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A.Word.A.Day--entelechy

Pronunciation RealAudio

entelechy (en-TEL-uh-kee) noun

1. Perfect realization as opposed to a potentiality.

2. In some philosophies, a vital force that propels one to self-fulfillment.

[From Late Latin entelechia, from Greek entelecheia, from enteles (complete), from telos (end, completion) + echein (to have).]

"It concerns our final end, our entelechy, the purpose of our existence, where we are going to go." Gray Henry; The First Prophet; Parabola (New York); Spring 1996.

"As movies directed by ex-Star Trek actors go, it isn't nearly as jejune as, say, Leonard Nimoy's Three Men and a Baby, but neither does it possess the ambivalent entelechy of LeVar Burton's The Tiger Woods Story." Michael Atkinson; Three Woman and an Organ; The Village Voice (New York); Apr 9, 2002.

This week's theme: miscellaneous words.

X-Bonus

If privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy. -Phil Zimmermann, cryptographer (1954- )

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