See Also: acedia(medicine)
acedia(dictionary)

miracle (iou) and acedia (iou)


miracle (iou)



miracle noun & verb. ME.
[Old & mod. French from Latin miraculum object of wonder, from mirari, -are look at, wonder, from mirus wonderful.]
A. noun.
A marvellous event not ascribable to human or natural agency, and therefore attributed to the intervention of a supernatural agent, esp. (in Christian belief) God; spec. an act demonstrating control over Nature, serving as evidence that the agent is either divine or divinely favoured. ME.
G. Greene There were miracles too; a virgin wept salt tears and a candle..burnt inexplicably for one week. B. Moore Without a miracle, Christ did not rise from His tomb and ascend into heaven.
Now more fully miracle play. A medieval dramatic representation based on the life of Jesus or the legends of the saints. ME.
transf. A remarkable or marvellous phenomenon or event. Also (with specifying word), a remarkable development in a specified area. Freq. hyperbol. ME.
F. L. Whipple To overcome gravity and carry men out into space..is to me a true miracle. London Daily News The compact disc miracle could prove to be a very short-lived one. attrib.: Times The discoverer of the 'miracle' rice and wheat strains..was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
b. A person or thing of more than natural excellence; a surpassing specimen or example of. LME.
J. Lawson The Humming-Bird is the Miracle of all our wing'd Animals.
Phrases: to a miracle marvellously well.
Comb.: miracle cure (a drug, treatment, etc., said to effect) a remarkable or extraordinary cure; miracle drug a drug treating or curing previously untreatable or incurable illnesses and representing a breakthrough in medical science; miracle fruit (the fruit of) a W. African tree, Synsepalum dulcificum (family Sapotaceae), whose berries have the property of making sour or salt things taste sweet; miracle man: who performs miracles; miracle play: see sense 2 above.
b. verb.
verb refl. Be revealed by a miracle. rare (Shakes.). Only in E17.
verb intrans. & trans. Work miracles (on, for). rare. M17.
miracular adjective miraculous E18-E19.
miraculist noun (a) a miracle-worker; (b) a believer in miracles: M17-E19.

acedia (iou)



acedia noun. E17.
[Late Latin acedia from Greek akedia, from a- A-10 + kedos care, concern.]
= ACCIDIE.