# Actual Freedom – Definitions

# Definitions ## Pragmatic/Pragmatism; Praxeology/Praxeological; Precisive; Predicate ## Preferent; Prejudice/Unconsidered; Prelapsarian; Prepossessions ## Preposterous; Presumptuous; Pretermit; Prevent /Permit ## Privatiser/Privatism; Privilege; Problematisation; Procession ## Proclivity; Prolixity; Propaganda; Propertyless ## Proscribe; Proscription; Public Relations; Purblind Pragmatic (adj.): 1. advocating behaviour that is dictated more *by practical consequences than by theory or dogma*; 2. (philosophy) of or relating to pragmatism; 3. involving everyday or practical business; pragmatical; (adv.): pragmatically; (n.): pragmaticality. [C17: from Late Latin prāgmaticus, from Greek prāgmatikos from pragma, ‘act’, from prattein, ‘to do’]. [emphasis added]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). Pragmatism (n.): 1. action or policy dictated by consideration of the immediate *practical consequences rather than by theory or dogma*; 2. (philosophy) a. the doctrine that the content of a concept consists only in its practical applicability; (n.): pragmatist; (adj.): pragmatistic. [emphasis added]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). Praxeology/Praxeological: praxeology (n.): the study of human conduct; (adj.): praxeological. [1900-05; from Greek prāxe- (taken as singular of prâxis, ‘deed, act, action’; praxis, ‘practice, practical application as distinguished from theory’) + -o- + -logy; perhaps via. French praxéologie]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary). Precisive: • precisive (adj.): exactly limiting by separating what is not relative to the purpose; as precisive abstraction. ~ (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary). • precisive (adj.): 1. (logic) limiting or making precise by removing all that is not absolutely necessary or relevant; 2. (formal) exact; precise. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). • precisive (adj.): 1. separating or distinguishing (a person or thing) from another or others; [e.g.]: “the precisive imputation of guilt”; 2. characterised by accuracy or exactness; [e.g.]: “a precisive method of expressing oneself”. [1670-80; from Latin praecīsus (from praecīdere, ‘to curtail’, from prae, ‘before’ + caedere, ‘to cut’) + -ive, a suffix of adjectives (and nouns of adjectival origin) expressing tendency, disposition, function, connection, etc.; e.g.: corrective, destructive, detective, passive, sportive]. ~ (Random House Dictionary). • precisive (adj.): 1. cutting off; amputative; eradicative; [e.g.]: “At other times our church moderates her censure, ... using a medicinal censure before a precisive; a less to prevent a greater excommunication”. (Timothy Puller, 1638-1693, “The moderation of the Church of England”, 1679, p. 360); 2. pertaining to or resulting from the mental precision of one object from another; precisive abstraction: see the quotation, and abstraction; [e.g.]: “Precisive abstraction is when we consider those things apart which cannot really exist apart, as when we consider mode without considering its substance and subject”. (Dr. Isaac Watts, “Logick”, 1725, I. vi. § 9). [= Spanish, Italian precisivo, from precise + -ive]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • precisive (adj.): cutting off; (logic): exactly limiting by cutting off all that is not absolutely relative to the purpose; [e.g.]: “a precisive abstraction”; “a precisive censure”. ~ (Wiktionary English Dictionary). • precisive (adj.): 1. cutting off, separating, or defining one thing or person from all others; [e.g.]: “It was a precisive censure”; “It is a precisive abstraction”; 2. having or marked by precision or exactness. [etymology: in first definition, from Latin praecisus + English -ive; in sense 2, from precis(ion) + -ive]. ~ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Predicate: predicate (v.; predicated, predicating, predicates; tr.v.): to base or establish (a statement or action, for example); [e.g.]: “I predicated my argument on the facts”; (n.): predication; (adj.): predicational, predicative; (adv.): predicatively. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). Preferent: preferent (adj.): preferred above all others and treated with partiality.~ \ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0). Prejudice: • prejudice a prior judgement; esp. a judgement formed hastily or before due consideration; the action of judging an event beforehand; a preliminary or anticipatory judgement; a preconceived idea of what will happen; an anticipation’. (Oxford Dictionary). • prejudices’ (synonyms): prejudgements, preconceptions, predeterminations, preconceived ideas, prearranged notions. (©1998 Oxford Dictionary). • ‘prejudice: an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts; a preconceived preference or idea; the act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions; irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion’. (American Heritage® Dictionary). • ‘prejudice: a preformed opinion, usually an unfavourable one, based on insufficient knowledge, irrational feelings, or inaccurate stereotypes; an unfounded hatred, fear, or mistrust of a person or group, especially one of a particular religion, ethnicity, nationality, sexual preference, or social status’. (Encarta Dictionary). • ‘prejudice: an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge; an unreasonable dislike for something or someone’. (Cambridge Dictionary). • ‘prejudice: preconceived judgment or opinion; an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge; an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics’. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). • ‘a prior judgement; esp. a judgement formed hastily or before due consideration; preconceived opinion not based on actual experience; an unreasoning preference or objection’. (Oxford Dictionary). •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Unconsidered: unconsidered’ (synonyms): unthinking, imprudent, injudicious, irresponsible, reactive, knee-jerk, hasty, reckless, rash. (Oxford Thesaurus). Prelapsarian: • prelapsarian (adj.): characteristic of or relating to the human state or time before the Fall; [e.g.]: “a prelapsarian innocence”. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). • prelapsarian (adj.): of or relating to the period before the fall of Adam and Eve. [pre- + Latin lāpsus, ‘fall’, from lāpsāre, frequentative of lābī, ‘to lapse’ + -arian]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). • prelapsarian (adj.): occurring before the Fall. [1875-80; pre- + Latin lapsus, ‘a fall, ‘an error, ‘slipping’, from lāb(ī), ‘to slip’, ‘err’ + -sus, for -tus, suffix of verbal action + -arian]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary). • prelapsarian (adj.): of or relating to the time before the Fall of Adam and Eve. ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0). • prelapsarian (adj.): of, or relating to the period of innocence before the Fall of Man; innocent, unspoiled; [e.g.]: “It is the prelapsarian Polynesia of free love, noble savagery, Kon Tiki rafting and Easter Island statuary, not the Levi’s-wearing, Toyota-driving, pédalo-pushing, efflorescent-cocktails-in-a-split-coconut-serving pseudo-paradise which awaits latter-day travellers”. (page 139, “Marketing–The Retro Revolution”, by Stephen Brown; 2001, Sage Publications, London); “Ideally, individual stories and God’s plan share the same final goal, namely, returning to a prelapsarian state of perfect communication with God”. (page 4, “Storytelling in the works of Bunyan, Grimmelshausen, Defoe, and Schnabel”, by Janet Bertsch; 2004); “Can you really turn a few keyboards outside London’s landmarks into the equivalent of a pub honky-tonk for a good old knees-up; a 50s living room where the family would gather around the piano every evening, in some prelapsarian vision of the olden days...?” (from “The Guardian”, Tom Service; 01 June 2010); “Conservative think-tanks have the same dream of return to a prelapsarian innocence”. (from ‘The Perils of Constitution-Worship’, in “The Economist”; 23 September, 2010); (synonyms): antelapsarian, superlapsarian; (antonym): postlapsarian. [etymology: from pre- +‎ Latin lapsus, “fall” +‎ -arian]. ~ (Wiktionary English Dictionary). • prelapsarian (adj.): characteristic of or belonging to the time or state before the fall of humankind; (recent examples on the world-wide web); [e.g.]: “Perhaps this is just a brief moment of prelapsarian bliss, doomed to give way to run-of-the-mill internet toxicity”. (Jacob Stern, “The Atlantic”, 1 Dec. 2022); “The landscape was constantly changing and frequently spectacular, from the prelapsarian lushness of the Franklin to rolling green hills which could pass for the English countryside to stark vistas with an almost Nordic ruggedness”. (Steve King, “Condé Nast Traveller”, 19 Aug. 2021); “The vision, which now seems distinctly prelapsarian, was of the Web as a bottom-up phenomenon, with no bosses, and no rewards other than the satisfaction of participating in successful innovation”. (Louis Menand, “The New Yorker”, 16 Nov. 2020); “Too often in such films and books there’s a longing, however concealed, for some prelapsarian moment when right and wrong, good guys and bad, seem to have been helpfully demarcated, and every day provided the opportunity to display one’s mettle”. (Lidija Haas, “The New Republic”, 13 Dec. 2019); “The garden of prelapsarian innocence before the fall into global entanglements...”