nabob
[NAY-bahb]
1. a provincial governor of the Mogul empire in India
2. a person of great wealth or prominence
Example sentence:
It's the haunt of international luminaries . . . television pundits, industrial nabobs, visiting royals, best-selling novelists, and anybody who is anybody. (Jay Jacobs, "Gourmet", January 1983)
History:
In India's Mogul Empire, founded by the Moslem prince Babur in the 16th century, provincial governors carried the title of "nawab" in the Urdu language. In 1612, Captain Robert Coverte (apparently unaware of earlier travel accounts) published a report of his "discovery" of "the Great Mogoll, a prince not till now knowne to our English nation." The Captain informed the English-speaking world that "An earle is called a Nawbob," thereby introducing the English version of the word to the written page. "Nabob," as it thereafter came to be spelled, gained its extended sense of "a prominent person" in the late 18th century, when it was applied sarcastically to British officials of the East India Company who returned home after amassing great wealth trading in Asia.


nadir
[NAY-dir; nay-DIR]
1. (Astronomy) The point of the celestial sphere directly opposite the zenith and directly below the observer.
2. The lowest point; the time of greatest depression or adversity.
Examples:
1) Exploitation reached a nadir in the 1920s, when high government officials were implicated in a flourishing international slave trade and domestic forced labor. (Bill Berkeley, "The Graves Are Not Yet Full")
2) At the nadir of every recession, business pages fill up with stories of belt-tightening families who move to Vermont and buy their food in bulk. (Peter T. Kilborn, "Splurge," New York Times, June 21, 1998)
Etymology:
"Nadir" is derived from Arabic "nazir" ("opposite").


naif
[nah-EEF; ny-]
1. (adjective) Naive.
2. (noun) A naive or inexperienced person.
Examples:
1) It is only very naif critics who think that all one's influences must be contemporary. (John Fowles, "Wormholes")
2) Their money-grubbing game: they feign a tragic past and prey on the sympathies of unsuspecting naifs, fishing for bank account numbers or photocopies of passports. (Nathalie Atkinson, "Con heir," Toronto Life, September 1, 2003)
3) Believing nothing, the skeptic is blind; believing everything, the naif is lame. ("We Are All Wayfarers On the Waves of Time," Hinduism Today, November 30, 1998)
4) But underneath their differences, they're variations on a theme: one a naif, one worldly-wise who learns from the naif. (Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, "Torched Songs," Palm Beach Post, September 15, 2000)
Etymology:
"Naif" comes from French, from Old French "naif" ("naive, natural, just born"), from Latin "nativus" ("native, rustic," literally "born, inborn, natural"), from Latin "nativus" ("inborn, produced by birth"), from "natus", past participle of "nasci" ("to be born").


nail

• nailed
• get nailed

To find or catch someone doing something wrong.
Examples:
1) Jimmy's father nailed him smoking cigarettes. 2) After three years of counterfeiting treasury bonds, the FBI nailed the crime ring.
Etymology, related expression:
A "nail" is a small piece of metal that holds two pieces of wood together. When you get nailed, you and the thing you did wrong are attached together, for everyone to see.

namby-pamby

• namby
• pamby

(Adjective)
1. Excessively sentimental; affectedly pretty.
2. Weak in willpower; lacking moral or emotional strength.
(Noun) 3. An insipid weakling who is foolishly sentimental.
Examples:
1) This story is too namby-pamby
2) He is too namby-pamby when it comes to making up his mind.
3) He's a real namby-pamby guy.
4) Do you like these namby-pamby madrigals of love?
History:
The word was coined to describe the poetry of Ambrose Philips (died 1749) who wrote yuckilly, sentimental pastoral poems that were ridiculed by fellow poets Henry Carey and Alexander Pope. The first OED citation for the word is by Carey from his 1726 poem "Namby Pamby" - "So the Nurses get by Heart Namby Pamby's Little Rhimes." Note that this poem was such a successful demolition of Philips that Carey himself became known as Namby Pamby Carey and Philips became known as Namby Pamby.



name is mud

• name
• mud

1. The name is bad, the name is not respected.
2. The person is in trouble, possibly doomed and worthless.
Examples:
1) If you don't pay for the support of your child, your name is mud.
2) Everyone knows that it was Joseph who started the fight during the game. Now that we're disqualified, his name is mud.
History:
In the 1700s "mud" was a slang word for "fool" or "stupid person" in England. Starting in the early 1800s, the saying "His name is mud" was used in the British Parliament to point out any member of Parliament who had disgraced himself.


