Word : Velleity

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

velleity [vəˈlēədē, veˈlēədē]

noun

1. a wish or inclination not strong enough to lead to action

examples

1. We may well say: I would desire to be young; but we do not say: I desire to be young; seeing that this is not possible; and this motion is called a wishing, or as the Scholastics term it a velleity, which is nothing else but a commencement of willing, not followed out, because the will, by reason of impossibility or extreme difficulty, stops her motion, and ends it in this simple affection of a wish. Treatise on the Love of God, Saint Francis de Sales, 1567-1622
2. Ms. Marcus also errantly dismissed the Constitution’s separation of powers, which entrusts “all legislative powers” to Congress, as a mere velleity that should yield to executive legislation when Congress is divided. "The Separations of Powers is not a Suggestion." The Washington Post, Letters to the Editor, 14 Jan 2022.

origins

early 17th century: from medieval Latin velleitas, from Latin velle ‘to wish’.

Comments

[sallymn]

I have loved this word since I read Ogden Nash's poem of the same name...

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Very cool 😎