. (Carlos Lozada, “Washington Post”, 27 June 2019); “Beard took off for Africa straight out of school, chronicling the continent’s prelapsarian beauty and the spectacle of its cataclysmic decline”. (Kevin Conley, “Town & Country”, 23 May 2016); “The creator of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, consulted with the community and then emerged to proclaim that the money would be restored to its prelapsarian locations on the ledger”. (Gideon Lewis-Kraus, “ᴡɪʀᴇᴅ”, 18 June 2018); “Intellectual advocates of the job guarantee believe their proposal serves a larger purpose of restoring the Democratic Party to its prelapsarian state of working-class innocence, before neo-liberals took control”. (Jonathan Chait, “Daily Intelligencer”, 25 April 2018); (word history): the word “prelapsarian” is the latest creation in the “lapsarian” family, which is etymologically related to Latin lapsus, meaning ‘slip’ or ‘fall’. The word “supralapsarian” is the firstborn, appearing in 1633 as a word for someone who held the belief that people were predestined to either eternal life or eternal death before the Creation and the Fall (the event in the Bible when Adam and Eve were forced to leave the Garden of Eden because they had sinned against God). Next in line is “sublapsarian”, which refers to a person who adhered to the view that God foresaw and permitted the Fall and after the Fall decreed predestination to eternal life as a means of saving some of the human race. That word first appears in 1656 and was followed by its synonym, “infralapsarian”, in distant 1731; the word “postlapsarian”, meaning “of, relating to, or characteristic of the time or state after the Fall”, appeared two years later, and “prelapsarian” was delayed until 1879. [etymology: pre- + Latin lapsus, ‘slip’, ‘fall’; first known use: 1879, in the meaning defined above]. ~ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). __________ • lapsarian (adj.): 1. of or pertaining to the fall of man from innocence; 2. (n.): one who believes that humankind has fallen from a better state. [etymology: from Latin lapsus, ‘fall’ +‎ -arian, ‘believer’, ‘advocate’; cf. English lapse; viz.: from Middle French laps, from Latin lāpsus, from lābī, ‘to slip’; doublet of lapsus]. ~ (Wiktionary English Dictionary). • Fall of Man (Judeo-Christian mythology): when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, God punished them by driving them out of the Garden of Eden and into the world where they would be subject to sickness and pain and eventual death. ~ (Princeton WordNet 3.0). • antilapsarianism (adj.): the doctrine which denies the fall of man; (n.): antilapsarian. ~ (Ologies & Isms Dictionary). __________ Random Literary Samples. • “Helen Maurer appears to be questioning how to transcend the limits of the physical garden in order to reach that which lies beyond. The image of the garden is, of course, also central to Judeo-Christian thought, referencing the *prelapsarian* Garden of Eden and the heavenly recreated state to which the book of Revelation alludes. (...). Within this context, the rainbow takes on the symbolism of the promise of redemption, while prayer and devotion are offered as a means to revelation, or perhaps even to the redemption of creation—re Creation and re Composition as a means of reconnecting with the divine”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from “Helen Maurer: Re Composing”, by Lucy Newman Cleeve; March 22, 2017, Art and Christianity). • “In the 1950s and 1960s, magazines like National Geographic and Scientific American published stories on various ‘Stone Age’ cultures still alive in the world, from the Kalahari Bushmen to the tribes of New Guinea. The stories highlighted the idea that such peoples represented the lives of our hominid ancestors and focused on how they lived in harmony with nature. Unfortunately other studies offered less comforting visions in which these ‘primitive’ groups turned out not to be soft-focus *prelapsarian* Adams and Eves after all. Indeed, some of them were pretty violent. Meanwhile, other scientists treated baboons, chimpanzees, or gorillas as analogues to early man, using them to look for clues to our ancestral patterns. But Jane Goodall’s research found that life among chimps was not idyllic either. Territorial warfare, murder, and infanticide were part of their world too”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from “What If Man Is a Killer Ape Beset by Original Sin?” by Katrina Gulliver; July 13, 2019, Reason Magazine). • “In his book’s eponymous first essay, ‘Metaphors on Vision’, come its most famous lines: Brakhage urges the reader to “imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective” and asks, “How many colours are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of ‘Green’?” (...). He acknowledged that a *prelapsarian* return to infantile vision is impossible, but took it as his task to create a cinema of nonmimetic revelation which would be true to the experience of subjective, embodied perception “before ‘the beginning was the word’”. Arguably, Brakhage’s heroic rhetoric did more than his films to spur mounting antipathy toward his work as the 1960s drew on and the reductionist rigour of structural film displaced his expressive lyricism as avantgarde cinema’s dominant sensibility. (...). This filmmaker of sex, death, and heteronormative domesticity would fare little better with the rise of feminist criticism over the next decades”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from “On Stan Brakhage’s Metaphors on Vision”, Erika Balsom; Jan 1, 2018, Artforum International). (left-clicking the yellow rectangles with the capital ‘U’ opens each in a new web page). Prepossessions: • prepossession (n.): 1. a preconception or prejudice; 2. the state of