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Mikhail Epstein's definitions

scientify

scientify verb transitive (science + suffix ify, from Latin -ficare and -facere, to make or do) - to make smth more scientific, to subject to scientific views, rules and concepts.
He has tried hard to scientify his paper, but it still remains a provocative essay rather than a consistent argument.

She has scientified her diet and as a result got a distaste for food.
by Mikhail Epstein November 9, 2003
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ignorement

ignorement n ignore + suffix ment; cf. treatment, excitement - a noun that signifies ignoring something or somebody, corresponding to the verb ignore, but different from ignorance (which is derived from ignore, but has a different meaning, "lack of knowledge").
I hoped to receive forgiveness but instead was met with suspicion and ignorement.

Your son's continuous ignorement of his civil duties needs to be noticed and reprimanded.

The government shows the same ignorement towards human lives as towards human rights.
by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003
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ifnik (if + suffix nik)

someone whose life, habits and thinking are constructed conditionally.
Don't ask him what he's going to do. A typical ifnik, he will give you a dozen of "ifs."
by Mikhail Epstein October 2, 2003
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webbiage

webbiage n (web + suffix iage, like in verbiage) Ð excessive use of web tools and design beyond those needed to present a certain content or achieve a certain goal.
Why do you need all this webbiage? Simplify, simplify!
by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003
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amort (amor + mort)

amort n. (Lat. amor, love + Lat. mort, death)

the double instinct of love and death; the ambivalent combination of Eros and Thanatos or the transformation of one into another; a cruel and (self)destructive passion that leads to the ruin of the loved or the lover.
Amort is the most common theme of European literature, from Tristan and Isolde to The Ballad of Reading Gaol:

And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
by Mikhail Epstein November 15, 2003
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enjoice

enjoice smbd into v prefix en + joy; cf. rejoice - using false joy to talk someone into sharing an undesirable task; to entrap somebody by the appearance of joy, to deceive or trick into difficulty.

The prefix en-, like in engage, entrap, embrace, engulf, encircle, envelop, enclose, adds to the base the meaning "surrounding something or somebody or placing it within something."
He looked extremely happy with his winning ticket, and he enjoyced me into entering these sweepstakes, which I would never have done otherwise.

The government tries to enjoice us into global expansion by claiming dubious victories, clearly in violation of international law.
by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003
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infinition

infinition (definition + infinitity) Ð an infinite process of defining something that cannot be fully or precisely defined; an endless list of possible definitions.
Certain fluid concepts in their emergent state are subject to in-finition--infinite dispersal of their meaning--rather than to definition. To infine is to suggest the infinity of possible definitions of a certain term or concept and therefore to problematize its meaning and the possibility or the benefit of defining it. If definition circumscribes a specific conceptual area, then infinition releases the concept from restricting demarcations and places it in an indeterminate zone.
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
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