nanopublishing

• nano-publishing
• nanopublisher
• Nano-
• Nano
• thin media
• thin
• media

An online publishing model that uses a scaled-down, inexpensive operation to reach a targeted audience, especially by using blogging techniques.
Also: nano-publishing
nanopublisher - n.
Examples:
1) Unlike Kelly's site, Gizmodo (gizmodo.com) is built for speed and the quick hit, and it wants to be far more au courant than "Cool Tools". It was launched by New York-based Brit Nick Denton - who also started the ultra-hip blog site Gawker.com, a mix of New York party gossip and news. Denton's approach to online publishing is part of trend that's been dubbed "nanopublishing". (Stephen Williams, "Two Grand Blogs For Geeks, Gadget Freaks", Newsday (New York, NY), February 17, 2004)
2) One reason why hard-bitten Web publishing veterans are so interested in emerging nanopublishing models is that, after being hyped for so long, community is finally coming true. The fact that bloggers can easily link to material they find interesting not only keeps them ranked high on Google, it also means that communities of shared interest emerge quickly online, as PaidContent and Gawker have demonstrated. (Nic Howell, "Blogging: Think thin", New Media Age, July 24, 2003)
3) It was launched by New York-based Brit Nick Denton - who also started the ultra-hip blog site Gawker.com, a mix of New York party gossip and news. Denton's approach to online publishing is part of a trend that's been dubbed "nanopublishing."
("Newsday", 16 Feb. 2004)
4) In a final piece of nanopublishing news, the pair behind Guardian blog award-winning The Big Smoker have relaunched as the London outpost of the blog network Gothamist. (The "Guardian", 18 Nov. 2004)
History, synonym:
"Nano-" (one billionth) is the prefix-du-jour for describing in a figurative sense of something extremely small-scale, having in the past couple of years replaced "micro-" (which had replaced "mini-" a while back). A less trendy - but probably more accurate - name for nanopublishing is "thin media" (2003).
The word is a development of the blogging revolution. Some bloggers have realised that the format allows them to reach large numbers of people very quickly and cheaply and that - through a mixture of sponsorship, donations and targeted links to online marketing sites such as Amazon - it is possible to make money. The essence of the approach is to provide a targeted audience with informed news and comment on some specialist subject, whether it's political gossip or the latest in electronic gadgets (or even the English language).


narc

• nark
• narcotics agent
• narcotics
• agent

1. A police informer; anyone who provides information to the authorities about their friends or associates.
Example:
Nobody likes a narc.
2. To inform or spy (for the police).
Etymology:
This sense of 'narc' is derived from the Romany word 'nak' which means 'nose' - maybe from the idea that you shouldn't put your nose where it doesn't belong.
3. A police officer who specializes in drug crimes; an undercover agent who investigates the drug world.
Example:
The dealer got busted after he sold drugs to a narc.
Synonyms:
nark, narcotics agent
Etymology:
'Narc' is short for 'narcotics agent' - a police officer who deals with narcotics (drugs).
4. To cause annoyance in; disturb, esp. by minor irritations.
Examples:
1) Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me.
2) It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves.
Synonyms:
annoy, rag, get to, bother, get at , irritate, rile, nettle, gravel, vex, chafe, devil.
5. (Australian usage) A bothersome person, annoying person; whinger, wowser, spoilsport.
6. (Australian usage) To thwart; upset someone's plans.


