Thursday, June 23, 2011

reify



reify [ˈriəˌfaɪ, ˈreɪ-] v. t.

1.) To regard or treat (an abstraction) as if it had concrete or material existence (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).

Etymology: Latin res, re-, thing; + -fy.

"At this point let me say something about the terminology of 'forces' that I have been using in discussing Newtonian physics. It may be natural to present Newtonian physics in terms of reified forces in this way, but it is not mandatory" (Thinking About Consciousness, David Papineau, 2002).

(Scuola di Atene, Raffaello Sanzio, 1510)
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There's been some interest in a weekly competition in which people try to use all the words-of-the-day for that week in a paragraph and then a winner is chosen. I'll have to work out the details about this, but stay tuned!

26 comments:

Bart said...

i reify women well :D

Kicking Rocks said...

that weekly competition looks like fun!!

Jay said...

i think, therefore i reify.

yes? :)

Unknown said...

Cool & informative as always.

PeaceLoveandSharpies said...

YAY! I FEEL SO PROUD OF MYSELF! :D

Jimmy Fungus said...

Having the audio clip of the proper pronunciation is truly a nice touch!

Anonymous said...

The competition idea sounds like it would be good :D.

Brandon Sample said...

i love that painting of Plato

Debra She Who Seeks said...

When I was studying political theory a gazillion years ago, I tossed this word around all the time. Now I finally know what it means -- thanks!

Meri said...

This sort of sounds like a word you would make up on the spot to describe the meaning. but I also do this sort of for work on a daily basis... glad to give it a name!
Cheers!

Astronomy Pirate said...

Excellent quote for reify. Also, a contest would be interesting...

Unknown said...

I also like the idea of a weekly contest, though looking over the last few word my brain is giving a little shudder of panic at trying to fit all the words in.

Intraman said...

reify sounds much better than objectify

Dear Girl Wallflower said...

I would love to participate on the contests! That painting is interesting, i should go back to my history bec before I identify some peopl in there=(....

themajessty said...

I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WORD.

*head desks*

So my ego just deflated. A lot.

....Kidding. I don't know most of the words you post. :D Well, some of them, anyway.

ALSO, Google feed is screwed up! I didn't get the last few updates of your posts, hence my lack of comments. ): And thanks so much for mentioning me!

I'm still wondering how awesome your vocabulary must be. TOO BAD distance and age separates us, or I would propose a mutually beneficial marriage.

.....Is it bad to marry someone because they have an extensive vocabulary?

.....It is?

.....Kay.

Project Trill said...

Very interesting blog!
Check mine out!
+Followed!

VersionDouble said...

super interesting, love this blog. will try to use this in my speaking!

Chain said...

I read a lot about latin words, very interesting!

shari said...

Hmmm.... like how I reify the Unified Field of Consciousness?

DEZMOND said...

reify, reify, reify ... I must remember it!

Jennifer Fabulous said...

Haha that competition sounds like it is going to be awesome...and hilarious. :P

Must remember this word! I might actually be able to use it in a sentence, in real life! Lol.

Mr. Cactus said...

Learned a new word today for sure.

Anonymous said...

The weekly competition sounds like a great idea -E-. Do you know what we'd win besides glory?

menshans said...

Always nice to read!

M Pax said...

I like the way reify rolls off the tongue.

Unknown said...

A paragraph with all the words? I might choose to be a spectator for those haha

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