Thursday, May 5, 2011

velleity

velleity [vəˈliɪti] n.



1.) The fact or quality of merely willing, wishing, or desiring, without any effort or advance towards action or realization.
2.) A mere wish, desire, or inclination without accompanying action or effort (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition).

Etymology: New Latin velleitas, from Latin velle, to wish.

"The consonance of the High Renaissance
Is present, though distorted by the mirror.
What is novel is the extreme care in rendering
The velleities of the rounded reflecting surface
(It is the first mirror portrait),
So that you could be fooled for a moment
Before you realize the reflection
Isn't yours" (Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, John Ashbery, 1975).
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I like this new development of people making requests. So, if anyone has a word they want defined by the OED (since not everyone has access to it), and located in a literary source (and pronounced) by yours truly, feel free to ask. Try to keep it within the bounds of something you would actually write in a paper, though. I don't want my blog turning into Luciferous Logolepsy.

28 comments:

The Awesome Alien said...

thanks for what you do

Blk Jesus said...

thanks love the audio so now i know how to say this

Couture Carrie said...

Loving your blog!
Thanks for teaching us a new word every day!

xoxox,
CC

Endless said...

Do you have a Mac?

Anonymous said...

I'll use this one in a soon to come essay! Thanks for the share!

Astronomy Pirate said...

I kind of like this word, I'm gonna try to drop it at least once today.

lifeshighway said...

This is a great word and one that I should have known!

Thanks, my assignment, to use this is a sentence today.

Drake Sigar said...

This word will do nicely! I feel especially hateful towards humanity today. :P

Zombie said...

I have no idea how to use this in a sentence... But I velleity wish I did.

jaykaydee said...

I have many velleities~~

Kicking Rocks said...

i believe i do that alot!!

Lydia Kang said...

What a beautiful word. I learned something today!

Jazz bazooka said...

u.. thanks i will sound more sophisticated now

**Hype.Planet** said...

Thank you very much!

Triper said...

As always great post! keep it sharing, im watching you.

redgirl said...

This is a great blog! Words are beautiful, and I love using the interesting ones. I can't wait to slip this into casual conversation :)

Dave said...

I just love the sound of velleity.

Team Panda said...

i think most people can relate to the meaning of the word

zepdragon said...

Great word. Keep it up!

DEZMOND said...

ah, I definitely wouldn't know how to translate this one into my language :)

chups said...

i will try and incorporate that word into my non existing english skills

G said...

oo requests - how about ensconced? A friend used it in a text message and it made me go wtf?

123 said...

another suave sounding word :D

Mademoiselle Ruta said...

Ahhh I love your blog. I'm always looking for new words and this is perfect!

Megan said...

I'm so curious as to how you stumbled upon my blog.

And I broke your unwritten mom rule and totally rocked my bikini tonight!

Meri said...

Cool word!
You asked what I meant by word nerd- I use it to explain the part of my personality that gets really excited about learning a cool new word, excited about great play on words, excited to find just the right word for what someone is trying to describe. It usually comes out when I'm writing. I guess the nerd part is just because I think its kind of dorky.

-E- said...

@Endless no. i'm a linux nerd.

@G yeah that's a good one. be on the look out for it.

@Megan oh i think you commented on a blog that i follow but i can't remember which one atm.

@Meri that's blasphemy! jk.

Anonymous said...

Such a pretty word! Sounds like something people are going to start naming their children any day now, just for the sake of being "different."

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