"adynaton" meaning in English

See adynaton in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ædɪˈnɑːtɒn/ [Received-Pronunciation], /-t(ə)n/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ædəˈnɑtn̩/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-adynaton.wav [Southern-England] Forms: adynata [plural], adynatons [plural]
Etymology: Borrowed from Late Latin adynaton (“impossibility; adynaton”), or directly from its etymon Ancient Greek ἀδύνατον (adúnaton, “an impossibility; impracticality”), substantivized neuter singular of ἀδύνατος (adúnatos, “unable; that cannot be done, impossible”) + -ον (-on, suffix forming nouns). The word ἀδύνατος is derived from ἀ- (a-, the alpha privative, a prefix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached) + δῠνᾰτός (dunatós, “mighty, strong; possible, practical”) (from δῠ́νᾰμαι (dúnamai, “to be able, capable; it can be, it is possible”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to fit”)) + -τος (-tos, suffix forming verbal adjectives of possibility)). Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*dewh₂-}}, {{bor|en|LL.|adynaton||impossibility; adynaton}} Late Latin adynaton (“impossibility; adynaton”), {{glossary|etymon}} etymon, {{bor|en|grc|ἀδύνατον||an impossibility; impracticality}} Ancient Greek ἀδύνατον (adúnaton, “an impossibility; impracticality”), {{glossary|substantive|substantivized}} substantivized, {{glossary|neuter}} neuter, {{glossary|singular}} singular, {{m|grc|ἀδύνατος||unable; that cannot be done, impossible}} ἀδύνατος (adúnatos, “unable; that cannot be done, impossible”), {{m|grc|-ον|pos=suffix forming nouns}} -ον (-on, suffix forming nouns), {{lang|grc|ἀδύνατος}} ἀδύνατος, {{m|grc|ἀ-|pos=the alpha privative, a prefix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached}} ἀ- (a-, the alpha privative, a prefix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached), {{m|grc|δῠνᾰτός||mighty, strong; possible, practical}} δῠνᾰτός (dunatós, “mighty, strong; possible, practical”), {{m|grc|δῠ́νᾰμαι||to be able, capable; it can be, it is possible}} δῠ́νᾰμαι (dúnamai, “to be able, capable; it can be, it is possible”), {{der|en|ine-pro|*dewh₂-||to fit}} Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to fit”), {{m|grc|-τος||pos=suffix forming verbal adjectives of possibility}} -τος (-tos, suffix forming verbal adjectives of possibility) Head templates: {{en-noun|adynata|s}} adynaton (plural adynata or adynatons)
  1. (rhetoric) A form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibility; an instance of such hyperbole. Wikipedia link: Apocolocyntosis, Othello, Seneca the Younger, William Shakespeare Tags: rhetoric Categories (topical): Rhetoric Related terms: aporia, aposiopesis Translations (form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility): adínaton [feminine] (Catalan), adynaton (Dutch), adynaton [masculine] (French), adínaton [masculine] (Galician), Adynaton [neuter] (German), adynaton [masculine] (Italian), adinato [masculine] (Italian), アデュナトン (Japanese), adynaton (Norwegian), adinaton (Occitan), адинато́н (adinatón) (Russian), adinàtōn [masculine] (Serbo-Croatian), адина̀то̄н [masculine] (Serbo-Croatian), adynaton [masculine] (Spanish), адинатон (adynaton) (Ukrainian)
    Sense id: en-adynaton-en-noun-6QqTImNy Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for adynaton meaning in English (10.3kB)

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  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Late Latin adynaton (“impossibility; adynaton”), or directly from its etymon Ancient Greek ἀδύνατον (adúnaton, “an impossibility; impracticality”), substantivized neuter singular of ἀδύνατος (adúnatos, “unable; that cannot be done, impossible”) + -ον (-on, suffix forming nouns). The word ἀδύνατος is derived from ἀ- (a-, the alpha privative, a prefix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached) + δῠνᾰτός (dunatós, “mighty, strong; possible, practical”) (from δῠ́νᾰμαι (dúnamai, “to be able, capable; it can be, it is possible”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to fit”)) + -τος (-tos, suffix forming verbal adjectives of possibility)).",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "adynata",
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      "form": "adynatons",
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          "ref": "[1820 October, “Art. 26. The Flowers of Rhetoric, the Graces of Eloquence, and the Charms of Oratory; Depicted by Men Celebrated for Their Taste, Genius, Diction, and Erudition. Assorted and Exhibited by the Rev. Ralph Sharp, D.D. Crown 8vo. 9s. Boards. Fearman. 1819. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume XCIII, London: Printed by A[ndrew] and R. Spottiswoode, […]; and sold by J. Porter, successor to the late T[homas] Becket, […], →OCLC, page 221",
          "text": "In this little book, Dr. Sharp attempts to revive and to explain a great number of hard words which were formerly employed by teachers of rhetoric: presenting chapters intituled after the figures, Acyrologia, Adynaton, Anadiplosis, [...]]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
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          "ref": "1953, Ernst Robert Curtius, “Topics”, in Willard R[opes] Trask, transl., European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages: Translated from the German (Bollingen Series; XXXVI), Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, published 1990 (7th printing), page 97",
          "text": "In the realm of a very exclusive art adynata of this type and others are taken up again by Arnaut Daniel, the great and distant master of Dante [Alighieri].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1971, David William Foster, The Marqués de Santillana (Twayne’s World Authors Series; 154), New York, N.Y.: Twayne Publishers, →OCLC",
          "text": "Stanza 12 is notable for its use of the topos of the exhausted poet whose skills and techniques are fading fast and which cannot do justice to either his beloved or his love for her. This is ironic after the elaborate adynatons.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1978, Leroy C. Breunig, “From Rem to Rien and Back”, in Jeanine Parisier Plottel, Hanna [Kurz] Charney, editors, Intertexuality: New Perspectives in Criticism. (New York Literary Forum; 2), New York, N.Y.: New York Literary Forum, →ISSN, page 214",
