| nonplussed |
[06 Feb 2008|10:02am] |
non·plussed
tr. v
: A state of perplexity, confusion, or bewilderment.
"And I stood there, utterly nonplussed, surrounded by snow in July"
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[03 Aug 2007|02:49pm] |
hi, i'm sorry if this is out-of-order, but i am looking for members for a community i have just created.
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) whats_that_word
when you know the definition of a word, but can't think of the word, ASK HERE :)
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| cattywampus |
[18 Jul 2007|06:50am] |
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cat·ty·wam·pus (also cat·a·wam·pus)
-adjective
1. askew; awry.
2. positioned diagonally; cater-cornered.
–adverb
3. diagonally; obliquely:
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| blasé |
[05 Jun 2007|01:26pm] |
bla·sé
adj.
: Uninterested because of frequent exposure or indulgence.
"I'm shocked by the brutality in spite of my blasé attitude towards violence."
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| vitiate |
[15 May 2007|01:46pm] |
vitiate
tr. v.
: To make faulty or imperfect; to render defective; to impair; as, "exaggeration vitiates a style of writing."
: To corrupt morally; to debase.
: To render ineffective; as, "fraud vitiates a contract."
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| lu·gu·bri·ous |
[23 Apr 2007|10:28pm] |
lu·gu·bri·ous (lŏŏ-gōō'brē-əs, -gyōō'-)
adj. Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.
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| élan |
[19 Apr 2007|09:17am] |
é·lan
n.
: Enthusiastic vigor and liveliness; distinctive style or flair.
"a performance of great élan and sophistication"
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| i.e., e.g. |
[05 Apr 2007|10:08pm] |
i.e.
adv.
: An abbreviation for id est, a Latin phrase meaning "that is." It indicates that an explanation or paraphrase is about to follow: "Many workers expect to put in a forty-hour week — i.e., to work eight hours a day."
e.g.
adv.
: An abbreviation for exempli gratia, a Latin phrase meaning "for example." A list of examples may be preceded by e.g.: "She loved exotic fruit, e.g., mangoes, passion fruit, and papayas."
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| post hoc ergo propter hoc, ad hoc |
[05 Apr 2007|10:03pm] |
post hoc er·go prop·ter hoc
n.
: the logical fallacy of believing that temporal succession implies a causal relation; literally, "after a thing, therefore because of that thing".
ad hoc
adv.
: for the special purpose or end presently under consideration, i.e., a committee formed ad hoc to deal with a crisis.
adj.
: concerned or dealing with a specific subject, purpose, or end, i.e., the ad hoc committee disbanded after making its final report.
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[14 Mar 2007|12:44pm] |
-licious: combining form.
forming adjectives denoting someone or something deilghtful or extreamely attractive. ex: babelicious.
-Chugger: noun
a person who approaches psser-by in the street asking for donations or subscriptionsto a particuar charity.
-Boo: noun
a person's girlfriend or boyfriend.
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| pastiche |
[07 Dec 2006|02:42pm] |
pas·tiche
n.
: an incongruous combination of materials, forms, motifs, etc., taken from different sources; hodgepodge.
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| kleptocracy |
[05 Dec 2006|08:08am] |
klep·toc·ra·cy
n.
: a pejorative, informal term for a government that is corrupt in its management of public funds, in that its management is designed to primarily sustain the personal wealth and political power of government officials and their cronies (collectively, kleptocrats).
"Following a failed coup attempt in 1992, Chávez famously quipped on national television that he had only failed "por ahora" — "for the moment." Chávez was catapulted into the national spotlight, with many poor Venezuelans seeing him as a figure who had stood up against government corruption and kleptocracy."
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| asceticism |
[01 Dec 2006|10:37am] |
as·cet·i·cism
n.
: the doctrine that through renunciation of worldly pleasures it is possible to achieve a high spiritual or intellectual state.
Asceticism describes a life characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures; a life of austerity. Those who practice ascetic lifestyles often perceive their practices as virtuous and pursue them to achieve greater spirituality. Many ascetics believe the action of purifying the body helps to purify the soul, and thus obtain a greater connection with the Divine or find inner peace. This may take the form of self-mortification, rituals or renunciations of pleasure. However, ascetics maintain that self-imposed constraints bring them greater freedom in various areas of their lives, such as increased clarity of thought and the ability to resist potentially destructive temptations.
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| misanthrope |
[29 Nov 2006|04:11pm] |
mis·an·thrope
n.
: one who hates or mistrusts humankind.
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| arbitrage |
[29 Nov 2006|12:24pm] |
ar·bi·trage
n.
: the purchase of securities, commodities or foreign exchange on one market for immediate resale on another market in order to profit from a price discrepancy.