being preoccupied with thoughts, opinions, or feelings. [from pre-, prefix + possess, from Middle English possessen, from Old French possesser, from Latin possidēre, possess-, from pos-, ‘as master’ + sedēre, ‘to sit’ + -ion]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). • prepossession (n.): 1. the state or condition of being prepossessed; 2. a prejudice or bias, esp. a favourable one. [from pre-, prefix + possess, from Old French possesser, from Latin possidēre, ‘to own’, ‘occupy’; related to Latin sedēre, ‘to sit’ + -ion]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). • prepossession (n.): 1. the state of being prepossessed; 2. a prejudice, esp. one in favour of a person or thing; (adj. ): prepossessionary. [1640-50; from pre-, prefix + possess, from late Middle English possesen, from Middle French possess(i)er, nounal derivative of possession, ‘possession’ + -ion]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary). • prepossession (n.): 1. the condition of being prepossessed; [e.g.]: “the king’s prepossession in my favour is very valuable”; (synonyms): condition, status (a state at a particular time); [e.g.]: “It was in a condition (or state) of disrepair”; “The current status of the arms negotiations”; 2. an opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence; (synonyms): preconception, preconceived idea, preconceived notion, preconceived opinion, parti pris (literally: side taken, from French parti, ‘decision’, ‘side’ + pris, ‘taken’, meaning: an inclination for or against something or someone which affects judgment; a prejudice, a preconceived attitude or opinion); [e.g.]: “He did not even try to confirm his preconceptions beforehand”; opinion, persuasion, thought, sentiment, view (a personal belief or judgment which is not founded on proof or certainty); [e.g.]: “My opinion differs from yours”; “I am not of your persuasion at all”; “What are your thoughts on the matter?” ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0). • prepossession (n.): 1. an inclination for or against which inhibits impartial judgment; (synonyms): bias, one-sidedness, partiality, partisanship, prejudice, tendentiousness; 2. total occupation of the attention or of the mind; (synonyms): absorption, engrossment, enthrallment, immersion, preoccupation. ~ (The American Heritage Roget’s Thesaurus). • prepossession (n.): 1. the act of taking possession beforehand; preoccupation; prior possession; [e.g.]: “And the consideration and serious belief of this, that God hath taken care to anticipate and prevent every man to give piety the prepossession, before other competitors should be able to pretend to him; and so to engage him in holiness first, and then in bliss, is another argument of great energy to work effectually on mankind, and recommend this obedience to them”. (Henry Hammond, “Of Fundamentals”; Chapter viii., § 12., page 128); 2. the state of being prepossessed; predisposition; prejudice, usually of a favourable nature; hence, liking; favourable opinion; [e.g.]: “They that were the hearers and spectators of what our Saviour said and did had mighty and inveterate prepossessions to struggle with”. (John Sharp, 1645-1714, “Fifteen Sermons Preach’d on Several Occasions”, Vol. I., Sermon Six, preached at Whitehall on the 20th of March, 1684/5, page 217); “Such a hovering faith as this, which refuses to settle upon any determination, is absolutely necessary in a mind that is careful to avoid errors and prepossessions”. (Joseph Addison, “The Spectator”, No. 117; July 14, 1711); “When you acknowledge her Merit, and own your Prepossession for another, at once, you gratify my Fondness, and cure my Jealousy”. (Richard Steele, 1672-1729, “The Conscious Lovers”, ii, 1); “So long has general improvement to contend with the force of habit and the passion of prepossession”. (Isaac D’Israeli, 1766-1848, “Amenities of Literature”, I. 148); (synonyms, def. 2.): bias, bent. [from pre- + possession]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • prepossess (tr.v.): 1. to preoccupy, as ground or land; take previous possession of; [e.g.]: “Wisedome, which being given alike to all Ages, cannot be prepossest by the Ancients; wherefore seeing that to seeke the Truth is inbred to all, they bereave themselves of wisedome the gift of God who without judgement follow the Ancients, and are led by others like bruit beasts”. (John Milton, “Of Reformation in England”, May 1641, i.); “Permitting others of a later Extraction to prepossess that Place in Your Esteem”. (William Congreve, “Way of the World”, March 1700, Dedication); 2. to preoccupy the mind or heart of; imbue beforehand with some opinion or estimate; bias; prejudice: as, ‘his appearance and manners strongly prepossessed them in his favour’; prepossess is more frequently used in a good sense than prejudice, and the participial adjective prepossessing has always a good sense; [e.g.]: “Master Montague is preparing to go to Paris as a Messenger of Honour, to prepossess the King and Council there with the Truth of Things”. (James Howell, “Epistolae Ho-Elianae; the Familiar Letters”, I. iv. 