My favourite Word this Week...
Complicity
I heard this word at the end of a radio programme as the presenter thanked his listeners for their complicity and I wondered what the word connotes, denotes and evokes. I looked it up in the dictionary and was surprised to find out the following:
the fact that someone is involved in or knows about something bad that happens
(http://www.wordreference.com/definition/complicity)
So, does it mean the radio programme presenter was doing something wrong? Of course not.
I did a bit of research and read that Virginia Woolf
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf) also used the word complicity to refer to the relationship between writers and readers. Again, does this mean the writer was involved in some kind of misbehaviour? I don't think so.
As I was not satisfied with the dictionary definition of complicity, I concentrated on the way I perceived the word. As far as I am concerned, this word implies a close relationship between people with a certain degree of secrecy and confidentiality. Profound closeness with other people we usually interact with involves the appearance of shared codes. Looking into this matter a little further, I've concluded that we hold as many instances of complicity as there are people we interact with. Thus, I propose a new concept for this word: secrecy that arises in our interaction with another person that depends on the kind of relationship one has with that person.
Do you know other words you feel the dictionary definition is unsatisfactory? Please feel free to share them.
Complicity
I heard this word at the end of a radio programme as the presenter thanked his listeners for their complicity and I wondered what the word connotes, denotes and evokes. I looked it up in the dictionary and was surprised to find out the following:
the fact that someone is involved in or knows about something bad that happens
(http://www.wordreference.com/definition/complicity)
So, does it mean the radio programme presenter was doing something wrong? Of course not.
I did a bit of research and read that Virginia Woolf
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf) also used the word complicity to refer to the relationship between writers and readers. Again, does this mean the writer was involved in some kind of misbehaviour? I don't think so.
As I was not satisfied with the dictionary definition of complicity, I concentrated on the way I perceived the word. As far as I am concerned, this word implies a close relationship between people with a certain degree of secrecy and confidentiality. Profound closeness with other people we usually interact with involves the appearance of shared codes. Looking into this matter a little further, I've concluded that we hold as many instances of complicity as there are people we interact with. Thus, I propose a new concept for this word: secrecy that arises in our interaction with another person that depends on the kind of relationship one has with that person.
Do you know other words you feel the dictionary definition is unsatisfactory? Please feel free to share them.
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