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esemplastic

 
Dictionary: Es·em·plas·tic

a.

[Gr. 'es into, to + "en one + plastiko`s molded, formed. See Plastic.]
Shaped into one; tending to, or formative into, unity. [R.] Coleridge.



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Wordsmith Words: esemplastic
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(es-em-PLAS-tik)

adjective
Having the capability of moulding diverse ideas or things into unity.

Etymology
From Greek es- (into) + en, neuter of eis (one) + plastic. Coined by poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), apparently after German Ineinsbildung (forming into one)].
Here is how Coleridge used the term in his 1817 Biographia Literaria or Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions. Vol. I, Chapter 13:
On the imagination, or esemplastic power. O Adam! one Almighty is, from whom All things proceed, and up to him return If not depraved from good: created all Such to perfection, one first nature all Indued with various forms, various degrees.

Usage
"Admirers of (A.N.) Wilson, and I have been one of them, may console themselves by speculating that he just got impatient, or tired. Or that a minor demon, in a snit over his prolific output and ambitious subject matter, cast a temporary malediction on his esemplastic powers of fiction-making." — Gail Godwin, Losing It All, The Washington Post, Jan 23, 1994.


Obscure Words: esemplastic
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having the power to shape disparate things into a unified whole
Word Tutor: esemplastic
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: Shaping or having the power to change disparate things into a whole.

 
 
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Dictionary. Webster 1913 Dictionary edited by Patrick J. Cassidy  Read more
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