Posted by kazvorpal on January 1, 2011
Having taught himself more about the sciences than any teacher of his age already knew, Leonardo Da Vinci is a quintessential autodidacts.
Autodidact (plural: autodidacts)
n. A self-taught person; an automath.
We’re back! The High Vocabulary Word of the Day is starting a new year with 365 words, including a reformatting of some old ones.
Examples:
When it came to formal classes, I was a slacker. But I’ve always been a diligent autodidact and can teach myself virtually any subject — if I have a serious interest in it.
— Dean Koontz, “Q&A” column, Dean Koontz: The Official Website (16 June 2006)
He was the perfect autodidact. He wanted to know it all.
— Gore Vidal, “Edmund Wilson: This Critic and This Gin and These Shoes“, The New York Review of Books (1980-09-25)
I’ve also incorporated into my autodidacticism a distrust of schools as inefficient, repressive institutions. It’s part of my new “damn the man” persona!
— T. Rex, Dinosaur Comics
Public-library intellectuals, magpies of knowledge, like most autodidacts we were incapable of evaluating our sources.
— Edmund White, “My Women,” ‘The New Yorker‘ (2005-06-06)
Etymology
Like this:
Like Loading...
Posted in Knowledge | Tagged: autodidact, autodidactic, da vinci, dean koontz, dinosaurs, edmund white, edmund wilson, education, gore vidal, high vocabulary, information, Knowledge, koontz, language, leonardo da vinci, lexicon, mark twain, self-taught, t rex, thomas jefferson, vidal, vocab, vocabulary, vocabulary expansion, webcomics, word of the day, words, words of the day, wotd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on August 9, 2010
Apodictic
Absolutely certain, having been shown
In case it’s not obvious, we like to use real quotes that have working examples, but don’t necessarily endorse their contents…
Examples:
We know this apodictic rock beneath our feet. That dogmatic sun above our heads. The world of dreams, the agony of love and the foresight of death. That is all we know. And all we need to know? Challenge that statement.
— Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang
But all these ideas, regardless of how convincing they may be for the individual, are submitted to the critical examination of this individual and hence to a fluctuating affirmation or negation until emotional divination or knowledge assumes the binding force of apodictic faith.
— Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf
Etymology:
Greek, apo = “away”, dieknynai = “to show”
Like this:
Like Loading...
Posted in Knowledge | Tagged: edward abbey, fact, facts, greek, high vocabulary, hitler, human knowledge, information, Knowledge, lexicon, mein kampf, science, truth, vocabulary, word of the day, wotd | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kazvorpal on July 28, 2010
Logolepsy
n. A severe fascination or obsession with words
Pretty straighforward
Examples:
Thanks to the magic of teleconferencing, often the format for a given show is call-in, and the phones and airwaves crackle with logolepsy.
— Richard Lederer, A Man of My Words (2003)
A case of logolepsy is easily distinguished from the perfectly sane mood which demands and imperiosly seizes the pregnant sign, and makes it the exponent of a hidden power.
— Maurice Thompson, My winter garden: a nature-lover under southern skies (1900)
Etymology:
Logos is Greek for “word”, -lepsy is Greek, “to seize”
Like this:
Like Loading...
Posted in Grammar / Syntax, Knowledge | Tagged: english, etymology, high vocabulary, information, Knowledge, language, lexicon, logolepsy, logolept, logoleptic, maurice thompson, richard lederer, verbiage, vocab, vocabulary, word of the day, words, wotd | Leave a Comment »
High-Vocabulary Word of the Day 