc. form the middle of the structure.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • In the Quatrain Reversed or Introverted, the first line corresponds with the fourth.

     1896, Richard Green Moulton, The Literary Study of the Bible, page 50