ADJECTIVE: 1. Reproducing by biological fission. 2. Tending to break up into parts or break away from a main body; factious.This term seems to be a pet word of Christopher Tyerman’s. My sense of its stylistic appropriateness, however, is a bit different.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
fissiparous
fissiparous. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.:
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3 comments:
An amazon reviewer noted his fondness for this word, and I certainly noticed it while reading the book. If you really want to see an author who has a penchant for difficult words, try Stephen R Donaldson. Interestingly, I think Donaldson makes it work for him. His archetypal epics almost demand the hightened language.
From that link, click on "use of language".
Tyerman's book, as good as it is on the substance, really needed better copyediting or something. There are sentences that need to be reread to be parsed correctly; too many stacks of adjectives and nouns without finding the mot juste; etc.
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