Glossary

The complete NLP vocabulary, defined plainly. Every term links to its neighbours.

• Accessing CuesObservable signs — eye movements, posture shifts, breathing changes, language predicates — that indicate how a…
• Analogue MarkingMarking out part of a communication with a non-verbal cue — a slight tonal shift, pause, or gesture — so it re…
• AnchoringThe process of pairing a specific stimulus (touch, word, image) with a state at peak intensity, so the stimulu…
• As-If FrameTemporarily adopting the perspective of a solved situation — "as if the outcome had already happened" — to gen…
• AssociatedBeing inside an experience in memory or imagination — seeing from your own eyes, feeling from your own body — …
• Attitude (in NLP)The operating stance NLP was built on — voracious curiosity, experimentation, and willingness to drop what doe…
• BacktrackingRestating what someone has said using their own key words and representations — not your translation of them —…
• CalibrationThe skill of noticing a specific person's state changes by comparing current observable behaviour against thei…
• Change Personal HistoryAn NLP process in which a current resourceful state is anchored and then applied to earlier memories where it …
• ChunkingMoving the level of abstraction of discussion or thought — chunking up to the larger category, chunking down t…
• Complex EquivalenceA language pattern equating two experiences as identical — "she didn't reply, so she's angry" — where the equa…
• CongruenceInternal alignment — when your words, physiology, intentions and other parts point the same direction; experie…
• Content vs ProcessThe distinction between what an experience contains (the story, the details) and how it is structured (sequenc…
• CriteriaThe value words a person requires something to satisfy before deciding — "reliable", "innovative", "respected"…
• DeletionOne of the three Meta Model families: language that omits information needed for the sentence to be examined —…
• DistortionThe Meta Model family covering mind-reads, cause-effect errors and false equivalences — inference dressed as o…
• GeneralisationThe Meta Model family of universals and rules built from instances — "I always freeze in interviews", "nobody …
• DissociatedViewing an experience from outside it — watching yourself in the memory or imagination — with correspondingly …
• Downtime & UptimeUptime: attention fully outward on the present external world — observing and listening with nothing added. Do…
• Ecology (in NLP)The systematic consequences check on any intervention or outcome: what does the current pattern do for the per…
• Embedded CommandsImperatives delivered inside larger sentences and marked out by analogue shifts (tonal drop, pause) — "you mig…
• Future PacingMentally rehearsing a new response in specific future situations where the old pattern would have fired — the …
• GestaltThe organised whole of an experience — a "gestalt" of memories connected by theme or emotion — which NLP's tim…
• IncongruenceThe observable state of internal conflict — hesitant tone, mixed signals, "yes, but" body language — indicatin…
• Positive IntentionThe NLP presupposition-of-practice that every behaviour serves some purpose for the person doing it — protecti…
• Internal RepresentationsThe pictures, sounds, feelings, smells and tastes through which experience is encoded internally — the "map" i…
• KinestheticThe sensory channel of feelings — tactile sensation and emotional body-state — one of the main representationa…
• LeadingInviting movement — of state, direction or decision — after sufficient pacing has established accurate contact…
• Meta PositionA dissociated observer perspective on an interaction — watching yourself and others from outside — used for re…
• Metaphor (in NLP)A story or figure that carries the structure of one situation inside another — isomorphic teaching tales being…
• MirroringMatching another person's posture and movements with mirror symmetry (their right hand ↔ your left) — one phys…
• MatchingAdopting some aspect of another person's behaviour — posture, tempo, breathing rhythm, vocabulary style — to e…
• MismatchingDeliberately adopting different posture, tempo or energy — used to test rapport, gently end interactions, or c…
• Modal OperatorsWords of necessity (must, should, have to, cannot) and possibility (can, may, possible) that mark the rules a …
• NominalisationA process word frozen into a static noun — "relationship", "motivation", "decision" — that Meta Model question…
• PacingAccurately reflecting or matching someone's present reality — verbal or behavioural — until it is evident you …
• PredicatesThe sensory-based words — "I see what you mean", "that sounds right", "it feels off" — that indicate which rep…
• Presupposition (linguistic)What must already be true for a sentence to make sense — "when you notice the improvement" presupposes improve…
• Primary & Secondary GainPrimary gain: the benefit the problem directly produces (rest, protection). Secondary gain: the social benefit…
• ReframeOffering a different frame around an event so its meaning changes while the facts stay constant — the field's …
• Second PositionThe perspective of the other person in an interaction, fully inhabited — their constraints, pressures and view…
