Make Your Point: HEBETATE

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pronounce HEBETATE:

HEB uh tate

connect this word to others:

Today we're checking out the bizarre verb hebetate, which is synonymous with numb, dull, daze, deaden, stupefy, astound, and n_np__s ("literally 'no further:' to send someone into a standstill").

Can you recall that last synonym?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Hebetate" traces back to the Latin word hebes, meaning "blunt or dull."

We've used "hebetate" in English since the 1500s to mean "to make people or things blunt, dull, lazy, or stupid; or, to become blunt, dull, lazy, or stupid."

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, usually the transitive kind. Here's James Russell Lowell: "Desultory reading... hebetates the brain."

Other forms:

The other verb forms are "hebetated" and "hebetating."

If you don't like the look of the verb "hebetate," how about "hebetize" or "hebescate"? Both of these alternates are even rarer than "hebetate."

For a noun, you can use "hebetude" or "hebetation."

And for an adjective, there's "hebete," which means "dull or stupid;" along with "hebetant" and "hebetative," both of which mean "making dull or stupid;" and finally "hebetudinous" (yes, really), which means "inclined to become dull or stupid."

how to use it:

"Hebetate" is an old, rare, weird word. Still, I think it's worth knowing because it can sound so kooky. Sometimes that's what you're going for.

So if you're trying to sound quirky, or crotchety and old-fashioned, then instead of complaining that things have "dulled," "deadened," "brainwashed," or "zombified" us, you could complain that they've hebetated us. Or that they've hebetated our minds, brains, wits, affections, memories, or souls.

And instead of complaining about people's "lethargy" or "lassitude" or "mental sluggishness," you could complain about their hebetude.

If you do, just be sure your context gets the meaning across. "Hebetate" and "hebetude" are very rare words; without context, they could confuse and annoy your listeners.

examples:

"Men's souls were blinded, hebetated; and sunk under the influence of Atheism and Materialism, and Hume and Voltaire."
— Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling, 1851

"In [one's] forties... there's been too much accumulation of sort that reinforces distraction and destroys luck. Hebetude and tension. Ego swells and shrinks by turns, like the wattles on a manic‐depressive turkey."
— Julian Moynahan, Garden State, 1973

has this page helped you understand "hebetate"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "hebetate" without saying "stupefy" or "confound."

try it out:

According to a reviewer for Luke Dempsey's book A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All, the book boils down to this:

"[Dempsey] learns to care about weather fronts and wind patterns and teaches himself for the first time to look and listen. Urban hebetude, he discovers, can be cured at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge."

Nice!

With that in mind as an example, talk about another cure for hebetude. If not urban hebetude, then rural hebetude, romantic hebetude, political hebetude, corporate hebetude, academic hebetude, or any other kind you may have cured yourself of.

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 "Fill In For the Poet."

I'll give you a few lines from a poem, with a blank where a word that we've studied before appears, along with the word's definition. See if you can come up with it. If you can't, that's fine: fill in the blank to your satisfaction.

To check out some examples, head here.

Try this today:

From Robert Pinsky's poem "Glory:"

So where is the godgiven glory Pindar says
Settles on mortals?—Bright as gold among the substances,
Say the chorus, _____ as water among the elements.

Definition: "most important, as if placed on top of a hill."

To see the word the poet chose, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. The opposite of HEBETATE could be

A. LEAP or ACCEPT.
B. NOTICE or RESPOND.
C. STIMULATE or ENLIGHTEN.

2. On social media, people have identified the "Gen Z stare" as a _____ look, an expression of hebetude worn by young adults who seem to _____

A. sympathetic .. cringe on your behalf.
B. vacant .. not know how to answer a question like "How are you?"
C. disgusted .. loathe you for entering the coffee shop and placing an order.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
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How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A 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.

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