A.Word.A.Day --autotelic

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Today's Word

autotelic

PRONUNCIATION:

(ah-toh-TEH-lik)

MEANING:

adjective: Having a purpose, motivation, or meaning in itself; not driven by external factors.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek auto- (self) + telos (end). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kwel- (to revolve), which also gave us colony, cult, culture, cycle, cyclone, chakra, collar, telic, entelechy, talisman, col, and accolade. Earliest documented use: 1864.

USAGE:

“I knew I had found my theme, but it was an artistic, an academic, an autotelic choice, having nothing to do with extraneous matters.”
Reginald Hill; Death’s Jest-Book; Harper; 2002.

See more usage examples of autotelic in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The best theology is probably no theology; just love one another. -Charles Schulz, cartoonist (26 Nov 1922-2000)

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Anu Garg on words

“A large vocabulary is like an artist having a big palette of colors. We don’t have to use all the colors in a single painting, but it helps to be able to find just the right shade when we need it.”

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