Tag: One word
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One Word: Epistemology
Here’s a word I almost never use: “epistemology”. And yet – I love it. That odd-sounding word represents one of the defining themes of my life. A theme that runs through all my books and writings. A theme that engages my thoughts, rivets my attention. That theme is a question: How do we know what…
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One Word: Reunion
Reunion strikes me as possibly the most sublime of all English words. I love its sound. Even more, I love its meaning. Phonetically, reunion is a word that could be classified as “euphonious” or “mellifluous”. These are neat words, too: The first refers to sounds that please the ear; the second, to sounds that flow…
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One Word: Vasty
Glendower: “I can call spirits from the vasty deep.” Hotspur: “Why, so can I, or so can any man. But will they come when you do call for them?” (Shakespeare, Kɪɴɢ Hᴇɴʀʏ ᴛʜᴇ Fᴏᴜʀᴛʜ, Pᴀʀᴛ I, Act 3, Scene 1) This famous passage was my introduction to the word “vasty”. I came across it while…
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One Word: Disinterested
Disinterested is a word I find most interesting. Not ᴏɴʟʏ because it’s so often misused. (Although it is — like “comprise” and so many more.) No, “disinterested” fascinates me because it expresses a subtle, absolutely indispensable concept about which we need to think and talk. And because I can’t think of any equivalent word we…