gaslighting
Looks like
Lighting a lamp with gas?
Actually
Manipulating someone into doubting their own memory and sense of reality
Origin
It comes from the 1944 film Gaslight, based on a 1938 play. A husband's secret searches upstairs make the gas lamps dim, and he tells his wife she's imagining things.
Examples
- Stop gaslighting me. I know what you said last night.
- My ex gaslit me for years, and I didn't even realize it.
- Save your texts, or he'll gaslight you about what he promised.