quiddity


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quid·di·ty

 (kwĭd′ĭ-tē)
n. pl. quid·di·ties
1. The real nature of a thing; the essence.
2. A hairsplitting distinction; a quibble.

[Medieval Latin quidditās, from Latin quid, what; see kwo- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

quiddity

(ˈkwɪdɪtɪ)
n, pl -ties
1. (Philosophy) philosophy the essential nature of something. Compare haecceity
2. a petty or trifling distinction; quibble
[C16: from Medieval Latin quidditās, from Latin quid what]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

quid•di•ty

(ˈkwɪd ɪ ti)

n., pl. -ties.
1. the quality that makes a thing what it is; essential nature.
2. a trifling nicety of subtle distinction, as in argument.
[1530–40; < Medieval Latin quidditās= Latin quid what + -itās -ity]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

quiddity

the essential nature or quality of something that makes it different and distinct from other things and establishes its identity. — quidditative, adj.
See also: Philosophy
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.quiddity - an evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections
equivocation, evasion - a statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth
2.quiddity - the essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and makes it different from any other
essence, heart and soul, inwardness, nitty-gritty, pith, substance, gist, kernel, nub, meat, core, sum, marrow, heart, center, centre - the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

quiddity

[ˈkwɪdɪtɪ] N (Philos) → esencia f; (= quibble) → sutileza f, sofistería f
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

quiddity

n
(Philos) → Quiddität f (spec), → Wesen nt
(liter: = quibble) → Spitzfindigkeit f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in classic literature ?
Then come and dine with me, and, after meat, We'll canvass every quiddity thereof; For, ere I sleep, I'll try what I can do: This night I'll conjure, though I die therefore.
Thomas's doctrine is not a radical negative theology; in spite of this, he maintains that we cannot know God's quiddity. In the following history of the debate, however, two influential representatives of the Dominican Order, Tommaso de Vio (Cajetanus) and Francesco Silvestri (Ferrariensis) will affirm the accessibility of God's quid sit, restoring an old doctrine by Durand of Saint Pourgain and Herve of Nedellec.
Among the standouts were new and familiar names: bags and accessories brands Viajecito, Quiddity Leather Goods, Baul, and Tropik Beatnik; lifestyle brands HaloHalo, Simple Sentiments PH, and Neon Island; footwear label Stride Collective; and clothing labels Factory, Randolf, Basic Movement, R-U-A, Toqa and Proudrace.
The setting is dedicated to 20 of the country's most promising fashion entrepreneurs and brands in the e-commerce space, including Toqa, Ava, and Quiddity.
This produces a vocabulary to grasp God as both presence (Deus revelatus), manifested in the reality of entities, and absence because God's quiddity "cannot be assigned to the categories of enticity," and is best considered "a telos, a goal to be attained" (p.
We can't know Tia, but we can know the artist's knowing, to the extent that she records it on her surfaces over time--and it's through that conduit that some sense of the quiddity of this individual, however necessarily indirect, comes through.
That notion is a crucial one for him, because it allows him to focus on the quiddity of words themselves.
Not only because it is the body per se--any "being" might perhaps do this kind of critical work--but because, in the matter of self-telling, leading with the body is leading with quiddity. The body does not stand, or lie down, or open up for or to-, it stands, lies down, looks, opens.
We perhaps re-apply those pictures to the infinite quiddity of the world with insufficient discrimination.
"Childness," by contrast, understands the child as being "defined through a kind of elusive quiddity, a spectral essence" (15-16).