narrative medicine

• narrative
• medicine

Medicine that uses the story of a patient's illness combined with traditional medical practices as a way of understanding, diagnosing, and treating the illness.
Examples:
1) Narrative medicine imports terms from literature to describe the doctor-patient relationship. In describing his backache, Charon said, the Dominican man was actually telling an "illness narrative", which can be interpreted just like a literary text: by examining the presentation of character, the structure of the tale and the plot of the disease. Regardless of the outcome - the diagnosis or treatment - what is central is the telling and receiving of the tale. (Melanie Thernstrom, "The Writing Cure", The New York Times, April 18, 2004)
2) The 45-year-old woman writhing in pain from an abdominal illness groans and snaps irritably at the medical student who is examining her. Her grimaces and grumbling are not articulate, but to a careful listener like Stephen Lee-Kong, a fourth-year medical student at Columbia University, they are part of a narrative that will explain what's wrong with her. Teaching students how to "read" patients and listen as their stories unfold are goals of an innovative program here in what has become known as "narrative medicine". (Katherine S. Mangan, "Behind Every Symptom, a Story", The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 13, 2004)
3) Both Drs. Brody and Kleinman seem to agree that the remedy for our chronic inattention to the patient is a new emphasis in both teaching and practice in ''medical humanities.'' To those who believe that medical humanities are to the humanities as military music is to music, Dr. Brody's eloquent book presents a formidable challenge. He fully displays the virtues of his new discipline as he shows us how literary criticism and social sciences can be applied to the tales of illness that doctors and patients tell one other. (Gerald Weissmann, "Narrative medicine", The New York Times, July 17, 1988)


nascent
[NAS-uhnt; NAY-suhnt]
Beginning to exist or having recently come into existence; coming into being.
Examples:
1) But there are other nascent technologies that are widely predicted to play a major part in moving the world from a dependence on oil, nuclear energy and coal. ("Out of thin air," The Guardian, October 31, 2001)
2) By the time that John D. Rockefeller was born in 1839, Richford was acquiring the amenities of a small town. It had some nascent industries... plus a schoolhouse and a church. (Ron Chernow, "Titan The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.")
3) This surprising success prompted several other companies to enter this nascent market. (Ted Gioia, "The History of Jazz")
Etymology, related words:
"Nascent" comes from Latin "nascens" ("being born"), present participle of "nasci" ("to be born"). It is a relative newcomer to the collection of English words that derive from that Latin verb. In fact, when the word "nascent" was itself a newborn, in the first quarter of the 17th century, other "nasci" offspring were already respectably mature. "Nation," "native," and "nature" had been around since the 1300s; "innate" and "natal," since the 1400s. More recently, some French descendants of "nasci" were picked up: "nee" in the 1700s and "Renaissance" in the 1800s. The newest "nasci" word may well be "perinatology," which was first used in the late 1960s to name the specialized branch of medicine concerned with childbirth.


nave
1. The center of a church; place of seating in a church, the central area of a church.
2. The block in the center of a wheel, from which the spokes radiate, and through which the axle passes.
Synonyms: hub, hob. 3. (obs.) A navel. Etymology:
1673, from Sp. or It. "nave", from M.L. "navem" (nom. "navis") - "nave of a church," from L. "navis" - "ship", on some fancied resemblance in shape.
There's no doubt that the word for the part of a Christian church intended for the use of the laity comes from the Latin "navis" for a ship (as does "naval", for example). Why this should be so isn't obvious, especially as the word isn't known in English until the naturalist John Ray included it in his book "Observations Made in a Journey through Part of the Low-countries" in 1673. So it's definitely much too recent to have been the term for a primitive church. It's sometimes said that it's an allusion to the Christian church being like a ship exposed to the buffeting of the waves of the sea. It's much more likely that the shape of the building suggested the simile, because it's usually long and thin and often has a pitched roof that fancifully looks a bit like an upturned boat's keel.
A word with similar seafaring links is known in several European languages, including Danish, French and German (in this last, it's "Schiff", literally "a ship"), and in these languages is older than in English; the Latin word "navis", its source, may have been influenced by the Classical Greek word for a temple that was similar to its word for a ship. Before "nave" came into English, "navis" was sometimes employed instead (for example, it's in a book by Sir Christopher Wren, dated 1669: "The Ailes, from whence arise Bows or Flying Buttresses to the Walls of the Navis"). There's an ancient metaphor that links the Church with a ship and specifically Noah's Ark. A clerical polemic of 1844 says of the word "government" (from a Greek term that means "steersman"): "A metaphor from mariners or pilots, that steer and govern the ship: translated thence, to signify the power and authority of church governors, spiritual pilots, steering the ship or ark of Christ's Church."


ne
(SMS) any


ne plus ultra

• ne
• plus
• ultra
• height
• zenith
• ultimate
• crown
• pinnacle
• peak
• summit
• crest
• high-water mark
• high-water
• mark

