Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
A type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic, rhetoric
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, logic, mathematics, philosophy, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
A modern translation of Latin, virtus dormitiva, coined by Molière in The Imaginary Invalid (1673). In the play, he lampoons a group of physicians providing an explanation in macaronic Latin of the sleep-inducing properties of opium as stemming from its "virtus dormitiva". The currency of this phrase as a critique of scientific claims is due to Gregory Bateson (1976, Steps to an Ecology of Mind p. 5), as is the translation of virtus as 'principle'.
Across languages
4 source translations are retained for this English entry.
