WORD OF THE DAY
ramify \ RAM-uh-fye \ verb
Definition
1 : to split up into branches or constituent parts
2 : to send forth branches or extensions
3 : to cause to branch
Examples
"In alternating chapters, 'The Lost Boy' moves back and forth in time, from a present-day whodunit set in a city … to a grim tale set in the 1870s on one of the myriad rocky islands lying off the coast. These narratives are related in fascinating ways, their threads crisscrossing and ramifying inventively."
— Anthony Lewis, The Providence Journal, 27 Nov. 2016
"[H. G.] Wells was also publishing inspired books at a furious pace. His first were the scientific textbooks Honours Physiography and Text-book of Biology (both 1893); the latter went into many editions. The topics rapidly ramified. The year 1895 alone saw a short-story collection (The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents), a fantastic romance in which an angel falls to Earth (The Wonderful Visit) and a volume of essays, as well as his first full-length work of fiction, The Time Machine."
— Simon J. James, Nature, 8 Sept. 2016
Did You Know?
Ramify has been part of English since the 15th century and is an offshoot of the Latin word for "branch," which is ramus. English acquired several scientific words from ramus, including biramous ("having two branches"). Another English word derived from ramus is the now obsolete ramage, meaning "untamed" or "wild."
Ramage originated in falconry—it was initially used of young hawks that had begun to fly from branch to branch in trees. The most common ramus word, though, is a direct descendant of ramify. Ramification in its oldest sense means "branch, offshoot," but is most commonly used to mean "consequence, outgrowth."
Ramify started out as a scientific word, at first referring to branching parts of plants and trees and later to veins and nerves, but it soon branched out into non-scientific and even figurative uses, as in "ideas that ramify throughout society."
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Syncretism
WORD OF THE DAY
syncretism \ SING-kruh-tiz-um\ noun
Definition
1 : the combination of different forms of belief or practice
2 : the fusion of two or more originally different inflectional forms
Examples
"Dance caller and historian Phil Jamison … argues convincingly … that American square dance is not a colonial relic from the British Isles, but rather a uniquely American syncretism of European, African and Native American influences."
— Gabriel Popkin, The Washington Post, 24 Jan. 2016
"The Yoruba religion was brought to Cuba by Africans from the Yoruba region…. Over time, the religion merged with Catholicism, resulting in a religious syncretism that unites the Yoruba deities (orishas) with Catholic saints."
— Abel Fernandez, The Miami Herald, 4 Jan. 2017
Did You Know?
The ancient Greeks mainly used the term synkrētismos to describe the joining together of Greeks in opposition to a common enemy. In the early 17th century, English speakers adopted the term in the anglicized form syncretism to refer to the union of different religious beliefs.
Three centuries later, lexicographers of the 1909 edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language added a new definition of syncretism ("the union or fusion into one or two or more originally different inflectional forms, as of two cases"), but this specialized sense is rarely encountered outside of the field of linguistics.
Some related terms that you might encounter are syncretize ("to attempt to unite and harmonize"), syncretist ("one who advocates syncretism"), and syncretic and syncretistic ("characterized or brought about by syncretism").
syncretism \ SING-kruh-tiz-um\ noun
Definition
1 : the combination of different forms of belief or practice
2 : the fusion of two or more originally different inflectional forms
Examples
"Dance caller and historian Phil Jamison … argues convincingly … that American square dance is not a colonial relic from the British Isles, but rather a uniquely American syncretism of European, African and Native American influences."
— Gabriel Popkin, The Washington Post, 24 Jan. 2016
"The Yoruba religion was brought to Cuba by Africans from the Yoruba region…. Over time, the religion merged with Catholicism, resulting in a religious syncretism that unites the Yoruba deities (orishas) with Catholic saints."
— Abel Fernandez, The Miami Herald, 4 Jan. 2017
Did You Know?
The ancient Greeks mainly used the term synkrētismos to describe the joining together of Greeks in opposition to a common enemy. In the early 17th century, English speakers adopted the term in the anglicized form syncretism to refer to the union of different religious beliefs.
Three centuries later, lexicographers of the 1909 edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language added a new definition of syncretism ("the union or fusion into one or two or more originally different inflectional forms, as of two cases"), but this specialized sense is rarely encountered outside of the field of linguistics.
Some related terms that you might encounter are syncretize ("to attempt to unite and harmonize"), syncretist ("one who advocates syncretism"), and syncretic and syncretistic ("characterized or brought about by syncretism").
Monday, March 6, 2017
Postulate
WORD OF THE DAY
postulate \ PAHSS-chuh-layt \ verb
Definition
1 : demand, claim
2a : to assume or claim as true, existent, or necessary
2b : to assume as an axiom or as a hypothesis advanced as an essential presupposition, condition, or premise of a train of reasoning (as in logic or mathematics)
Examples
"Some postulate that the moment when machines surpass humans in intelligence may not be that far off."
— Vicky Allan, The Sunday Herald (Glasgow), 22 Jan. 2017
"[Dr. Kevin] Tracey, a neurosurgeon, scientist and inventor, first advanced what seemed a radical hypothesis in the late 1990s: He postulated that the vagus nerve is intimately involved in the function of the immune system."
— Delthia Ricks, Newsday, 3 Jan. 2017
Did You Know?
In 1703, the dedication of the City and County Purchaser and Builders Dictionary included the following words: "These your extraordinary Favours … seem to Postulate from me … a Publick Recognition."
That sense of postulate, a synonym of claim or demand, has been used by English speakers since the early 1600s. (The word's Latin grandparent, postulare, has the same meaning, but postulate first appeared earlier in the 1500s in senses restricted to ecclesiastical law.)
Postulate was also used as a noun in the late 1500s, with the meaning "demand" or "stipulation." That sense is now considered archaic, but we still use the noun postulate. Today, it usually means "a hypothesis advanced as an essential presupposition, condition, or premise of a train of reasoning."
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