1. A minor unplanned mistake that is usually observed in speech or writing or in small accidents or memory lapses etc.: Ted noticed that the woman's parapraxes included actions in which her conscious intentions were often not entirely carried out, as when she couldn't remember to take her car and/or house keys with her when she wanted to go shopping.

Parapraxia is also known as a "Freudian slip" or "a slip of the tongue", a minor error in speech or action that turns out to be what the person really wanted to say or to do.

While the error of a parapraxis tends to be laughed off, Freud saw the process as a compromise between the fulfillment of an unconscious wish and a conscious effort to repress it.

2. A motor disturbance or an abnormal movement of a body part in which the patient is unable to carry out desired movements and who performs unintended actions: Manfred's parapraxis resulted at times in his accidentally stumbling or walking in an awkward way on a level surface while being sober and alert.
3. Etymology: "faulty action, blunder"; from Modern Latin which comes from para-. "contrary, irregular" + Greek praxis, "a doing, a transaction, a business"; from the stem of prattein. "to do". © ALL rights are reserved.

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