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acrasia

noun
/əˈkɹeɪ.zɪ.ə/UK/əˈkɹeɪ.zi.ə/US

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin acrasia (“lack of temperance”), and from its etymon Ancient Greek ᾰ̓κρᾱσῐ́ᾱ (ăkrāsĭ́ā, “bad mixture”), from ἄκρᾱτος (ákrātos, “pure, unmixed; of a person: intemperate, violent”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Ἄκρᾱτος (Ákrātos) is derived from ᾰ̓- (ă-, prefix forming terms having a sense opposite to the stems or words to which it is attached) + κεράννυμι (keránnumi, “to blend, mix; to cool or temper by mixing”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; horn”)) + -τος (-tos, suffix forming adjectives). Doublet of acrasy.

  1. derived from *ḱerh₂-✻ — “head, top; horn”
  2. learned borrowing from ᾰ̓κρᾱσῐ́ᾱ — “bad mixture”
  3. learned borrowing from acrasia — “lack of temperance”

Definitions

  1. Lack of self-control

    Lack of self-control; excess, intemperance; also, irregular or unruly behaviour.

    • Him fortuned (hard fortune ye may gheſſe) / To come, vvhere vile Acraſia does vvonne [live], / Acraſia a falſe enchauntereſſe, / That many errant knightes hath fovvle fordonne: […]
    • VVaſte your hours in the lap of diſſipation: reſign yourſelf up to the faſcinations of Acrasia; and ſport in the Bovver of Bliss. Cover your tables vvith delicacies, at the expence of your famiſhed clans.

  2. Alternative spelling of akrasia (“(uncountable) lack of physical or (especially) mental…

    Alternative spelling of akrasia (“(uncountable) lack of physical or (especially) mental strength; poor willpower; also, the tendency to act contrary to one's better judgment; (countable) an instance of this”)

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for acrasia. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA