mikhail epstein's definitions

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

protologism

protologism n Greek protos, first, original + Greek logos, word; cf. prototype, neologism - a newly created word which has not yet gained any wide acceptance. It is a prototype or a hypothetical projection of a new lexical unit before it may become current in writing or speech. The word "protologism" proposed here and now is itself an example of protologism.

In contrast to protologisms, neologisms are words that have already been in public usage by authors other than their inventors. As soon as a protologism finds its way into newspapers and websites, journals and books, it becomes a neologism.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

videocracy

videocracy n. (from Latin video, I see + Latin cratia, from Greek kratos, power, rule; cf. ideocracy) Ð the power of visual images in shaping contemporary societies; the crucial impact of television, cinema, internet, and advertising on public opinion, political affairs, market strategies, etc.

Videocracy has become the flip side of democracy in the mass media age.

by Mikhail Epstein November 14, 2003

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. For example, Jacques Derrida never defines his method of deconstruction but only infines it in numerous passages. Infinition is for the humanities what for mathematics is a transcendental number with its "infinite decimal expansion" expressed by a non-periodic decimal fraction: an endless approximation to and escape from a discrete definition.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

syntellect

syntellect n (Greek syn, with, together + intellect) Ð the unified mind of civilization that integrates all individual natural and artificial minds through the mediation and accumulative effects of informational networks.

Intellectual network--inteLnet--will connect all thinking beings into one communicational network that gradually will develop into a new form of consciousness--syntellect. The syntellect will absorb and condense the potentials of all thinking beings and will operate on both biological and quantum levels.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

gnawledge

gnawledge n. (word-portmanteau: gnaw + suffix ledge; cf. knowledge) mechanical knowledge that is obtained by "gnawing" facts rather than conceptually interpreting them.

When Bacon pronounced "knowledge is power," he meant real knowledge, not gnawledge.

by Mikhail Epstein November 15, 2003

defriend

defriend smbd v , transitive de + friend; cf. befriend - to break off friendly relations (with smbd).

He defriended me a year after we met, with no reason or explanation. He just stopped calling, period.

I want to defriend you. Ð What's wrong? - I need something more than friendship from you. I need love.

by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003