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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread vague word #28931 05/11/2001 3:56 AM Joined: May 2001 Posts: 8 N.Y. USA apobene stranger apobene stranger Joined: May 2001 Posts: 8 N.Y. USA Folks,I need yor help.I am stuck on a word that is vanity.In the sentence of "The poet used to warn of the vanity of mental ambition."According to Longman Dictionary which is for ESL students,one of the explanations is"lack of importance of something compared to other things that are more important."Imight be a little slow on the uptake please help me to be illucidated on that. nudfe Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: vague word #28932 05/11/2001 4:30 AM Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 3,409 Max Quordlepleen Carpal Tunnel Max Quordlepleen Carpal Tunnel Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 3,409 The poet used to warn of the vanity of mental ambition." One meaning of vanity that would seem to make sense in this context is "futility, pointlessness." Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: vague word #28933 05/11/2001 8:20 AM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 1,027 Switzerland wsieber old hand wsieber old hand Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 1,027 Switzerland Regardless of the warning about mental ambition, I shall add here the latin root of "vanity", which is vanus meaning empty. In the example given, vanity thus means emptiness of purpose or of substance. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter stuck on vanity #28934 05/11/2001 12:54 PM Joined: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,379 New York City inselpeter Pooh-Bah inselpeter Pooh-Bah Joined: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,379 New York City "lack of importance of something compared to other things that are more important." I am, rather, stuck on this definition; it exhibits none of the mental ambition the poet warned of--or perhaps too much. I leave it to you all to determine whether this observation or that definition exhibits more of the absolute lack of importance. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Vanity #28935 05/11/2001 3:46 PM Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,439 New England, USA wow Carpal Tunnel wow Carpal Tunnel Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,439 New England, USA "Vanity of Vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 1:2)./ ... That is one answer I got by using Google using "Vanity, Vanity, all is vanity." Got pages of answers but one with the Bible reference in the lead line has quite a bit of information. wow Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary

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