26, page 334); “They were so prepossest with this matter, and affected with ye same, as they commited Mr. Alden to prison”. (William Bradford, 1590-1657, “Plymouth Plantation”, p. 318); “Gentlemen, let not prejudice prepossess you”. (Izaak Walton, “The Complete Angler”, p. 31). “To confess a truth, he has not prepossessed me in his favour”. (Oliver Goldsmith, 1730-1774, “The Vicar of Wakefield”, v). [from pre- + possess]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • prepossessing (partic. adj.): predisposing the mind to favour; making a favourable impression; pleasing; attractive: as, ‘a prepossessing address’; [e.g.]: “A young man of prepossessing appearance and gentlemanly deportment”. (Rev. Richard H. Barham a.k.a. Thomas Ingoldsby, “The Ingoldsby Legends or Mirth and Marvels”, I. 190); (synonyms): attractive, taking, winning. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • prepossessingly (adv.): in a prepossessing manner; in such a way as to produce a favourable impression. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). • prepossessor (n.): one who prepossesses; one who possesses before another; [e.g.]: “They signify only a bare prepossessor, one that possessed the land before the present possessor”. (Brady, Glossary; page 365, “Encyclopaedia Londinensis”, Vol. 21, by John Wilkes, County of Sussex, 1826). [from pre- + possessor]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia). Preposterous: • I am using the word ‘preposterous’ (literally ‘reversed’ or ‘back-to-front’) in its ‘having last what should be first; inverted’ meaning. (Oxford Dictionary). • preposterous: contrary to nature, reason, or common sense’. (Oxford Dictionary). • preposterous (adj.): completely contrary to nature, reason, or sense; absurd; ridiculous. [from Latin praeposterus, ‘reversed’, ‘inverted’, from prae, ‘in front’, ‘before’ + posterus, ‘coming behind’, ‘following’, from post, ‘behind’; cf. posterior; viz.: from Latin, ‘latter’, from posterus, ‘coming next’, from post, ‘after’]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). Presumptuous: ‘Presumptuous: characterised by presumption [the taking upon oneself of more than one’s position etc. warrants; overconfident opinion or conduct, arrogance] or undue confidence; forward, impertinent’. (Oxford Dictionary). Pretermit: • pretermit (tr.v.; pretermitted, pretermitting, pretermits): 1. to disregard intentionally or allow to pass unnoticed or unmentioned; 2. to fail to do or include; omit; 3. to interrupt or terminate; (n.): pretermission; pretermitter. [Latin praetermittere: praeter, ‘beyond’; see preterit [viz.: comparative of prae, ‘before’] + mittere, ‘to let go’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). • pretermit (v.): disregard intentionally or let pass; ignore, neglect. ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0). Prevent; Permit: prevent: (antonym) permit. (MsWord Thesaurus). Privatiser: privatiser (noun): a person who promotes or facilitates privatisation (of publicly owned businesses or services); [e.g.]: “A privatiser, an anti-communist, a believer in individual liberty”. (Sunday Times; 2011) ~ (Collins English Dictionary). privatism (n.): a generic term generally describing people having a right to the private ownership of property; regarding public policy, it gives primacy to the private sector as the central agent for action, necessitates the social and economic benefits for private initiatives and competition, and legitimises the public consequences of private action; (adj. & n.); privatist. ~ (2017 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia). Privilege: privilege (n.): 1. a benefit, immunity, etc, granted under certain conditions; 2. the advantages and immunities enjoyed by *a small usually powerful group or class*, esp. to the disadvantage of others; [e.g.]: “one of the obstacles to social harmony is privilege”. [1125-75: from Old French privilēge, from Latin prīvilēgium, ‘law relevant to rights of an individual’, from prīvus, ‘an individual’ + lēx, ‘law’]. [emphasis added]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). Problematisation: problematisation (n.): making into or regarding as a problem requiring a solution; [e.g.]: “Personally, I would have preferred to wrap ‘protect’ and ‘confidence’ in the punctuation of problematisation”. ~ (Oxford English Dictionary). Procession: procession: the action of proceeding or advancing; onward movement, progression, advance. (Oxford Dictionary) Proclivity: proclivity (n.; pl. proclivities): a natural propensity or inclination; a predisposition; [e.g.]: “a proclivity for exaggeration”; “a proclivity to complain”. [1585-95; from Latin prōclīvitās, ‘downward slope’, ‘tendency’, from prōclīvis, ‘inclined’: prō-, ‘forward’ + clīvus, ‘slope’ + -itās, ‘-ity’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). Prolixity: prolix (adj.): 1. tediously prolonged; wordy; [e.g.]: “editing a prolix manuscript”; 2. tending to speak or write at excessive length; (synonyms): wordy, diffuse, long-winded, verbose, prolix; these adjectives mean given to using or marked by the