          "text": "As a final sample of this little genre, which we may call the one-line paraphrase of rien, there is this rather brutal adynaton of the surrealist Jean-Pierre Duprey: \"Vide ton creux,\" which Graham Dunstan Martin translates as \"pour out your vacuum.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, Damian U[gwutikiri] Opata, Essays on Igbo World View, Nsukka, Nigeria: AP Express Publishers, page 34",
          "text": "This transcendence is very evident in adynatons which pervade Igbo folklore.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Huw Griffiths, “Letter-writing Lucrece: Shakespeare in the 1590s”, in Jennifer Richards, Alison Thorne, editors, Rhetoric, Women and Politics in Early Modern England, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 93",
          "text": "[William] Shakespeare's use of adynaton is central to an understanding of [The Rape of] Lucrece. On the one hand, this text explores a need for communication that functions on the basis that language is adequate to move private griefs into public action; on the other hand, it comments ironically on the impossibility of that ever being achieved. [...] Adynaton, then, is not only particularly attuned to what can, or rather cannot, be said in any given context, but can also offer the careful reader a critique of the very language being used and expose the limitations of that language.",
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        "A form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibility; an instance of such hyperbole."
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          "hyperbole",
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          "impossibility",
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        "(rhetoric) A form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibility; an instance of such hyperbole."
      ],
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          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "adínaton"
        },
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          "code": "nl",
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          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "word": "adynaton"
        },
        {
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          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "adynaton"
        },
        {
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "adínaton"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Adynaton"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "adynaton"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "adinato"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "word": "アデュナトン"
        },
        {
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "word": "adynaton"
        },
        {
          "code": "oc",
          "lang": "Occitan",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "word": "adinaton"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "adinatón",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "word": "адинато́н"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "adinàtōn"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "адина̀то̄н"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "adynaton"
        },
        {
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "adynaton",
          "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
          "word": "адинатон"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Apocolocyntosis",
        "Othello",
        "Seneca the Younger",
        "William Shakespeare"
      ]
    }
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      "ipa": "/ædɪˈnɑːtɒn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
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      "ipa": "/-t(ə)n/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
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      "tags": [
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      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
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  "word": "adynaton"
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    {
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        "4": "to be able, capable; it can be, it is possible"
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  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Late Latin adynaton (“impossibility; adynaton”), or directly from its etymon Ancient Greek ἀδύνατον (adúnaton, “an impossibility; impracticality”), substantivized neuter singular of ἀδύνατος (adúnatos, “unable; that cannot be done, impossible”) + -ον (-on, suffix forming nouns). The word ἀδύνατος is derived from ἀ- (a-, the alpha privative, a prefix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached) + δῠνᾰτός (dunatós, “mighty, strong; possible, practical”) (from δῠ́νᾰμαι (dúnamai, “to be able, capable; it can be, it is possible”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to fit”)) + -τος (-tos, suffix forming verbal adjectives of possibility)).",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "adynata",
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    {
      "form": "adynatons",
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        "English nouns",
        "English nouns with irregular plurals",
        "English terms borrowed from Ancient Greek",
        "English terms borrowed from Late Latin",
        "English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
        "English terms derived from Late Latin",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
