Tendentious

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Dr. Goodword
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Tendentious

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Dec 02, 2022 10:44 pm

• tendentious •


Pronunciation: ten-den-chês • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Showing a strong bias, from a strongly held point of view, didactic.

Notes: Today's Good Word is an adjective for the noun tendency and is a near synonym of a rarely heard word, tendential. Tendential is a milder, neutral word meaning "related to a tendency", as 'tendential beliefs in society', beliefs that have a tendency to occur. Tendentious beliefs are those which tend toward a single interpretation and are strongly if not obnoxiously held, so tendentious has a decidedly pejorative tint. Tendency, of course, is the noun for the verb tend and the noun for tendentious is tendentiousness.

In Play: Tendentious implies a rather arrogantly held point of view that ignores logic: "Hermione McCorquodale sees all the arguments for 'trickle-down' economic theory as tendentious and disingenuous." Things tendentious are locked in a strong bias: "Forrest Green's arguments for expanding Central Park by two blocks in New York are so tendentious that no one can argue them with him."

Word History: So what's new? This word is an English makeover of Latin tendentia "a cause", a noun based on the verb tendere "to tend to". Tend-ere comes from the Proto-Indo-European root ten-/ton- "to stretch". Now, since PIE [t] became [th] in Germanic languages like English, we are not surprised to see its remnants in English as thin. In Greek, [t] survived, so that the same root gave Greek tonos "string, sound", a word we also borrowed as tone. Greek also doubled the initial syllable of this root to produce tetanos "stiff, rigid", a result of stretching. Wouldn't you know it, English borrowed this word, too, as tetanus "lock-jaw".
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David Myer
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Re: Tendentious

Postby David Myer » Sat Dec 03, 2022 6:31 am

This is not a word I use. I think it is my fear that the word will be interpretation as tenuous. Tendentious opinions are often based on tenuous logic so the words are often used in the same kind of sentence and can easily be misinterpreted.

Besides, even if I am the only one with qualms about their appropriate usage, I certainly don't want the world to know about my doubts. But I don't mind sharing them with you lot.


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