use of an excessive number of words; [e.g.]: “a wordy apology”; “a diffuse historical novel”; “a long-winded speaker”; “a verbose correspondence”; “a prolix, tedious lecturer”; (n.): *prolixity*, prolixness; (adv.): prolixly. [Middle English, from Old French prolixe, from Latin prōlixus, poured forth, extended; from pro- + -lixus, akin to līquī, ‘to flow’, ‘to be liquid’]. [emphasis added]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). Propaganda: • propaganda (n.): 1. the systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause; 2. material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause; [e.g.]: “wartime propaganda”; (n.): propagandism, propagandist; (adj.): propagandistic; (adv.): propagandistically. [earlier, organisation for the propagation of a practice or point of view, from “Propaganda”, short for New Latin “Sacra Congregātiō dē Prōpagandā Fidē”, the ‘Sacred Congregation for Propagating the Faith’, a division of the Roman Curia established in 1622 to promote the evangelisation of non-Christian peoples and the spread of the Roman Catholic Church in other Christian communities; from Latin prōpāgandā, ablative feminine gerundive of prōpāgāre, ‘to propagate’; see propagate; viz.: from Latin propāgātus, past participle of propāgāre, ‘to reproduce (a plant) by cuttings’, ‘propagate’, ‘enlarge’, verbal derivative of propāgēs, ‘scion’, ‘slip’; from pro- + pāgēs, derivative of pangere, ‘to fasten’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). • propaganda (n.): 1. the organised dissemination of information, allegations, etc, to assist or damage the cause of a government, movement, etc.; 2. such information, allegations, etc.; (n.): propagandism, propagandist. [C18: from Italian, use of propāgandā in the New Latin title “Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide”⁽*⁾, ‘Sacred Congregation for Propagating the Faith’]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). ⁽*⁾Propaganda (n.; Roman Catholic Church): a congregation responsible for directing the work of the foreign missions and the training of priests for these. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). • propaganda (n.): 1. information or ideas methodically spread to promote or injure a cause, movement, nation, etc.; 2. the deliberate spreading of such information or ideas; 3. the particular doctrines or principles propagated by an organisation or movement; 4. (cap.) a committee of cardinals, established in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, having supervision over foreign missions and the training of priests for these missions. [1710-20; from New Latin, short for: “congregātiō dē propāgandā fidē”; ‘congregation for propagating the faith’]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary). • propaganda (n.): any form of communication in support of national objectives designed to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, or behaviour of any group in order to benefit the sponsor, either directly or indirectly; see also black propaganda; grey propaganda; white propaganda. ~ (Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms). • propaganda (n.): information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause; (synonyms): info, information (a message received and understood); agitprop (political propaganda (especially communist propaganda) communicated via art and literature and cinema). ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0). • propaganda (n.): information, advertising, promotion, publicity, hype, brainwashing, disinformation, agitprop, newspeak, boosterism; (informal): ballyhoo; [e.g.]: “He dismissed these reports as mere political propaganda for public consumption”. ~ (Collins English Thesaurus). • propaganda (n.): 1. the organised dissemination of information, allegations, etc., to assist or damage the cause of a government, movement, etc.; 2. such information, allegations, etc.. ~ (Collins Discovery Encyclopaedia). • propagandists: Axis Sally (Mildred Elizabeth Gillars, née Sisk, 1900-1988, and Rita Louise Zucca, 1912-1998, Axis broadcasters who disseminated propaganda during World War II and urged American withdrawal); Lord Haw-Haw (William Brooke Joyce, 1906-1946, American-born British citizen becomes German propagandist in WWII.; the last person to be executed for treason in the United Kingdom); Tokyo Rose (Iva Ikuko Toguri D’Aquino, 1916-2006, Japanese-American broadcaster who urged U.S. troops to surrender during WWII). ~ (Allusions; Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical; A Thematic Dictionary). • propaganda: the systematic manipulation of public opinion, generally by the use of symbols such as flags, monuments, oratory, and publications. Modern propaganda is distinguished from other forms of communication in that it is consciously and deliberately used to influence group attitudes; all other functions are secondary. Thus, almost any attempt to sway public opinion, including lobbying, commercial advertising, and missionary work, can be broadly construed as propaganda. Generally, however, the term is restricted to the manipulation