Make Your Point > Archived Issues > TRITURATE
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pronounce
TRITURATE:
Say it "TRITCH er ate."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
Triturate is one of many weird, wonderful words I learned from Charles Harrington Elster in Verbal Advantage, the fantastic paperback that rarely left my hands between 2007 and 2010. I practically triturated that book, rubbing its pages thin from handling it so often, practically grinding it into dust.
Triturate belongs to a family of words about literal and figurative rubbing, like trite, contrite, detritus, and detriment.
Now, you know how after you learn a word, you suddenly see it all over the place? This did not happen with triturate! Nope, I have never once spotted it in the wild. I saw it again only because I skim the dictionary.
But here it is, for your enjoyment and use: triturate, a fresh, startling, scientific-sounding synonym of crush, grind, pulverize, turn to dust, th__sh, and fl__ch_r_z_. Can you recall those last two?
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
"Triturate" comes from a Latin word for "a rubbing" or "a threshing."
Literally speaking, to triturate things is to grind them up into powder (or extremely tiny pieces).
And figuratively speaking, to triturate things is to grind them down. That is, to do something to them so harshly or so thoroughly, or for such a long time, that they seem to turn into powder.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech: verb, the transitive kind: "he triturated the mixture in a bowl," "she triturates every bite before swallowing," "we were all triturated by graduate school."
Other forms worth knowing: triturated, triturating, trituration, triturator(s).
how to use it:
This rare, weird, formal word has a tone that's harsh and violent.
It also sounds scientific. It makes us think of animals grinding up their food, or chemists or pharmacists grinding up their mixtures in a laboratory.
Even though your listeners will probably be hearing "triturate" for the first time, they're likely to understand it just fine, thanks to context and to the harsh sound of it.
So, feel free to talk about the people, events, activities, situations, and periods of time that triturate us, as if we're food in the mouth of an animal, or herbs in the mortar of a cook, or seashells at the mercy of wave after wave.
Things can also triturate our hopes, our money, our willpower, our love or enthusiasm for something, etc.
examples:
"Decant the vinegar, and wash your powder with warm water, till the last that comes off hath no taste: then dry it, and put it into an iron mortar, with four times its weight of Quick-silver: triturate the whole with a heavy wooden pestle, till all the powder be of a blackish colour..."
— Pierre Joseph Macquer, Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry, 1758
"Just as the fish swallow stones to aid the digestion, we need the accidents and frictions of life to triturate our moral pabulum, and render it more easily assimilable to our constitutions."
— Charles James Lever, Paul Gosslett's Confessions in Love, Law, and The Civil Service, 1906
"Scarcity of sustenance, inbred jealousy of each other, feuds and factions...the groups of the Afghan borderland dwell apart, become estranged or hostile, are at constant war with each other, and cannot unite against a common enemy. This trituration of the people has produced a multiplicity of dialects."
— J. L. Pennell, "Frontiers Ancient and Modern," The Edinburgh Review, July 1909
has this page helped you understand "triturate"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "triturate" without saying "grind into dust" or "reduce to tiny pieces."
try it out:
Sports writers often report that one team has "pulverized" the other, as if grinding the opponents into tiny pieces by scoring against them over and over. And as fun as the word "pulverize" is, it's getting overused in sports writing. Maybe it's time for "triturate" to step in?
Give it a try: think of a player or team you cheer for, and talk about a time they totally triturated the opposition.
If you're not a sports fan, talk about a time a certain candidate, company, or product totally triturated the competitors. Or, talk about a character in a book or a movie who was nearly triturated by some enemy or some long struggle.
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.
This month, our game is called "Fix the Grand Spell which was Cast by Short Words."
(Or, in monstrously inflated terms, the game is called "Rewrite the Extraordinary Incantation which was Executed by Monosyllabic Vocables.")
In each issue, I'll offer a familiar quote that I've heartlessly hypertrophied with polysyllabic transplants. You'll restore the quote to its original version, with each word just one syllable long.
That is to say, I'll share a fat, fake draft of a famed quote; you'll say the trim real one.
For example, if I say "Exploit an opportunity while the situation allows," then you say, "Make hay while the sun shines." If I say, "Durations remedy every laceration," then you say, "Time heals all wounds."
From the previous issue:
"If you manufacture it, he will materialize." --> "If you build it, he will come."
Try this today: "I experience the desire--the desire for velocity!"
Say that, but in words of one beat each.
Clues:
Where it's from: a movie.
The year we first heard it: 1986.
review this word:
A. SOLIDIFY.
B. SUPER-HEAT.
C. PILL (to form into little balls).
2. The folks who manufacture the Norwalk Juicer are especially proud of its triturator, which they claim can _____.
A. separate 100% of the pulp from the juice
B. extract all vital nutrients from the pulp of raw foods
C. cut the fibers of raw foods right down to the cellular level
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:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
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.
Triturate is one of many weird, wonderful words I learned from Charles Harrington Elster in Verbal Advantage, the fantastic paperback that rarely left my hands between 2007 and 2010. I practically triturated that book, rubbing its pages thin from handling it so often, practically grinding it into dust. "Triturate" comes from a Latin word for "a rubbing" or "a threshing."
Part of speech: verb, the transitive kind: "he triturated the mixture in a bowl," "she triturates every bite before swallowing," "we were all triturated by graduate school."
This rare, weird, formal word has a tone that's harsh and violent.
"Decant the vinegar, and wash your powder with warm water, till the last that comes off hath no taste: then dry it, and put it into an iron mortar, with four times its weight of Quick-silver: triturate the whole with a heavy wooden pestle, till all the powder be of a blackish colour..."
Explain the meaning of "triturate" without saying "grind into dust" or "reduce to tiny pieces."
Sports writers often report that one team has "pulverized" the other, as if grinding the opponents into tiny pieces by scoring against them over and over. And as fun as the word "pulverize" is, it's getting overused in sports writing. Maybe it's time for "triturate" to step in?
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.
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