[nee-plus-UL-truh; nay-]
1. The highest point, as of excellence or achievement; the acme; the pinnacle; the ultimate.
2. The most profound degree of a quality or condition.
Examples:
1) He also penned a number of supposedly moral and improving books which... were the very ne plus ultra of tedium. (Richard West, "A life fuller than fiction," Irish Times, August 9, 1997)
2) If you were a graduate student in the 80's and subject to the general delusion that held literary criticism to be the ne plus ultra of intellectual thrill, then you too probably owned one of these: an oversize paperback with an austere cover and small-type title that, grouped with three or more of its kind on your bookshelf, confirmed your status as an avatar of predoctoral chic. (Judith Shulevitz, "Correction Appended," New York Times, October 29, 1995)
Etymology, synonyms:
It's the height, the zenith, the ultimate, the crown, the pinnacle. It's the peak, the summit, the crest, the high-water mark. All these expressions, of course, mean "the highest point attainable." But "ne plus ultra" may top them all when it comes to expressing in a sophisticated way that something is the pink of perfection. It is said that the term's predecessor, "non plus ultra," was inscribed on the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar, which marked the western end of the classical world. The phrase served as a warning: "(Let there) not (be) more (sailing) beyond." The New Latin version "ne plus ultra," meaning "(go) no more beyond," found its way into English in the 1630s.


nebbish
[NEB-ish]
A timid, meek, or ineffectual person.
Example:
Larry's character in the play was a nervous, awkward nebbish of a man, utterly devoid of chutzpah.
Etymology, more examples:
"From what I read . . . it looks like Pa isn't anything like the nebbish Ma is always making him out to be . . . ." Sounds like poor Pa got a bum rap, at least according to a 1951 book review that appeared in "The New York Times". The unfortunate Pa unwittingly demonstrates much about the etymology of "nebbish," which derives from the Yiddish "nebekh," meaning "poor" or "unfortunate." Used interjectionally in Yiddish - "poor thing!" - the word was borrowed from Czech "nebohy." The not-so-ineffectual-after-all Pa also contributed something else - the 1951 reference is the first known written instance of the word "nebbish" with its modern English sense.


nebulous

• vague
• nebular
• nebula

1. of, relating to, or resembling a nebula
Synonym: nebular
2. indistinct, hazy
Synonym: vague
Example:
Tia's nebulous description of the novel led her teacher to suspect that she hadn't read past the book jacket.
Etymology, more examples:
"Nebulous" comes from the Latin word "nebulosus", meaning "misty", which in turn comes from "nebula", meaning "mist", "fog", or "cloud". In the 18th century, English speakers borrowed "nebula" and gave it a somewhat more specific meaning than the Latin version. In English "nebula" refers to a cloud of gas or dust in deep space, or in less technical contexts, refers simply to a galaxy. "Nebulous" itself, when it doesn't have interstellar implications, usually means "cloudy" or "foggy" in a figurative sense. One's memory of a long-past event, for example, will often be nebulous. A teenager might give a nebulous recounting of his evening upon coming home. Or a politician might make a campaign promise but give only a nebulous description of how he would fulfill it.


necessity is the mother of invention

• necessity
• mother
• invention

Inventiveness or creativity is stimulated by need or difficulty.
Example:
1) "Rosie, you should see Ted's new bed. It's up on a platform," said Raymond. "And he even built a desk and book shelves underneath."
"What a good idea," replied Rosie. "The last time I saw Ted he was complaining about how small his room is. I guess necessity really is the mother of invention."
2) He created shoes with stilts so he could reach the ceiling. Necessity is the mother of
invention.
Etymology:
People often come up with new ideas, new ways of doing things, or new things because they need to solve a problem.
A phrase similar to this was used by people in ancient Greece, and today it is a proverb in Italian, French, German, and some other languages. The first use of it in English was in a British play in 1672. It's very popular all over the world, probably because it states a universal truth. If you urgently need something that you don't have, you will discover or invent it by using your imagination and skill. In this expression, "mother" means the creative source that gives birth to the invention.

need smth. like a hole in the head

• need smth.
• like a hole in the head
• need
• hole in the head
• hole
• head

To have no need for something at all.
Example:
Conchita needed a battery-operated, revolving-head spaghetti fork like she needed a hole
in the head.
History:
This bit of American slang comes from the 1940s. It is similar to older sayings that used the idea of not needing something that is totally unnecessary or harmful, such as "I need this like I need a disease/a cough/a toad" and so on. The words "hole in the head" come from a Yiddish expression, "loch in kop".

