accismus
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Via Latin accismus from Ancient Greek ακκισμός (akkismós, “prudery”)
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Oh, but I can't accept this gift! |
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
accismus (uncountable)
- (rhetoric) The feigning of disinterest in something while actually desiring it.
- 1866, Jean Paul, Levana: Or, The Doctrine of Education, page 194:
- On this account, mothers, fathers, men, and even youths, are their best companions; on the contrary, girls connected with other girls of a similar age, as in schools, provoke one another to an exchange of foibles, rather than of excellences, to a love of dress, admiration, and gossip, even to the forgetting of accismus.
- 1888 March 8, The Nation, number 1184, page 188:
- The keen eye of the ancient comedians detected this weakness in Athenian demagogues who declined office with a view to making their election surer, and Philippides gave it the name accismus.
Translations[edit]
feigning disinterest in something while actually desiring it.
