odontic

Pronounced: oh-don-tik

-adjective

1. To utilize petty, ostentatious rhetoric
2. inadequate attempt to simplify a complex issue

root: odon (having no rhetorical teeth)

od- a hypothetical force formerly held to pervade all nature and to manifest itself in magnetism, mesmerism, chemical action, etc. (1840–50; arbitrary name coined by Karl von Reichenbach: Odic Force also called "Od")

-ontic from Gk. ont- , comb. form of on (gen. ontos ) "being," prp. of einai "to be"

antonym: odont (having teeth)

During an October 2010 debate for a Delaware US Senate seat Christine O'Donnell made the odontic statement: "Where in the Constitution is separation of church and state?"

by sosiosh October 21, 2010