Wednesday, May 07, 2008

365 New Words a Year [Merriam Webster] (Workman Publishing 10/8/7: thwart

thwart v 1a: to run counter to so as to effectively oppose or baffle : contravene b: to oppose successfully : defeat the hopes of 2: to pass through or across
"Thwart and its synonyms foil and frustrate all suggest checking or defeating another's plan or preventing the achievement of a goal. Foil implies checking or defeating so as to discourage future efforts ('foiled by her parents, he stopped trying to see her'), while frustrate suggests making vain or ineffectual efforts, however vigorous or persistent ('frustrated attempts at government reform'). Thwart usually indicates frustration caused by opposition ('the army thwarted an attempted coup')." Rating 9/10 contraveners.
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. --Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"