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        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Rhetoric"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "[1820 October, “Art. 26. The Flowers of Rhetoric, the Graces of Eloquence, and the Charms of Oratory; Depicted by Men Celebrated for Their Taste, Genius, Diction, and Erudition. Assorted and Exhibited by the Rev. Ralph Sharp, D.D. Crown 8vo. 9s. Boards. Fearman. 1819. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume XCIII, London: Printed by A[ndrew] and R. Spottiswoode, […]; and sold by J. Porter, successor to the late T[homas] Becket, […], →OCLC, page 221",
          "text": "In this little book, Dr. Sharp attempts to revive and to explain a great number of hard words which were formerly employed by teachers of rhetoric: presenting chapters intituled after the figures, Acyrologia, Adynaton, Anadiplosis, [...]]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1953, Ernst Robert Curtius, “Topics”, in Willard R[opes] Trask, transl., European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages: Translated from the German (Bollingen Series; XXXVI), Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, published 1990 (7th printing), page 97",
          "text": "In the realm of a very exclusive art adynata of this type and others are taken up again by Arnaut Daniel, the great and distant master of Dante [Alighieri].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1971, David William Foster, The Marqués de Santillana (Twayne’s World Authors Series; 154), New York, N.Y.: Twayne Publishers, →OCLC",
          "text": "Stanza 12 is notable for its use of the topos of the exhausted poet whose skills and techniques are fading fast and which cannot do justice to either his beloved or his love for her. This is ironic after the elaborate adynatons.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1978, Leroy C. Breunig, “From Rem to Rien and Back”, in Jeanine Parisier Plottel, Hanna [Kurz] Charney, editors, Intertexuality: New Perspectives in Criticism. (New York Literary Forum; 2), New York, N.Y.: New York Literary Forum, →ISSN, page 214",
          "text": "As a final sample of this little genre, which we may call the one-line paraphrase of rien, there is this rather brutal adynaton of the surrealist Jean-Pierre Duprey: \"Vide ton creux,\" which Graham Dunstan Martin translates as \"pour out your vacuum.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, Damian U[gwutikiri] Opata, Essays on Igbo World View, Nsukka, Nigeria: AP Express Publishers, page 34",
          "text": "This transcendence is very evident in adynatons which pervade Igbo folklore.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Huw Griffiths, “Letter-writing Lucrece: Shakespeare in the 1590s”, in Jennifer Richards, Alison Thorne, editors, Rhetoric, Women and Politics in Early Modern England, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 93",
          "text": "[William] Shakespeare's use of adynaton is central to an understanding of [The Rape of] Lucrece. On the one hand, this text explores a need for communication that functions on the basis that language is adequate to move private griefs into public action; on the other hand, it comments ironically on the impossibility of that ever being achieved. [...] Adynaton, then, is not only particularly attuned to what can, or rather cannot, be said in any given context, but can also offer the careful reader a critique of the very language being used and expose the limitations of that language.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibility; an instance of such hyperbole."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "rhetoric",
          "rhetoric"
        ],
        [
          "hyperbole",
          "hyperbole"
        ],
        [
          "exaggeration",
          "exaggeration"
        ],
        [
          "magnified",
          "magnified#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "express",
          "express#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "impossibility",
          "impossibility"
        ],
        [
          "instance",
          "instance#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rhetoric) A form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibility; an instance of such hyperbole."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rhetoric"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Apocolocyntosis",
        "Othello",
        "Seneca the Younger",
        "William Shakespeare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ædɪˈnɑːtɒn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-t(ə)n/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ædəˈnɑtn̩/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-adynaton.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/78/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-adynaton.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-adynaton.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/78/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-adynaton.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-adynaton.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "adínaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "word": "adynaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "adynaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "adínaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Adynaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "adynaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "adinato"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "word": "アデュナトン"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "word": "adynaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "oc",
      "lang": "Occitan",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "word": "adinaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "adinatón",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "word": "адинато́н"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "adinàtōn"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "адина̀то̄н"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "adynaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "adynaton",
      "sense": "form of hyperbole that expresses impossibility",
      "word": "адинатон"
    }
  ],
  "word": "adynaton"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.