Make Your Point: SCIENTER

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pronounce SCIENTER:

sigh EN tur

That's how dictionaries suggest we pronounce it.
Online, I've also heard lawyers pronounce it "SIGH en tur," "SEE en tur," and "see EN tur."

connect this word to others:

I learned the term scienter recently on YouTube, from LegalEagle, a channel where a lawyer breaks down current events, explaining their complex legalities in simple terms. It's great entertainment!

As you might guess from its spelling, scienter has to do with knowing things. It traces back to the Latin scire "to know," like the words science, conscious, conscience, prescience, omniscience, __science (a total lack of knowledge about something), and sc___ism (shallow knowledge that people pass off as deep knowledge).

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

definition:

In Latin, scienter is an adverb meaning "knowingly, or consciously." We took it into English centuries ago with the same meaning, and we've used it in legal contexts ever since.

Scienter is someone's intent or knowledge of wrongdoing. In other words, when you prove scienter, you prove the fact that someone knew they were doing something wrong as they were doing it.

And, to do something wrong scienter is to do it knowingly.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Often a noun, the uncountable kind: "They tried to prove scienter."

Also an adverb: "They acted scienter;" "They committed the offense scienter."

Other forms:

None that I've seen.

how to use it:

I'm not a lawyer, so I quite literally have no business throwing around the word "scienter" myself. But I'm pleased to have learned it, because it increases my understanding of news articles and other media that deal with legal cases. I hope you're pleased, too, if it was a new word for you!

In the media, you'll hear people talk about proving scienter or establishing scienter, or about how people acted (or didn't act) with scienter.

Less commonly, you'll hear people use "scienter" as an adverb, as in "They committed the act scienter."

In both the examples that I'll cite below, the writer has glossed the term "scienter" for us: defined it for us right there in the text. If you do decide to use the word yourself, you might want to gloss it, too.

examples:

"The Martin Act lets prosecutors call almost anything fraud, and there’s no requirement to prove evil intent in civil cases. Yet proving scienter, or the intent or knowledge of wrongdoing, has been a staple requirement of British and American law for centuries lest innocent mistakes be prosecuted as intentional frauds."
— Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal, 25 March 2018

"Goldman paid a proportionally bigger penalty than Citigroup, considering that Goldman's $15 million profit was less than a tenth of Citigroup's haul. The [Securities and Exchange Commission] responded that Goldman had acted with scienter, or intent to commit securities fraud."
— Editorial Board, Bloomberg, 29 November 2011

has this page helped you understand "scienter"?

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 "scienter" without saying "awareness of wrongdoing" or "knowledge of wrongdoing."

try it out:

In Salon, Gary Weiss complained, "Democrats and Republicans posture about financial misdeeds so that they don't actually have to do anything." They hold a hearing, he said, and let some senator or executive do "his best to show humility, contrition and, above all, lack of scienter."

Talk about why Weiss is annoyed by this behavior among elected officials. Could you make a similar complaint about any particular person or group of people today?

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 for this month is Confounding Contronyms!

In each issue, I'll give you two quotes, each with a blank. The same word goes in both blanks—but it means opposite things. Your job is to come up with that word: that slippery little contronym. To see the hints, highlight the hidden white text. To see the answer, scroll to the bottom.

Try this today:

Quote 1: "The R-SAT would... reduce the _____ score difference between White and minority test-takers by a third, and it would produce a score that is a better indicator of the academic ability of minority students."
— Maria Veronica Santelices & Mark Wilson, Education Policy Analysis Archives, 16 November 2015

Quote 2: "Minchin is an Australian comic who plays a _____ piano and sings satirical songs."
— Vera Titunik, New York Times, 18 November 2011

Hint 1: This word starts with the letter... M

Hint 2: This word means both... "average" and "excellent."

review this word:

1. The opposite of SCIENTER, the adverb, is

A. UNFAIRLY.
B. FRUITLESSLY.
C. UNWITTINGLY.

2. In The Confessions of Artemas Quibble, a lawyer "wrathfully" shouts, "But how in the world could I have proved a scienter? I can't pry open the prisoner's skull and exhibit his _____."

A. IQ
B. evil intent
C. hopes and dreams

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.

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