• StateThe total mind-body condition of a person at a moment — the physiological-emotional platform from which all pe…
• Triple DescriptionHaving accessed first, second and third position on an interaction — the full perceptual-positions cycle — and…
• Yes-SetA sequence of undeniably-acceptable statements or questions that builds agreement momentum — the conversationa…
• Collapsing AnchorsFiring a "stuck" state anchor and a powerful resource state anchor simultaneously so the resource neutralises …
• TranceAn absorbed, internally-directed attention state — from highway hypnosis to a great film — characterised by na…
• TimelineThe internal spatial arrangement of past and future — behind/through-front, left-to-right — which timeline-bas…
• UptimeAttention fully outward — watching and listening to the present external world without internal commentary — t…
• Values (in NLP)Context-specific, ranked criteria — security, growth, recognition, freedom — that determine what feels worth d…
• The Map Is Not the TerritoryThe founding presupposition, borrowed from general semantics: our internal representations of reality are cons…
• Resource StateAny state from a person's own history in which they had the capability a situation requires — curiosity, calm …
• Sensory AcuityTrained noticing of small observable changes in another person — skin colour shifts, breathing location, lip s…
• Soft EyesA wide-angle, receptive visual mode — taking in the whole visual field rather than focal staring — associated …
• Pattern InterruptAnything that abruptly breaks a running automatic pattern — a handshake mid-extend pause, an unexpected questi…
• Well-FormednessThe set of conditions an outcome must satisfy — positive, controllable, sensory-specified, contextualised, eco…
• Deep Structure & Surface StructureFrom transformational grammar: the complete internal representation of an experience (deep structure) versus t…
• Model of the WorldA person's complete internal construction of reality — beliefs, values, filters and representations — through …
• Sensory-Based DescriptionDescription of what is observably there — what a camera or microphone would capture — as distinct from interpr…
• Synesthesia (in NLP)Automatic overlap between representational systems — seeing a colour when hearing a tone, feeling a texture wi…
• Transderivational SearchThe internal process of scanning one's own experience to find a relevant meaning for a vague statement — the e…
• Double BindA communicative structure in which every apparent option confirms the framing — Erickson's therapeutic version…
• Quotes PatternA Milton Model device in which the suggestion is delivered inside quotation marks — attributed to someone else…
• Tag QuestionA short question attached to a statement — "…isn't it?", "…don't you find?" — that invites agreement and softe…
• Punctuation AmbiguityA sentence whose sound supports two different parses — "I want you to notice how comfortable you feel now" — l…
• Conversational PostulateA question-form request — "Can you close the window?" — processed as a polite command rather than a literal qu…
• Four Stages of CompetenceThe learning ladder — unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, unconscious comp…
• Generative ChangeChange that continues generating new outcomes beyond the original target — as distinct from remedial change, w…
• Outcome Frame vs Problem FrameProblem frame: what's wrong, why, who's responsible, how long it has lasted. Outcome frame: what you want, how…
• Presuppositions of NLPThe field's operating beliefs — "the map is not the territory", "every behaviour has a positive intention", "t…
• Counter-ExampleA specific instance that contradicts a generalisation — the gentlest and often most powerful Meta Model interv…
• Trance WordsA person's own loaded, meaningful words — noticed by their emphasis, repetition and the shift in physiology wh…
• Meta-StatesMichael Hall's model of reflexive consciousness: states about states — fear about anger, joy about learning — …
• First & Second AttentionGrinder's distinction: first attention is awareness of the sensory world; second attention is awareness of the…
• Feedback vs FailureThe famous presupposition reframes outcomes as information: results — including unwanted ones — are data about…
• Hallucination (in NLP)In NLP's technical sense: filling missing information with your own projection — "he's resistant", "she didn't…
• Digital vs AnalogueDigital: discrete, either-or channels — words, categories. Analogue: continuous channels — tone, volume, tempo…
• Reference StructureThe underlying lived experience that a memory or belief is a summary of — the deep structure a representation …
• State InductionDeliberately eliciting a state — through memory, physiology, language or environment — in yourself or (with co…
• Systemic (Thinking)Considering the wider system — relationships, teams, ecology — in which any change lands; the discipline Dilts…
• Gustatory & OlfactoryTaste and smell — the two representational systems everyone has and almost nobody talks about, despite their u…
• Six-Step ReframeThe classic protocol for negotiating with a part generating unwanted behaviour: identify the behaviour, contac…