needle in a haystack

• needle in a hay-stack
• needle
• haystack
• hay-stack
• hay
• stack

Something that is very hard to find, or is unlikely to be found; anything hopeless (in a search).
Examples:
1) Getting a good, cheap meal in New York is like finding a needle in a haystack. 2) The movie theater was so crowded that getting a seat was like finding a needle in a haystack.
3) Looking for your contact lens in this shaggy rug will be like looking for a needle in a
haystack.
History:
Finding anything in a haystack is hard. A 'needle' is a very small tool used to sew cloth, and if a needle were sitting in a stack of 'hay' (cut grass), it would be almost impossible to find.
Since the early 1500s there have been similar expressions to describe things difficult to find: "like finding a needle in a meadow of hay" and "like finding a pin's head in a cartload of hay." In the mid-1800s the expression became "needle in a haystack."
Sayings like these are popular in other languages, too.

nefarious

• Vicious
• villainous

[nih-FAIR-ee-us]
Flagrantly wicked; wicked in the extreme; iniquitous; impious.
Synonym: evil
Examples:
1) The sheriff vowed to avenge the nefarious deeds of the bandits who robbed the bank and kidnapped his daughter.
2) Despite involvement in protection, narcotics, strong-arm debt collecting, strikebreaking, and blackmail, among other nefarious activities, all of them professed to be a cut above mobsters in other lands. (Robert Whiting, "Tokyo Underworld")
3) The liar, however, can become a truly subversive and scandalous figure, whose nefarious influence may extend far more widely than her own individual actions. (John Forrester, "Truth Games")
Etymology, more synonyms:
"Nefarious" is from Latin "nefarius", from "nefas" ("that which is contrary to divine command; a crime, transgression, sin"), from "ne-" ("not") + "fas" ("divine command or law").
"Vicious" and "villainous" are two wicked synonyms of "nefarious," and, like "nefarious," both mean "highly reprehensible or offensive in character, nature, or conduct." But these synonyms are not used in exactly the same way in all situations. "Vicious" may imply moral depravity or it may connote malignancy, cruelty, or destructive violence. "Villainous" applies to any evil, depraved, or vile conduct or characteristic, while "nefarious" suggests flagrant breaching of time-honored laws and traditions of conduct. While "nefarious" first appeared in English in the early 17th century, "vicious" and "villainous" preceded "nefarious" by about two hundred years.


negative revenue growth

• negative
• revenue growth
• negative growth
• revenue
• growth

Financial losses of a company.
Example:
Some executives think it doesn't sound as bad to say "negative revenue growth".

nemesis
[NEM-uh-siss]
1. One that inflicts retribution or vengeance.
2. A formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent.
3. An act or effect of retribution.
4. A source of harm or ruin; curse.
Example:
The team will be facing their longtime nemesis in the very first round of the playoffs.
History:
Nemesis was the Greek goddess of vengeance, a deity who doled out rewards for noble acts and punishment for evil ones. The Greeks believed that Nemesis didn't always punish an offender immediately but might wait generations to avenge a crime. In English, "nemesis" originally referred to someone who brought a just retribution, but nowadays people are more likely to see animosity than justice in the actions of a nemesis.


neologism

• neologist
• Neologistic
• Neologistical
• Neology
• neologize
• neologization

[nee-OL-uh-jiz-um]
1. A new word or expression.
2. A new use of a word or expression.
3. The use or creation of new words or expressions.
4. (Psychiatry) An invented, meaningless word used by a person with a psychiatric disorder.
5. (Theology) A new view or interpretation of a scripture.
Examples:
1) The word "civilization" was just coming into use in the 18th century, in French and in English, and conservative men of letters preferred to avoid it as a newfangled neologism. (Larry Wolff, "'If I Were Younger I Would Make Myself Russian': Voltaire's Encounter With the Czars", New York Times, November 13, 1994)
2) If the work is really a holding operation, this will show in a closed or flat quality in the prose and in the scheme of the thing, a logiclessness, if you will pardon the neologism, in the writing. (Harold Brodkey, "Reading, the Most Dangerous Game", New York Times, November 24, 1985)
3) The word popularizing was a relative neologism (the Review boasted five years later, "Why should we be afraid of introducing new words into the language which it is our mission to spread over a new world?"). (Edward L. Widmer, "Young America")
Etymology, relative words:
The French word "neologisme", from which the English is borrowed, is made up of the elements "neo-" ("new") + "log-" ("word") + "-isme" ("-ism") (all of which are derived from Greek). A neologist is one who introduces new words or new senses of old words into a language. Neologistic, or neologistical, describes that which pertains to neology, "the introduction of a new word, or of words or significations, into a language". "To neologize" is to coin or use neologisms, and neologization is the act or process of doing so.


