English Explanatory Dictionary

dormitive virtue

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.

Word forms

dormitive virtue dormitive virtues

Etymology

A calque translation of Latin, virtus dormitiva, coined by Molière in The Imaginary Invalid. In the play, he lampoons a group of physicians providing an explanation in macaronic Latin of the sleep-inducing properties of opium as stemming from its "virtus dormitiva".

Synonyms

dormitive principle

Related words

aureation jargon
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