of political beliefs. Although allusions to propaganda can be found in ancient writings (e.g., Aristotle’s “Rhetoric”), the organised use of propaganda did not develop until after the Industrial Revolution, when modern instruments of communication first enabled propagandists to easily reach mass audiences. The printing press, for example, made it possible for Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” to reach a large number of American colonists. Later, during the twentieth century, the advent of radio and television enabled propagandists to reach even greater numbers of people. In addition to the development of modern media, the rise of total warfare and of political movements has also contributed to the growing importance of propaganda in the twentieth century. In “What Is To Be Done?” (1902) Vlamirid Lenin emphasised the use of “agitprop”, a combination of political agitation and propaganda designed to win the support of intellectuals and workers for the Communist revolution. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini also used propaganda, especially in oratory, to develop and maintain the support of the masses. During World War II all the warring nations employed propaganda, often called “psychological warfare”, to boost civilian and military morale as well as to demoralise the enemy. The U.S. agency charged with disseminating wartime propaganda was the “Office of War Information”. In the post-war era propaganda activities continue to play a major role in world affairs. The “United States Information Agency” (USIA) was established in 1953 to facilitate the international dissemination of information about the United States. “Radio Moscow”, “Radio Havana”, and “The Voice of America” are just three of the large radio stations which provide information and propaganda throughout the world. In addition, certain refinements of the propaganda technique have developed, most notably brainwashing, the intensive indoctrination of political opponents against their will. ~ (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopaedia). Propertyless: propertyless (adj.): of those who work for wages especially manual or industrial labourers; [e.g.]: “party of the propertyless proletariat”. (George Bernard Shaw).~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0). Proscribe: • proscribe (v.): prohibit, censure, repudiate; to banish; [e.g.]: “proscribe drinking in a public park”; not to be confused with prescribe (v.): appoint; to order a medicine; [e.g.]: “prescribe a painkiller”. ~ (Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree). • proscribe (tr.v.; proscribed, proscribing, proscribes): 1. to prohibit; forbid; [e.g.]: “foods that are proscribed by religious dietary laws”; (synonyms): at forbid; 2. to denounce or condemn; [e.g.]: “The small sins of natural pleasure that we see... mildly proscribed in the confession manuals of the late Middle Ages”. (James Turner); 3. (a.) to banish or outlaw (a person); [e.g.]: “Emperors took it on themselves to proscribe heretics”. (Garry Wills); (b.) to publish the name of (a person) as outlawed; (n.): proscriber. [Middle English proscriben, from Latin prōscrībere, ‘to put up someone’s name as outlawed’, from prō-, ‘in front’ + scrībere, ‘to write’]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). • proscribe (v.): 1. to condemn or prohibit; 2. to outlaw; banish; exile; 3. (in ancient Rome) to outlaw (a citizen) by posting his name in public; (n.): proscriber. [C16: from Latin prōscrībere, ‘to put up a written public notice’, from prō-, ‘in public’ + scrībere, ‘to write’]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary). • proscribe (tr.v.; proscribed, proscribing): 1. to condemn (a thing) as harmful or odious; prohibit; 2. to put outside legal protection; outlaw; 3. to banish or exile; 4. (in ancient Rome) to announce the name of (a person) as condemned to death and subject to confiscation of property; (n.): proscriber. [1375-1425; late Middle English, from Latin prōscrībere, ‘to publish in writing’, ‘confiscate’, ‘outlaw’; see prescribe; viz.: from Latin praescrībere, ‘to write at the head of’, ‘appoint’, ‘prescribe’, from prae-, ‘pre- + scrībere, ‘to write’]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary). • proscribe (v.): command against; [e.g.]: “The nations’s public listing of proscribed activities caused much debate”; (synonyms): disallow, forbid, nix, prohibit, veto, interdict; [e.g.]: “I forbid you to call me late at night”; “Mother vetoed the trip to the chocolate store”; “Dad nixed our plans”; (related words): command, require (make someone do something); ban (prohibit especially by legal means or social pressure; [e.g.]: “Smoking is banned in this building”); bar, debar, exclude (prevent from entering; keep out; [e.g.]: “He was barred from membership in the club”); enjoin (issue an injunction); criminalise, illegalise, outlaw, criminalise (declare illegal; outlaw; [e.g.]: “Marijuana is criminalised in the US”). ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0). • proscribe (v.): 1. prohibit, ban, forbid, boycott, embargo, interdict; [e.g.]: “They are proscribed by federal law from owning guns”; (antonyms): allow, permit, sanction, license, endorse, warrant, authorise, give permission, give leave; 2. condemn, reject, damn, denounce, censure; [e.g.]: “Slang is reviled and proscribed by pedants and purists”; 3. outlaw, exclude, exile, expel, banish, deport, expatriate, excommunicate, ostracise, blackball; (archaic): attaint; [e.g.]: “He was proscribed in America, where his estate was put up for sale”. ~ (Collins English Thesaurus). • proscribe (v.): to refuse to allow; (synonyms): ban, debar, disallow, enjoin, forbid, inhibit, interdict, outlaw, prohibit, taboo. ~ (The American Heritage Roget’s Thesaurus). • proscription (Latin: proscriptio): in current usage proscription is “a decree of condemnation to death or banishment” (Oxford English Dictionary) and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved execution or banishment. The term originated in Ancient Rome, where it included public identification and official condemnation of declared enemies of the state and it often involved confiscation of property. Its usage has been significantly widened to describe governmental and political sanctions of varying severity on individuals and classes of people who have fallen into disfavour, from the en masse suppression of adherents of unorthodox ideologies to the suppression of political rivals or personal enemies. In addition to its recurrences during the various phases of the Roman Republic, it has become a standard term to label: 1. The suppression of Royalists after Oliver Cromwell’s decisive defeat of Charles II at the Battle of Worcester in 1651; 2. The curbing of Western religion in early eighteenth-century China; 3. The banning of Highland dress following the Jacobite rising of 1745 in Scotland; 4. Atrocities that occurred during the Reign of Terror phase (1793-1794) of the French Revolution; 5. The mass deportations of British and French workers from Russia in the mid-nineteenth century, with the onset of the Crimean War; 6. In the twentieth century, such things as the efforts of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom “to prevent communist entryism” through blacklisting propagandising persons and organisations; 7. The broad prohibitions of Jewish cultural institutions and activities in the Soviet Union after the birth of the state of Israel in 1948 and the onset of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War; 8. The banning of organisations considered terrorist—including the membership of and support for—in Ireland, particularly the Provisional IRA and the INLA in the 1970s. In Ancient Rome proscriptions (Latin proscriptio, plural proscriptiones) initially meant public advertisements or notices signifying property or goods for sale. During the dictatorial reign of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the word took on a more sinister meaning; in 82 or 81 BCE, he instituted the process of proscription in order to avenge the massacres of Gaius Marius and his son. He instituted a notice for the sale of confiscated property belonging to those declared public enemies of the state (modern historians estimate about five-hundred and twenty people were proscribed as opposed to the ancient estimate of four-thousand and seven-hundred people) and therefore condemned to death those proscribed, called proscripti in Latin. ~ (2023 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia). Proscription: proscription (n.): a refusal to allow; synonyms): ban, disallowance, forbiddance, inhibition, interdiction, prohibition, taboo. ~ (American Heritage Roget’s Thesaurus). Public Relations: public relations (pl. n.; abbr. PR): 1. (used with a singular verb): the art or science of establishing and promoting a favourable relationship with the public; 2. (used with a plural verb): the methods and activities employed to establish and promote this favourable relationship; 3. (used with a singular or plural verb): the degree of success obtained in achieving this. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary). Purblind: purblind: fig. having imperfect perception or discernment; obtuse, dull, dim-witted. (Oxford Dictionary). RETURN TO DEFINITIONS INDEX RICHARD’S HOME PAGE The Third Alternative (Peace On Earth In This Life Time As This Flesh And Blood Body) Here is an actual freedom from the Human Condition, surpassing Spiritual Enlightenment and any other Altered State Of Consciousness, and challenging all philosophy, psychiatry, metaphysics (including quantum physics with its mystic cosmogony), anthropology, sociology ... and any religion along with its paranormal theology. Discarding all of the beliefs that have held humankind in thralldom for aeons, the way has now been discovered that cuts through the ‘Tried and True’ and enables anyone to be, for the first time, a fully free and autonomous individual living in utter peace and tranquillity, beholden to no-one. Richard's Text ©The Actual Freedom Trust: 1997- . All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer and Use Restrictions and Guarantee of Authenticity