neophilia

• neophily
• neophobia

[nee-uh-FILL-ee-uh]
love of or enthusiasm for what is new or novel
Example:
The home entertainment industry indulges the neophilia of its customers with a steady line of new products, each with more flashy automated features than the one before.
History, antonym:
The early form of "neophilia," "neophily," was first found in print in 1932, appropriately enough, describing an interest in new terminology. It wasn't until about 1947, however, that it began appearing in its present form, as a combination of the Greek-derived combining forms "neo-," meaning "new," and "- philia," meaning "liking for." The opposite of "neophilia" is "neophobia," meaning "a dread of or aversion to novelty." It has been around even longer than "neophilia," having first appeared in 1886.


neophyte

• novice
• beginner
• rookie
• tyro

[NEE-uh-fyt]
1. A new convert or proselyte.
2. A novice; a beginner in anything.
Synonyms: novice, beginner, rookie, tyro.
Examples:
1) I was a complete neophyte and knew nothing about the choreographic process, but seeing the steps pour out of this man was a revelation. (Edward Villella, "Remembering Balanchine as the Boss," New York Times, January 26, 1992)
2) She, the neophyte, with as yet no experience of this, had settled eagerly to the task. (Anita Brookner, "Falling Slowly")
3) As a neophyte in politics, I didn't understand that ducking the issues was the goal of most campaigns. (Pat Schroeder, "24 Years of House Work... and the Place Is Still a Mess")
Etymology:
"Neophyte" comes from Late Latin "neophytus", from Greek "neophutos" ("newly planted"), from "neo-" ("new") + "phutos" ("planted"), from "phuein" ("to grow, to bring forth").


neoteric
[nee-uh-TER-ik] Recent in origin; modern; new.
Examples:
1) Electronic books, they say, are asking them to make a mental transition - to veer from their ingrained appreciation for the printed books that fill our nation's more than 120,000 public, academic and special interest libraries - to depend on a neoteric gizmo that disrupts the sacred union between man and book. (Charlotte Moore, "Bedtime for binderies?", Austin American Statesman, July 28, 2000)
2) His new label specializes in alternative country or Americana - music with a sense of tradition and a neoteric edge. (Christopher John Farley, "Back To Country's Roots", Time, June 11, 2001)
Etymology:
"Neoteric" derives from Greek "neoterikos", from "neoteros" ("younger"), comparative of "neos" ("young, new").


nepenthe
1. a potion used by the ancients to induce forgetfulness of pain or sorrow;
2. something capable of causing oblivion of grief or suffering.
Example:
Ed threw himself into his art and used painting as a nepenthe to numb the pain of his broken heart.
Etymology:
"Nepenthe" and its ancestors have long been popular with poets. Homer used the Greek grandparent of "nepenthe" in a way many believe is a reference to opium. The term was a tonic to Edmund Spenser, who wrote, "In her other hand a cup she hild, The which was this Nepenthe to the brim upfild". Edgar Allan Poe sought to "Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore." The term is an alteration of the Latin "nepenthes," which is itself descended from the Greek prefix "ne-," meaning "not," plus "penthos," meaning "grief" or "sorrow." English writers have been plying the word "nepenthe" since the 16th century.


