51吃瓜 of the Day
axiomatic
adjective
self-evident; obvious.
More about axiomatic
Axiomatic ultimately comes from the Greek adjective 补虫颈艒尘补迟颈办贸蝉, which originally meant 鈥渄ignified (of persons or literary style); worthy, high in rank鈥�; as a technical term, 补虫颈艒尘补迟颈办贸蝉 in Stoic philosophy meant 鈥渆mploying logical propositions鈥� (not a cocktail party term!); its adverb 补虫颈艒尘补迟颈办么蝉 meant 鈥渟elf-evidently.鈥� 础虫颈艒尘补迟颈办贸蝉 is a derivative of the noun 补虫铆艒尘补, literally 鈥渟omething worthy of someone,鈥� hence 鈥渆steem, honor, reputation, rank.鈥� As a scientific term, 补虫铆艒尘补 meant 鈥渟omething assumed as the basis of a demonstration, a self-evident principle鈥� (Aristotle), and in geometry, 鈥渁xiom.鈥� Some people may remember axiom from high school geometry (Euclidean), e.g., 鈥淚f A is equal to B, and B is equal to C, then A is equal to C.鈥� 础虫铆艒尘补 is a derivative of the adjective 谩虫颈辞蝉 鈥渙f like value, worth as much as, worthy,鈥� literally 鈥渃ounterbalancing.鈥� 脕虫颈辞蝉 in its turn derives from the verb 谩驳别颈苍, one of whose dozens of meanings is 鈥渢o weigh on a scale, weigh.鈥� Axiomatic entered English in the late 18th century.
how is axiomatic used?
滨迟鈥檚 axiomatic: Reporters run to the story. They don鈥檛 sit it out.
Psychiatry, and society in general, had been subverted by the almost axiomatic belief that “hearing voices” spelled madness and never occurred except in the context of severe mental disturbance.
axiomatic
faux pas
noun
a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct; an embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion.
More about faux pas
Faux pas, from French and still unnaturalized in English, literally means 鈥渇alse step,鈥� nowadays referring to a breach in good manners, a social blunder. French faux comes from Old French fals, faus, from Latin falsus, past participle of the verb fallere 鈥渢o deceive, mislead.鈥� The French noun pas, source of English pace, comes from the Latin noun passus 鈥渁 step, stride, pace,鈥� a derivative of the verb pandere 鈥渢o spread (legs, arms, wings), spread out, open.鈥� Faux pas entered English in the second half of the 17th century.
how is faux pas used?
I sat for almost half an hour as they finished preparing, acutely aware of my social faux pas.
I accidentally exposed to them my entire desktop, which felt like a big faux pas despite the fact that there was nothing embarrassing on there at that moment.
faux pas
More about esurient
Esurient, 鈥渉ungry, greedily hungry, greedy,鈥� comes from Latin 脓蝉耻谤颈脓苍蝉 (stem esurient-), the present participle of the verb 脓蝉耻谤墨谤别 鈥渢o feel hunger, suffer from hunger,鈥� formed from 脓蝉(耻蝉), past participle of edere 鈥渢o eat鈥� and the desiderative suffix -耻谤墨谤别 (of unknown origin); thus 脓蝉耻谤墨谤别 literally means 鈥渢o desire to eat.鈥� Esurient may be familiar to those who like Johann Sebastian Bach鈥檚 Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), which contains the verse 膾surient膿s impl膿vit bon墨s et d墨vit膿s d墨m墨sit in膩n膿s, 鈥淗e [God] hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away.鈥� Esurient entered English in the second half of the 17th century.
how is esurient used?
The whole business of bribing, so far as it is carried on, will fall into disreputable hands, those of untrustworthy, esurient, broken attorneys, who will sell their clients very often …
However, this esurient eye for detail can, on rare occasions, cloud the larger picture.
esurient