Tuesday, February 12, 2013

sclerotic



sclerotic [sklɪˈrɒtɪk] a.

1.) Of or pertaining to, or connected with the sclerotic coat of the eye.
2.) Of medicines: Adapted to harden the tissues.
3.) Pathology. Of or pertaining to sclerosis; affected with sclerosis.
4.) Botany. Hardened, stony in texture.
5.) fig. Unmoving, unchanging, rigid (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition).

Etymology: adopted from medieval and modern Latin sclērōticus (feminine form sclerotica), an adoption of late Greek σκληρωτικός, having the property of hardening, pertaining to sclerosis or hardening, from σκληροῦν, to harden, from σκληρός, hard.

"On the one side, there were the economic conservatives. These were people that anybody following contemporary Republican politics would be familiar with. They spent a lot of time worrying about the way government intrudes upon economic liberty. They upheld freedom as their highest political value. They admired risk-takers. They worried that excessive government would create a sclerotic nation with a dependent populace" ("The Conservative Mind", David Brooks, 2012).

(Quinto Fabio Massimo davanti al senato di Cartagine, Giambattista Tiepolo, ~1729)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

mmmm good informative post!

Poke The Rock said...

this one just rolls of my tongue!!

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