Monday, March 30, 2009

Word of the day: reify

reify

Main Entry:
re·ify
Pronunciation:
\ˈrā-ə-ˌfī, ˈrē-\
Function:
transitive verb
Inflected Form(s):
re·ified; re·ify·ing
Etymology:
Latin res thing — more at real
Date:
1854
: to regard (something abstract) as a material or concrete thing

(Thanks, m-w.com.)

This is an example of one of those things that stresses you out again and again, but then only takes 2 seconds to resolve. I've seen this word lots of times in the last 8 months, and have read it a number of times in the article I'm currently reading, and it bugged me that I didn't know what it meant. And the energy that I had put into finding the meaning was a FRACTION of the energy that I had previously put into being bugged and stressed out that I didn't know what it meant.

Sigh.

3 comments:

Josh said...

Awesome.

If it makes you feel any better it took me five minutes to really understand what the definition meant.

I've been sitting in front of a computer for too long.

Jeremy said...

Uh huh. So does this disprove the "A Clockwork Orange" study?

BTW, it doesn't surprise me that you've been hearing this word from those around you, but I'm in no hurry to discover what exactly they've been trying to reify or the logical gymnastics it takes for the to support the reification.

merrilykaroly said...

You really shouldn't reify it, Margaret. It's just a word, after all-- nothing concrete or anything.