bookman, scholar, scholarly person, student – a learnedperson(especially in thehumanities);someonewho by longstudyhasgainedmastery in one or moredisciplines
Definition
: a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances or situation especially in a literary work
Did You Know?
Peripeteia comes from Greek, in which the verb peripiptein means “to fall around” or “to change suddenly.” It usually indicates a turning point in a drama after which the plot moves steadily to its denouement. In his Poetics, Aristotle describes peripeteia as the shift of the tragic protagonist’s fortune from good to bad—a shift that is essential to the plot of a tragedy. The term is also occasionally used of a similar change in actual affairs. For example, in a 2006 article in The New York Times, Michael Cooper described William Weld’s second term as Massachusetts’ governor as “political peripeteia”: it “began with a landslide victory and ended with frustrated hopes and his resignation.”
Examples
The novel is populated by a number of secondary characters, each of whom plays a crucial role in the protagonist’s peripeteia.
“Before ever writing Chapter one, he will write synopsis after synopsis, for up to a year, ironing out all the wrinkles, developing not just plot and peripeteia (or twists) but character.” — Andy Martin, The Independent, 25 Nov. 2016
Definition
1 often capitalized Weltschmerz : mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state
2 often capitalized Weltschmerz : a mood of sentimental sadness
Did You Know?
The word weltschmerz initially came into being as a by-product of the European Romanticism movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A combining of the German words for “world” (Welt) and “pain” (Schmerz), weltschmerz aptly captures the melancholy and pessimism that often characterized the artistic expressions of the era. The term was used in German by the Romantic author Jean Paul (pseudonym of Johann Paul Friedrich Richter) in his 1827 novel Selina, but it wasn’t adopted into English until the middle of the 19th century.
Examples
Carson found himself plunging into a state of Weltschmerz as he grew older and discovered that the world was much more complicated than he had envisioned as a youth.
“The mad narrator or central figure is in a world that may be experienced as confusing, grotesque or volatile; above all, it is private, closed in on itself, unavailable to outsiders.… The notion of insanity as a kind of extreme loneliness is good for a wallow in adolescent-romantic weltschmerz, if not much else.” — Scott McLemee, Inside Higher Ed, 29 June 2018
qui·etus | \ kwī-ˈē-təs ,
-ˈā-
\ Definition of quietus
1
: final settlement (as of a debt)
2
: removal from activity
especially : death
3
: something that quiets or represses
put the quietus on their celebration Synonyms
curtains, death, decease, demise, dissolution, doom, end, exit, expiration, fate, grave, great divide, passage, passing, sleep Antonyms
birth, nativity
Did You Know?
In the early 1500s, English speakers adopted the Medieval Latin phrase quietus est (literally “he is quit”) as the name for the writ of discharge exempting a baron or knight from payment of a knight’s fee to the king. The expression was later shortened to “quietus” and applied to the termination of any debt. William Shakespeare was the first to use “quietus” as a metaphor for the termination of life: “For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, … When he himself might his quietus make / With a bare bodkin?” (Hamlet). The third meaning, which is more influenced by “quiet” than “quit,” appeared in the 19th century. It often occurs in the phrase “put the quietus on” (as in, “The bad news put the quietus on their celebration”).
Examples of quietus in a Sentence
was granted a quietus on the remainder of the debt in the old man’s will
her unshakable belief in a blissful afterlife allowed her to meet her quietus without the slightest tinge of fear or regret
First Known Use of quietus
1540, in the meaning defined at sense 1
History and Etymology for quietus
Middle English quietus est, borrowed from Medieval Latin, “he is quit,” formula of discharge from obligation
Definition
: a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer
Did You Know?
Manifesto is related to manifest, which occurs in English as a noun, verb, and adjective. Of these, the adjective, which means “readily perceived by the senses,” is oldest, dating to the 14th century. Both manifest and manifesto derive ultimately from the Latin noun manus (“hand”) and -festus, a combining form of uncertain meaning that is also found in the Latin adjective infestus (“hostile”), an ancestor of the English infest. Something that is manifest is easy to perceive or recognize, and a manifesto is a statement in which someone makes his or her intentions or views easy for people to ascertain. Perhaps the most well-known statement of this sort is the Communist Manifesto, written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to outline the platform of the Communist League.
Build your vocabulary! Get Word of the Day in your inbox every day.
Examples
“Mr. Eddie Lampert, the chairman of Sears Holdings and mastermind of the Kmart/Sears merger … famously published a 15-page manifesto in 2009 which covered everything from the economic meltdown to civil liberties, and contained a suggested reading list that included free-market Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek.” — Mary Jane Quirk, Consumerist, 8 Jan. 2013
“American Audacity is the rare example of a collection that coheres into a manifesto. Its essays were published during the last seven years, many in The New Republic and The Daily Beast, on topics as various as the art of hate mail, Herman Melville’s life and the Boston Marathon bombing….” — Nathaniel Rich, The New York Times, 19 Aug. 2018
ADJECTIVE
open to more than one interpretation; ambiguous.
“the equivocal nature of her remarks”
synonyms: undecided · to be decided · unresolved · undetermined · uncertain · open · arguable · debatable · disputed · unanswered · open to debate · doubtful · in doubt · moot · up in the air · in (a state of) limbo · in a state of uncertainty · indefinite · inconclusive · unconfirmed · unsolved · ongoing · pending · confused · problematic · vexed · ambiguous · equivocal · vague · borderline · iffy
antonyms: settled
uncertain or questionable in nature.
“the results of the investigation were equivocal”
synonyms: controversial · contentious · open to question · open to doubt · in doubt · doubtful · dubious · uncertain · unsure · debatable · in dispute · in question · arguable · problematic · problematical · unverified · unprovable · unresolved · unsettled · undecided · equivocal · unconvincing · implausible · improbable · not definite · unclear · not obvious · apocryphal · spurious · borderline · marginal · moot · iffy · dodgy
antonyms: certain · indisputable
ORIGIN
mid 16th century: from late Latin aequivocus, from Latin aequus ‘equally’ + vocare ‘to call’.
“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed — else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower
Word of the day!
prov·e·nance [ˈprävənəns]
NOUN
the place of origin or earliest known history of something.
“an orange rug of Iranian provenance”
synonyms: origin · source · place of origin · birthplace · spring · wellspring · fount · roots · history · pedigree · derivation · root · etymology · provenience · radix
the beginning of something’s existence; something’s origin.
“they try to understand the whole universe, its provenance and fate”
a record of ownership of a work of art or an antique, used as a guide to authenticity or quality.
“the manuscript has a distinguished provenance”
ORIGIN
late 18th century: from French, from the verb provenir ‘come or stem from’, from Latin provenire, from pro- ‘forth’ + venire ‘come’.
Mws R Writings 