nepotism
[NEP-uh-tiz-um]
Favoritism based on kinship, i.e. shown to members of one's family, as in business, or in appointment to a job; bestowal of patronage in consideration of relationship, rather than of merit or of legal claim.
Examples:
1) I got a job there as a result of my grandfather being on the board of directors - a lesson in loyalty here, or, should I say, just plain old nepotism. (James Carville, "Stickin': The Case for Loyalty")
2) The staff was recruited by unabashed nepotism. --Noel Annan, [2]Changing Enemies Some custodians have worked their way around more recent nepotism rules by hiring each other's relatives. (Diane Ravitch and Joseph P. Viteritti, "New Schools for a New Century")
3) Being the son of the CEO, Jamie knew he got his position as marketing director partly through nepotism, but he nevertheless felt confident that he had the know-how and imagination to improve sales.
Etymology:
"Nepotism" derives from Latin "nepot-, nepos" ("grandson, nephew"). It is related to "nephew", which comes from the Latin via Old French "neveu".
During his papacy from 1471-1484, Sixtus IV granted many special favors to members of his own family, in particular his nephews. This practice of papal favoritism was carried on by his successors, and in 1667 it was the subject of Gregorio Leti's book "Il Nipotismo di Roma" - a history of the popes' nephews. (In Italian, "nepote" means "nephew.") Shortly after the book's appearance, "nepotism" began to be used in English for the showing of special favor or unfair preference to a relative by someone in any position of power, be it ecclesiastical or not.


nescience

• ignorance
• Nescient

[NESH-ee-unss]
Lack of knowledge or awareness.
Synonym: ignorance
Examples:
1) The ancients understood that too much knowledge could actually impede human functioning - this at a time when the encroachments on global nescience were comparatively few. (Cullen Murphy, "DNA Fatigue", The Atlantic, November 1997)
2) He fought on our behalf in the war that finally matters: against nescience, against inadvertence, against the supposition that anything is anything else. (Hugh Kenner, "On the Centenary of James Joyce", New York Times, January 31, 1982)
3) The notion has taken hold that every barometric fluctuation must demonstrate climate change. This anecdotal case for global warming is mostly nonsense, driven by nescience of a basic point, from statistics and probability, that the weather is always weird somewhere. (Gregg Easterbrook, "Warming Up", The New Republic, November 8, 1999)
4) As the conversation among the group turned to movies, Rob feared that his silence might betray his nescience toward all things related to the cinema.
History, related words:
Eighteenth-century British poet, essayist, and lexicographer Samuel Johnson once said, "There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable that I would not rather know it than not know it." He undoubtedly knew a thing or two about the history of the word "nescience," which evolved from Latin "nescire" ("not to know"), a combination of the Latin prefix "ne-," meaning "not," and "scire," a verb meaning "to know," and which first appeared in English in the early 17th century. "Nescient" is the adjective form. And Johnson probably also knew that "scire" is also an ancestor of "science," a word whose original meaning in English was "knowledge." From that point, it takes no stretch of the imagination to see that "scire" also gave us other words relating to the mind, including "conscience," "conscious," and "prescience."


neurodiversity

• neuro-diversity
• neurodiverse

The variety of non-debilitating neurological behaviors and abilities exhibited by the human race.
Also: neuro-diversity.
neurodiverse - adj.
Examples:
1) For me, the key significance of the 'autistic spectrum' lies in its call for and anticipation of a politics of neurological diversity, or neurodiversity. The 'neurologically different' represent a new addition to the familiar political categories of class/gender/race and will augment the insights of the social model of disability. The rise of neurodiversity takes postmodern fragmentation one step further. Just as the postmodern era sees every once too solid belief melt into air, even our most taken-for-granted assumptions - that we all more or less see, feel, touch, hear, smell, and sort information, in more or less the same way (unless visibly disabled) - are being dissolved. (Judy Singer, "'Why can't you be normal for once in your life?'" in "Disability Discourse", Mairian Corker ed., Open University Press, February 1, 1999)
2) But in a new kind of disabilities movement, many of those who deviate from the shrinking subset of neurologically ''normal'' want tolerance, not just of their diagnoses, but of their behavioral quirks. They say brain differences, like body differences, should be embraced, and argue for an acceptance of ''neurodiversity'". (Amy Harmon, "The Disability Movement Turns to Brains", The New York Times, May 9, 2004)
3) Neurodiversity is a word that has been around since autistic people started putting sites on the internet. It has since been expanded to include not just people who are known as "autistics and cousins", but to express the idea that a diversity of ways of human thinking is a good thing, and dyslexic, autistic, ADHD, dyspraxic and tourettes people to name but a few all have some element in common not being neurotypical in the way our brains work.
("What Is Neurodiversity?", Coventry Neurodiversity Group, <http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7138/rights/neurodiversity.htm>)
History:
"Neuro-" - Gk. "neuro-", comb. form of "neuron" ("nerve"), originally "sinew, tendon, cord, bowstring", also "strength, vigor"; cf. L. "nervus". "Diverse" - 1297, spelling variant