In economics, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a state of imbalance between two or more markets: a combination of matching deals are struck that capitalize upon the imbalance, the profit being the difference between the market prices.
For example: Consider a situation where $1 buys 3 Euros in the U.S., but the exchange rate is 1:1 in Europe. One could make a profit by playing the exchange rate - $100 buys 300 Euros which can then be traded back to U.S. dollars in Europe at 1:1, resulting in a $200 profit ($300 - $100 initial investment). An arbitrage is, in simple terms, a risk-free profit. A person who engages in arbitrage is called an arbitrageur. The term is mainly applied to trading in financial instruments, such as bonds, stocks, derivatives and currencies.
If the market prices do not allow for profitable arbitrage, the prices are said to constitute an arbitrage equilibrium or arbitrage-free market. An arbitrage equilibrium is a precondition for a general economic equilibrium.
Statistical arbitrage is an imbalance in expected values. A casino has a statistical arbitrage in almost every game of chance that it offers. Statistical arbitrage, as opposed to deterministic arbitrage, is related to the statistical mispricing of one or more assets based on the expected value of these assets.
For example, consider a game in which one flips a coin and collects $1 on heads or pays $0.50 on tails. In any single flip it is uncertain if one will win or lose money. However, in the statistical sense, there is an expected value of ($1 x 50%) - ($0.50 x 50%) = $0.25 for each flip. According to the law of large numbers, the mean return on actual flips will approach this expected value as the number of flips increases. This is precisely the way in which a gambling casino makes a profit; the casino never closes and thus the "house" is the longest consistent player, delivering the largest returns.
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| Pyrrhic victory |
[28 Nov 2006|03:31pm] |
Pyr·rhic vic·to·ry
n.
: a victory with devastating cost to the victor.
The phrase is a reference to King Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose army suffered irreplaceable casualties when he defeated the Romans during the Pyrrhic War at Heraclea in 280 BC and Asculum in 279 BC. After the latter battle, Plutarch relates in a report by Dionysius:
"The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory that one other such would utterly undo him. For he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all his particular friends and principal commanders; there were no others there to make recruits..."
The report is often quoted as "Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone". While it is most closely associated with a military battle, the term is used by analogy in fields such as business, politics, law, and sports to describe any similar struggle which is ruinous for the victor.
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| syllogism |
[28 Nov 2006|11:40am] |
syl·lo·gism
n.
Logic.
: A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion; for example, All humans are mortal (the major premise), I am human (the minor premise), therefore I am mortal (the conclusion).
: Reasoning from the general to the specific; deduction.
: A subtle or specious piece of reasoning.
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| Reductio ad absurdum |
[27 Nov 2006|03:39pm] |
re·duc·ti·o ad ab·sur·dum
n.
Logic.
: a reduction to an absurdity; the refutation of a proposition by demonstrating the inevitably absurd conclusion to which it would logically lead.
Reductio ad absurdum (also known as an apagogical argument, reductio ad impossibile, or proof by contradiction) is a type of logical argument where one assumes a claim for the sake of argument, derives an absurd or ridiculous outcome, and then concludes that the original assumption must have been wrong as it led to an absurd result. It makes use of the law of non-contradiction: a statement cannot be both true and false.
Example: The Flying Spaghetti Monster is the deity of a parody religion founded in 2005 by Oregon State University physics graduate Bobby Henderson to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. In an open letter on his website, Henderson professes belief in a supernatural Creator that resembles spaghetti and meatballs called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and calls for "Pastafarianism" to be taught in science classrooms, essentially invoking a reductio ad absurdum argument against the teaching of intelligent design.
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[27 Nov 2006|03:18pm] |
the·od·icy
n.
: a vindication of the divine attributes, particularly holiness and justice, in establishing or allowing the existence of physical and moral evil.
In the philosophy of religion and theology, the problem of evil is the problem of reconciling the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent god or gods. A proposed solution to this is theodicy.
The term theodicy comes from the Greek θεός (theós, "god") and δίκη (díkē, "justice"), meaning literally "the justice of God". The term was coined in 1710 by the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz in a work entitled Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l'homme et l'origine du mal ("Theodicy Essay on the Benevolence of God, the Free will of man, and the Origin of Evil"). The purpose of the essay was to show that the evil in the world does not conflict with the goodness of God, and that notwithstanding its many evils, the world is the best of all possible worlds.
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| emulsion |
[21 Nov 2006|07:47am] |
e·mul·sion
n.
: A suspension of small globules of one liquid in a second liquid with which the first will not mix: an emulsion of oil in vinegar.
: A photosensitive coating, usually of silver halide grains in a thin gelatin layer, on photographic film, paper, or glass.
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