CS Knowledge Base

From bi- + polar.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /baɪˈpəʊ.lə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /baɪˈpoʊ.lɚ/
• Rhymes: -əʊlə(ɹ)

bipolar (comparative more bipolar, superlative most bipolar)

1. Involving or having both extremes or poles at the same time.
   • 1992, Paul Gilbert, Depression: The Evolution of Powerlessness:

     (4) the unipolar-bipolar distinction is important in regard to these personality variables; the trait of extraversion (associated as it is with positive affectivity) may mean that individual variation here leads to a more bipolar pattern; ...

   • 1997, David A. Lake, Patrick M. Morgan, Regional Orders: Building Security in a New World:

     Pakistan greatly resents this, but its efforts to adjust the complex have involved trying to make it more bipolar (via nuclear weapons), and not to move to another security order.

   • 2006, Leandro Herrero, The Leader with Seven Faces: finding your own ways to practice leadership in today's organization:

     And today, the world has become more and more bipolar.

2. Relating to both polar regions.
3. (physics) Relating to a bipole.
4. Relating to or having bipolar disorder.

   Synonym: (dated) manic-depressive

   • 2005, Barbara E. Bryden, Sundial: Theoretical Relationships Between Psychological Type, Talent, and Disease:

     And in both visual artists and creative writers, there is a considerably higher risk of affective disorder, more unipolar (depression only) in artists, and more bipolar (mania and depression) in writers, and leading to higher rates of alcoholism and suicide, particularly in writers (Andreasen 1987; DeLong & Aldershof, 1988; Jamison, 1986, 1995).

   • 2005, Robert H. Coombs, editor, Family Therapy Review: Preparing for Comprehensive and Licensing Examinations:

     Since many childhood depressions become more bipolar in adult life, and because Jay's father was bipolar, I added Depakote to "protect" him against this bipolar possibility.

   • 2006, Jon P. Bloch, Jeffrey A. Naser, The everything health guide to adult bipolar disorder:

     If a bipolar person you work with is receiving successful treatment, you might not even know that she is bipolar.

5. (politics) Of or relating to an international system in which two states wield most of the cultural, economic, and political influence.

bipolar (countable and uncountable, plural bipolars)

1. (countable) A bipolar cell.
2. (uncountable) Ellipsis of bipolar disorder.
   • 2018 April 26, Tobias A Rowland, Steven Marwaha, “Epidemiology and risk factors for bipolar disorder”, in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology‎^[1], volume 8, number 9, →DOI, pages 251–269:

     [R]ecent meta-analyses have shown asthma, obesity, migraine and head injury are associated with bipolar.

• parboil

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [bi.puˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [bi.poˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [bi.poˈlaɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [bi.poˈlar]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

bipolar m or f (masculine and feminine plural bipolars)

1. bipolar

• trastorn bipolar

• IPA^(key): /bipolar/, [ˈb̥ipʰoˌlɑːˀ]

bipolar

1. bipolar (involving two poles)

• bipolær

Borrowed from English bipolar, ellipsis of bipolar disorder

• IPA^(key): /bɑi̯ˈpoː.lə(r)/
• Rhymes: -oːlər, -oːlə
• Hyphenation: bi‧po‧lar

bipolar f (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. (slang) bipolar disorder

   Synonym: bipolaire stoornis

   Chinchilla's ejecteren haar wat een vibe is want ik heb dezelfde sjit gedaan op mijn meds voor bipolar ― Chinchillas eject hair which is a vibe 'cause I did the same shit on my meds for bipolar (disorder)

• borderline, 'tisme

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

bipolar (strong nominative masculine singular bipolarer, not comparable)

1. bipolar

   Synonyms: doppelpolig, manisch-depressiv, zweipolig

• “bipolar” in Duden online
• “bipolar”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)

bipolar m or f (plural bipolares)

1. bipolar (involving both poles)
2. (psychiatry) bipolar (relating to or having bipolar disorder)

• dipolar

• “bipolar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “bipolar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French bipolaire. Equivalent to bi- +‎ polar.

bipolar m or n (feminine singular bipolară, masculine plural bipolari, feminine/neuter plural bipolare)

1. bipolar

• bipolaritate

From bi- + polar.

• IPA^(key): /bipoˈlaɾ/ [bi.poˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: bi‧po‧lar

bipolar m or f (masculine and feminine plural bipolares)

1. bipolar

• “bipolar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025