Make Your Point > Archived Issues > PROCRUSTEAN
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pronounce
PROCRUSTEAN:
Say it "pro KRUST ee yun."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
Remember the Spider-Man villain Doc Ock? Doctor Octopus? His name always makes me giggle.
The same goes for the Harry Potter character Professor Lupin-- it's pretty clear what kind of animal he morphs into!
Procrustes, too, is a fictional character whose name clues us in. It's Greek for "one who stretches."
definition:
Procrustes is a villain from Greek mythology. In the myths, he tortures and kills his victims by "fitting" them to his iron bed: if they're too short for it, he stretches them out; if they're too tall for it, he hacks off their limbs.
Fittingly, his name is Greek for "(someone) who stretches (other people) out."
Because his story gives us that hideously grisly image of forcing people into sameness or conformity, for hundreds of years in English, we've used his name to mean "a thing or person that violently forces things or people to be the same."
And we use the phrase "procrustean bed" to refer to any tool or process that does this.
The adjective is handy, too, and it's been around for so long that we've mostly stopped capitalizing it. Something or someone procrustean tends to cause terrible harm by forcing everything or everyone to be the same.
To be clear, Procrustes is a fictional character who committed fictional evil deeds. But it may interest you to know that, in the stories, he gets what's coming to him. I'll let Edith Hamilton tell it:
"Procrustes was placed upon the iron bed which he used for his victims... The story does not say which of the two methods [stretching or hacking] was used in his case, but there was not much to choose between them and in one way or the other Procrustes' career ended."
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Adjective: "their procrustean methods;" "The system is procrustean."
Other forms:
The noun for the idea is rare: "procrusteanism."
So are these other nouns: a "procrustean bed" is a thing that imposes conformity, and a "Procrustes" is a person who does so.
how to use it:
"Procrustean" is a rare, formal, scholarly word, and it sounds so nasty that your readers are likely to understand it even if they haven't seen it before.
Talk about the procrustean bed of something, and about people and systems that tie people or things to that bed, or fit them onto it, or lay them on it, and so on.
Or, talk about procrustean processes, methods, systems, rules, authorities, etc.
examples:
"Zero — that's zero — Syrian refugees allowed into the U.S. through our procrustean refugee program have been involved in a fatal terrorist attack."
— Phil Torres, Salon, 19 February 2017
"As the boy's outbursts grow more violent, Theo attracts more critical attention. If you're the parent of a child with special needs who's felt the cold procrustean hands of the public school system, you know what this father is up against."
— Ron Charles, Washington Post, 21 September 2021
has this page helped you understand "procrustean"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "procrustean" without saying "ruthlessly conforming" or "mercilessly standardizing."
try it out:
Carleton Noyes wrote, "It is an error to suppose that beauty must be racked on a procrustean bed of formula."
Talk about what he means. Could you also think of some other things, besides beauty, that really shouldn't be "racked on a procrustean bed of formula"? (Here, the word "racked" means "stretched in a torturous way.")
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: It Sounds Wiser in Latin.
Try matching a handful of Latin phrases to their English translations. If you need some clues, I'll provide them in the form of definitions of related words. Enjoy!
Try these today:
1. alter remus aquas, alter mihi radat arenas
2. astra regunt homines, sed regit astra Deus
3. malus bonum ubi se simulat, tunc est pessimus
4. pars magna bonitatis est velle fieri bonum
5. parvula scintilla sæpe magnum suscitavit incendium
A. a bad man, when he pretends to be a good man, is the worst man of all
B. a very small spark has often kindled a great conflagration
C. let me skim the water with one oar, and with the other touch the sands
D. much of goodness consists in wanting to be good
E. the stars govern men, but God governs the stars
To peek at the clues, follow the links:
1. Something malicious or malevolent is...
2. A velleity is...
3. A deus ex machina is...
review this word:
1.
The opposite of PROCRUSTEAN is
A. LOW-CARB.
B. ALL-EMBRACIVE.
C. SHELLFISH-FREE.
2.
A writer for Time complained that a biographer had tried to "_____" his subject "to _____ a Procrustean bed of neuroses."
A. reshape .. fit
B. whitewash .. hide in
C. make excuses for .. confine himself to
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...
How to improve any sentence.
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.
Remember the Spider-Man villain Doc Ock? Doctor Octopus? His name always makes me giggle.
Procrustes is a villain from Greek mythology. In the myths, he tortures and kills his victims by "fitting" them to his iron bed: if they're too short for it, he stretches them out; if they're too tall for it, he hacks off their limbs.
Part of speech:
"Procrustean" is a rare, formal, scholarly word, and it sounds so nasty that your readers are likely to understand it even if they haven't seen it before.
"Zero — that's zero — Syrian refugees allowed into the U.S. through our procrustean refugee program have been involved in a fatal terrorist attack."
Explain the meaning of "procrustean" without saying "ruthlessly conforming" or "mercilessly standardizing."
Carleton Noyes wrote, "It is an error to suppose that beauty must be racked on a procrustean bed of formula."
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.
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. |