Make Your Point: DE NOVO

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pronounce DE NOVO:

duh NO vo

connect this word to others:

The phrase de novo, meaning "from the beginning," is closely related to lots of words for newness and new starts, like new itself; novel; novice; renovate; innovate, new____k ("oppressive language that obscures reality," can you recall that one?); and the rare and devilish word novercal, meaning both "relating to a stepmother (a new mother)" and "malicious."

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

definition:

"De novo" is Latin for "from the beginning" or "since the beginning."

We've used it for centuries in English to mean "from the start," and more specifically to describe actions that must be done all over again, from scratch.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Often an adverb: "That technology developed de novo;" "They had to invent it de novo."

Other forms:

Some writers also use it as an adjective, meaning "created or arising afresh or anew," especially in science: "the de novo crop," "a de novo pathway," "de novo drug design," "de novo gene mutations," "de novo peptide sequencing."

how to use it:

Although "de novo" is both formal and rare, it's also easy to understand. So feel free to throw it into your sentence as a serious, stylish alternative to phrases like "from scratch" or "all over again."

You might talk about inventions, adaptations, or developments that evolve de novo or arise de novo, or talk about people having to create or design things de novo.

Or you might use the phrase more loosely, like an adjective, and talk about de novo designs, inventions, adaptations, or developments.

examples:

"Writing has evolved de novo only a few times in human history, in areas that had been the earliest sites of the rise of food production in their respective regions."
— Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, 2017

"Rather than a pure robot civilization springing up de novo, it’s more likely that AI will integrate itself into things that already exist in our world."
— Eliot Bush, Scientific American, 7 November 2023

has this page helped you understand "de novo"?

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 "de novo" without saying "from scratch" or "all over again."

try it out:

In 2018, Lance Morrow wrote in the Wall Street Journal that "each day of [Donald Trump's] presidency seems to arrive de novo, disconnected historically from the day before."

That reminds me of watching a show like Futurama or South Park, where every episode seems to arrive de novo, wiped clean of any lessons or developments or even deaths from previous episodes.

Talk about one more thing, either in real life or fiction, where every day (or every episode) seems to arrive de novo.

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 "The LOL Is In the Details."

I'll give you a vague version of a quote from a funny writer or speaker, then prompt you to liven it up with detail. To see the original quote, scroll all the way down.

Here's an example:

"Don't order any of the faerie food… It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute you’re snacking, the next minute you’re doing something insane."

Snacking on what? Doing what?

You might say, "One minute you’re sampling a mushroom tart, the next minute you’re doing the Macarena."

And the writer's original version was "One minute you're munching on a faerie plum, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head."
— Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, 2007

Try this one today:

"There should be more options for donating your corpse after you die. What if I don't want to donate my body to science? Why can't I donate it to other kinds of groups for other needs? Give me options."

What other groups? What other needs?

review this word:

1. One opposite of DE NOVO could be

A. USQUE AD FINEM: until the end.
B. EX NIHILO: out of nothing, from scratch.
C. AB OVO: from the beginning (literally "from the egg").

2. An article in Nature Biotechnology titled "_____" describes the pursuit of "more sophisticated de novo protein designs."

A. Theoretical and computational protein editing
B. Making membrane proteins for structures: a trillion tiny tweaks
C. AI-enhanced protein design makes proteins that have never existed

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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