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an acceptable adjectival form of the word "integrity" that uses the same root
Hi lori, pleasedta meetya.
I initially skim-read your question and misread it as a request for an adverbial form of "integrity". I quickly came to the conclusion that you wouldn't do anything with integrity except, well, everything. You can act with integrity, but that's about it.
Whilst I was barking up the wrong tree on the adverb front, I think my conclusion has some relevance to the adjectival form, and perhaps indicates why "integritous" (amusing as it is) jars somewhat.
Integrity is an all-or-nothing quality - regarding a particular person, it applies or it doesn't apply. In response to WW's question, I initially thought that "duplicitous" might be the opposite of "integritous", but having integrity is about much more than just being honest. It's also about being reliable, about completing what has been started (come what may), about keeping promises. So OK, you can stick all the adjectives together - honest, reliable, faithful - and that takes you quite close to a definition of integrity, but it's certainly nothing like 100%. There's something near-mystical (and yes, wsieb, wooly) in integrity as wholeness and completeness.
IMHO an adjectival form is simply inappropriate for integrity, in that it could't meaningfully be used in the same way as [struggling for a term] standard, lower-level adjectives. For instance:
"Joe is more honest than Fred" is OK, but
"Joe is more integritous than Fred" isn't, as it implies degrees of integrity.
"Joe is (an) integritous (person)" has no advantage over "Joe has integrity" or "Joe acts with integrity". In fact the former has a notable disadvantage in that its meaning springs to mind less readily.
- Which is all a roundabout way of saying I don't see a need for an adjectival form of the word.
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integrity
lori 08/26/02 07:29 PM ![]()
Re: integrity
Wordwind 08/26/02 08:32 PM ![]()
Re: integrity
Capital Kiwi 08/26/02 08:55 PM ![]()
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sjm 08/26/02 09:09 PM ![]()
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wwh 08/26/02 09:32 PM ![]()
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Wordwind 08/26/02 09:35 PM ![]()
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tsuwm 08/26/02 10:26 PM ![]()
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Wordwind 08/27/02 12:02 AM ![]()
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RhubarbCommando 08/27/02 11:52 AM ![]()
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Wordwind 08/27/02 12:24 PM ![]()
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RhubarbCommando 08/27/02 12:59 PM ![]()
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Wordwind 08/27/02 01:13 PM ![]()
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WhitmanO'Neill 08/27/02 01:39 PM ![]()
Re: integrity
lori 08/27/02 02:51 PM ![]()
Re: wwh's source
Wordwind 08/27/02 04:37 PM ![]()
Re: wwh's source
Wordwind 08/27/02 04:37 PM ![]()
Re: wwh's source
tsuwm 08/27/02 05:57 PM ![]()
Re: integritous
AnnaStrophic 08/28/02 12:14 PM ![]()
Re: integrity
wsieber 08/27/02 04:51 AM ![]()
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Jackie 08/27/02 11:20 AM ![]()
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wsieber 08/28/02 05:42 AM ![]()
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wsieber 08/28/02 05:47 AM ![]()
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FishonaBike 08/28/02 02:52 PM ![]()
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tsuwm 08/28/02 03:13 PM ![]()
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TEd Remington 08/28/02 04:00 PM ![]()
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tsuwm 08/28/02 05:50 PM ![]()
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Wordwind 08/28/02 06:00 PM ![]()
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tsuwm 08/28/02 06:16 PM ![]()
Re: integrity
FishonaBike 08/28/02 10:38 PM ![]()
Re: integrity
Capital Kiwi 08/29/02 08:29 PM ![]()
Re: integrity
sjm 08/29/02 08:59 PM ![]()
Re: integrity
Capital Kiwi 08/29/02 10:04 PM ![]()
Re: integrity
Jackie 08/30/02 11:11 AM ![]()
Re: integrity
sjm 08/30/02 11:23 AM ![]()
Re: integrity
Jackie 08/30/02 11:29 AM ![]()
Re: integrity
Capital Kiwi 08/31/02 01:11 AM ![]()
Re: integrity
sjm 08/31/02 01:28 AM ![]()
Re: integrity
Wordwind 08/31/02 01:32 AM ![]()
Re: integrity
Capital Kiwi 08/31/02 02:37 AM ![]()
Re: integrity
WhitmanO'Neill 08/31/02 03:40 AM ![]()
Re: integrity
Faldage 08/31/02 11:19 AM ![]()
Re: integrity
Capital Kiwi 08/31/02 03:40 PM ![]()
Re: integrity
lori 08/28/02 03:40 PM
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