Make Your Point > Archived Issues > EXEGESIS
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pronounce
EXEGESIS:
Say it "ECK suh JEE suss."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
An exegesis is a scholarly interpretation.
It's usually a pretty dry, factual, straightforward kind of thing. But what if someone's exegesis goes bonkers: misreading things, over-interpreting things, reading way too far between the lines?
Then you can also call it an __segesis. Can you recall that term? It means "somebody's explanation or interpretation of a text that is too influenced by that person's own ideas." And it's the etymological opposite of today's term, exegesis. (That is, an __segesis is a reading into something, while an exegesis is an interpretation out of something.)
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definition:
This word comes straight from Greek, where it means "an explanation" or "an interpretation."
Inside "exegesis," you can glimpse the Greek roots (ex, "out;" and hegeisthai, "lead or guide") that literally mean "lead out" or "guide out."
In English, an exegesis is a long, detailed, scholarly explanation, usually written down, and often focused on some specific text.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech: It's a noun, usually the countable kind: "he delivered an exegesis on that subject," "we yawned our way through this exegesis."
Other forms:
The adjective is "exegetical," pronounced "ECK suh JET ih kull." And the adverb is "exegetically."
People known for their exegeses are called "exegetes" (pronounced "EX uh jeets") or "exegesists."
And, as you noticed just now, the plural of "exegesis" is "exegeses," pronounced "ECK suh JEE seeze."
how to use it:
This word is rare. And because we often use it to talk about Biblical interpretations, it has a religious, scholarly tone.
Use it to label anyone's spoken or written explanation, interpretation, or commentary, especially when the length or detail overwhelms you.
You might talk about someone's exegesis on some topic, or about someone's exegesis of some text or work.
And although we usually talk about an exegesis as if it's one particular speech or piece of writing, we can also treat "exegesis" as an uncountable noun: "this is no time for exegesis," "we require no exegesis," "they keep spilling ink on exegesis."
examples:
"Genuinely worthy of some Old Testament term of praise is Robert Alter's 'The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary'... the commentary, which takes up more than half of nearly every page, seamlessly slides into the translation proper, each claiming equal space in the reader’s mind. The notes are not neutral exegesis but richly explanatory and argumentative."
— Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 January 2019
"Abzû is a beautiful game...What you're excavating is a story both symbolized by your passage and punctuated by encounters with sequential artwork of the sort identified with antiquity. ... It’s like scuba diving, only between the pleasures of investigating rainbow coral reefs, sun-pierced sea kelp and shoaling sea creatures, you're performing a kind of visual exegesis."
— Matt Peckham, TIME, 2 August 2016
has this page helped you understand "exegesis"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "exegesis" without saying "long, detailed explanation" or "full scholarly interpretation."
try it out:
Although an exegesis is most often a written document, it can be an explanation in any format.
For example, a writer for Slate referred to a new museum, the Statue of Liberty Museum, as "an exegesis of the statue." The museum shares with visitors a ten-minute video of commentary, including the remark that "The Statue of Liberty is at once an emblem of America's highest ideals and the irony of our history."
See if you can give another example of an exegesis that you've seen, heard, or visited: one that takes form in a documentary, a podcast, a museum, or some other medium. Did this exegesis offer you any new insights? Did you question it or even disagree with it at any point?
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game this month is "Subject Line Crosswords."
We'll revisit some of the email subject lines from 2019 issues, using them as a tool for recall.
Each day this month, see if you can complete the mini-crossword with words we studied last year. If you need extra clues, look below the puzzle to view definitions and parts of speech. And I'll share the answers in the following issue. Enjoy!
From the previous issue:
Extra clues:
ACROSS
1. adjective meaning "having different parts or sections that contrast with each other, often in a messy, inconsistent, or unappealing way"
3. noun meaning "something's name, label, or title that sends the wrong message about it"
DOWN
2. adjective meaning "low on energy, or weak in body or spirit"
Answers:
If you like, you can review the words piebald, misnomer, and anemic.
Try this today:
Extra clues:
ACROSS
1. verb meaning "to avoid something, often in a smart or sneaky way"
3. verb meaning "to hurt people emotionally, as if you're making deep, rough, irregular slices into them"
DOWN
2. noun meaning "a small amount of something"
review this word:
But a pretty close opposite of EXEGESIS is
A. RECAP.
B. ABSTRACT.
C. MISREPRESENTATION.
2. Fans of shows like Saved by the Bell and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air post online their elaborate exegeses, including _____.
A. subtitles and stage directions
B. quizzes with titles like "Which Character Are You?"
C. evidence suggesting that the main characters are actually dead or hallucinating
a final word:
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I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
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Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
An exegesis is a scholarly interpretation. This word comes straight from Greek, where it means "an explanation" or "an interpretation."
Part of speech: It's a noun, usually the countable kind: "he delivered an exegesis on that subject," "we yawned our way through this exegesis."
This word is rare. And because we often use it to talk about Biblical interpretations, it has a religious, scholarly tone.
"Genuinely worthy of some Old Testament term of praise is Robert Alter's 'The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary'... the commentary, which takes up more than half of nearly every page, seamlessly slides into the translation proper, each claiming equal space in the reader’s mind. The notes are not neutral exegesis but richly explanatory and argumentative."
Explain the meaning of "exegesis" without saying "long, detailed explanation" or "full scholarly interpretation."
Although an exegesis is most often a written document, it can be an explanation in any format.
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Extra clues:
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