See angels dancing on the head of a pin in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for angels dancing on the head of a pin meaning in English (3.4kB)
{
"etymology_text": "An allusion to the theological question “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” — a question cited to debunk mediaeval angelology in particular and scholasticism in general. The point is that explorative discussions that the discussants consider important can be academic in both senses of that word—not only arcane but also irrelevant.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "p"
},
"expansion": "angels dancing on the head of a pin pl (plural only)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English pluralia tantum",
"parents": [
"Pluralia tantum",
"Nouns",
"Lemmas"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1965, United States Congress House Government Operations, Procurement of a Cryogenic Cooling System for Fighter Aircraft: Hearing, 89-1, June 8–9, 1965, page 47",
"text": "We are not talking about angels dancing on the head of a pin here.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1995, Julian Lincoln Simon, The State of Humanity, page 358",
"text": "…logically indistinguishable from the argument that because we do not know at what rate the angels dancing on the head of a pin are dying off…",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001, William C. Gaventa, David L. Coulter, The Theological Voice of Wolf Wolfensberger, page 6",
"text": "The issues Dr. Wolfensberger wrestles with and writes about are not intellectual discussions of angels dancing on the head of a pin.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The subject of arcane intellectual speculation; used as an example of a subject of enquiry in which the pursuit is of no value."
],
"id": "en-angels_dancing_on_the_head_of_a_pin-en-noun-j6-cX2eb",
"links": [
[
"arcane",
"arcane"
],
[
"intellectual",
"intellectual"
],
[
"speculation",
"speculation"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) The subject of arcane intellectual speculation; used as an example of a subject of enquiry in which the pursuit is of no value."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin"
},
{
"word": "count angels on pinheads"
}
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"plural",
"plural-only"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"word": "neulan kärjellä tanssivat enkelit"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "sexe des anges"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "le sexe des anges"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "querelle byzantine"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "il sesso degli angeli"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "sexo dos anjos"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "o sexo dos anjos"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "el sexo de los ángeles"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"
]
}
],
"word": "angels dancing on the head of a pin"
}
{
"etymology_text": "An allusion to the theological question “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” — a question cited to debunk mediaeval angelology in particular and scholasticism in general. The point is that explorative discussions that the discussants consider important can be academic in both senses of that word—not only arcane but also irrelevant.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "p"
},
"expansion": "angels dancing on the head of a pin pl (plural only)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin"
},
{
"word": "count angels on pinheads"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English pluralia tantum",
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1965, United States Congress House Government Operations, Procurement of a Cryogenic Cooling System for Fighter Aircraft: Hearing, 89-1, June 8–9, 1965, page 47",
"text": "We are not talking about angels dancing on the head of a pin here.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1995, Julian Lincoln Simon, The State of Humanity, page 358",
"text": "…logically indistinguishable from the argument that because we do not know at what rate the angels dancing on the head of a pin are dying off…",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001, William C. Gaventa, David L. Coulter, The Theological Voice of Wolf Wolfensberger, page 6",
"text": "The issues Dr. Wolfensberger wrestles with and writes about are not intellectual discussions of angels dancing on the head of a pin.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The subject of arcane intellectual speculation; used as an example of a subject of enquiry in which the pursuit is of no value."
],
"links": [
[
"arcane",
"arcane"
],
[
"intellectual",
"intellectual"
],
[
"speculation",
"speculation"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) The subject of arcane intellectual speculation; used as an example of a subject of enquiry in which the pursuit is of no value."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"plural",
"plural-only"
],
"wikipedia": [
"How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"
]
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"word": "neulan kärjellä tanssivat enkelit"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "sexe des anges"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "le sexe des anges"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "querelle byzantine"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "il sesso degli angeli"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "sexo dos anjos"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "o sexo dos anjos"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "arcane intellectual speculation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "el sexo de los ángeles"
}
],
"word": "angels dancing on the head of a pin"
}
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.
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