51吃瓜 of the Day
ecoanxiety
noun
Psychiatry.
anxiety caused by a dread of environmental perils, especially climate change, and a feeling of helplessness over the potential consequences for those living now and even more so for those of later generations.
More about ecoanxiety
Ecoanxiety, 鈥渁nxiety caused by a dread of environmental perils, especially climate change,鈥� is a compound of the now common combining form eco– 鈥減ertaining to ecology or the environment鈥� and anxiety. The combining form eco– comes via Latin oeco-, eco– from Greek 辞卯办辞蝉 鈥渉ouse鈥� and 辞颈办铆补 鈥渉ouse, dwelling.鈥� An early occurrence in Greek of the combining form oik-, oiko– is in the noun 辞颈办辞苍辞尘铆补 鈥渕anagement of a household or family, thrift鈥� (source of English economy, which appears in English in the mid-15th century). Another early compound of oik-, oiko– occurs in (丑脓) 辞颈办辞耻尘茅苍脓 (驳锚) 鈥�(the) inhabited (earth),鈥� English ecumenic(al). The noun ecology is composed of Greek elements, but 辞颈办辞濒辞驳铆补 does not occur in Greek: English ecology comes from German Oecologie (1866; the word is now spelled 脰办辞濒辞驳颈别) 鈥渢he branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment,鈥� its meaning in English.
how is ecoanxiety used?
Long before eco-anxiety became a national ailment this year, a strong environmental ethic seemed to come naturally to people in Anne Arundel.
I know those feelings. Eco-anxiety. Doing something is about the only thing that helps, in my experience.
ecoanxiety
asunder
adverb, adjective
into separate parts; in or into pieces: Lightning split the old oak tree asunder.
More about asunder
Asunder, 鈥渋nto separate parts or pieces; widely separated,鈥� comes from Middle English asonder, asondre, osonder (with still more variant spellings), from Old English on sundrum, on sundran, on sundron 鈥渟eparately, separated from one another, apart,鈥� a prepositional phrase meaning literally 鈥渋n separate (positions),鈥� from the adverb sundor, which has cognate forms in all the Germanic languages, e.g., German sonder 鈥渨ithout鈥� (preposition) and Gothic sundro (adverb) 鈥渁lone, aside, apart.鈥� Sundor and its Germanic relatives come from a Proto-Indo-European root sen-, 蝉别苍蓹- 鈥渟eparate, apart,鈥� which appears in Latin as sine (preposition) 鈥渨ithout,鈥� as in the Medieval Latin phrase (beneficium) sine c奴r膩 鈥�(benefice) without care (of parishioners),鈥� source of English sinecure. Asunder dates from the Old English period.
how is asunder used?
You don鈥檛 enter the school by being strangely keen on chess. … You need to be a mutant, and your gift must be funkily unique to you. Helplessly shooting blood-red beams of flame out of your eyes that rip through the lawn and split a tree asunder: that鈥檚 the kind of talent that gets you enrolled …
two souls, two thoughts, two un-reconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.
asunder
leitmotif
noun
a unifying or dominant motif; a recurrent theme: A leitmotif in science fiction is the evolving relationship between humans and machines.
More about leitmotif
The English noun leitmotif, also spelled leitmotiv, 鈥渓eading motive, guiding motive, a recurring theme associated with a particular person, place, or event,鈥� comes from the German noun Leitmotif and is especially associated with Wagner鈥檚 Ring of the Nibelung (the Ring Cycle), but the term antedates Wagner, and Wagner himself never used it. German Leitmotif is a compound of the verb leiten 鈥渢o guide, lead鈥� (cognate with the English verb lead) and the noun Motiv, a German borrowing from French motif. Leitmotif entered English in the second half of the 19th century.
how is leitmotif used?
Two weeks before Christmas, on one of those balmy, pale-gold afternoons that pass for winter in Northern California, a handful of Silicon Valley’s most prominent executives and financiers held a secret meeting whose leitmotif was that rarest of concepts in the world of business: guilt.
So the leitmotif of the inevitability of change and loss in the 10 items of grandfatherly wisdom I wanted to share with him is now something he is experiencing palpably.
leitmotif