Friday Vocabulary

1. nascent — beginning to exist or develop

Though some pundits have pointed to a nascent sense of interdependence among the world’s people, more likely we’ll just see more of the same.

 

2. nescience — the state of not knowing

Conspiracy theories may derive as well from a human tendency to insist upon “yes/no” answers; we feel great discontent in a perpetual state of nescience.

 

3. epigenesis — the process by which genetic information, as modified by environment, is transformed into an organism’s substance and behaviors

Perhaps many mental illnesses have their epigenesis in the family life which surrounds the sufferers, to at least the same extent these selfsame sufferers are ‘hard-wired’ for psychological problems.

 

4. inbred — resulting from inbreeding

An inbred predisposition to hemophilia was the heritage of the crowned heads of Europe, with dire effects for the Romanovs.

 

5. patent — obvious

The patent traits of character war sometimes with the latent aspects.

 

6. penetrance — the frequency with which a given gene produces its effect

Mendel discovered genetic effects because of the striking penetrance of changes in the plants he studied.

 

7. innate — part of the essential character of something, rather than learned

The extent to which violence, and especially the urge to war, is innate in human nature has been debated since the dawn of anthropology.

 

8. inveterate — firmly entrenched through habit or long practice

He is known as an inveterate liar.

 

9. ingrained — deep-rooted

She had an ingrained aversion to speaking the truth; unfortunately, she had no such compunction against speaking her mind.

 

10. extrinsic — foreign; external

Advertising impinges upon most of its viewers, thus its effect may be seen as extrinsic, though prolonged exposure obviously produces internal effects on mind, and perhaps body.

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