Solipsism and neologism are two words that, every so often, I read in a book, look up in the dictionary, nod sagaciously at the definition … and then quickly forget.
Hence this post.
Merriam Webster defines solipsism like this:
SOLIPSISM – (noun): (1) an epistemological theory that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and states (2) extreme indulgence of and concern with the self at the expense of social relationships especially as expressed in a failure of artistic communication
I think solipsism is generally used nowadays in the negative sense of selfishness and ego-centrism. As an example:
“It’s also why the picture of Kavanaugh at his confirmation hearings—his anger, his narcissism, his solipsism—was so familiar to us, as well.”
— Brett Kavanaugh and the Private School Pecking Order
USING SOLIPSISM IN A SENTENCE
I will now attempt to use the word solipsism in my own sentences:
Her solipsistic posture is an unpierceable armor against cooperation.
The theory of solipsism suggests that the apple before me is not real but a projection of my own consciousness.
Merriam Webster defines neologism in this way:
NEOLOGISM – (noun) (1) a new word, usage, or expression (2) <psychology> a new word that is coined especially by a person affected with schizophrenia, is meaningless except to the coiner, and is typically a combination of two existing words or a shortening or distortion of an existing word
Some more recent examples of neologisms might include: spam, app, troll, metrosexual, and staycation.
Here are couple of sentences using the word neologism conceived by yours truly:
It follows that the word neologism was once itself a neologism.
The man who heard monsters under his bed referred to their incessant chattering with a neologism of his invention: grurbitzing.
Why don’t you, dear reader, create your own sentence using the words solipsism and neologism in the comments below?!
WORD OF THE DAY
Word of the Day is a daily, or weekly, or bi-weekly, or monthly, or quarterly, or perhaps even biannual feature where I define a word I stumbled upon in a book that was heretofore unknown to me and create several, oft clever, oft dim-witted, sentences employing it, to the amusement and ridicule of the general populace.