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
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
(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
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
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
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
[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
[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
[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