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{%type%} Definitions

WordNet 3.0Copyright Princeton University
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n. - An irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action.

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Usage examples (23)
  • Among the rest she was seized with what we men call a cacoethes of the needle: "a raging desire" for work.
  • Boredom, a cluttered mind, and a terminal case of cacoethes scribendi.
  • Trimalchionian episode, and the subsequent pamphleteering would by no means eradicate this "cacoethes emendandi."
  • The recovery of the Trimalchionian episode, and the subsequent pamphleteering would by no means eradicate this "cacoethes emendandi."
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We give special thanks to our LearnThat volunteers, as well as Princeton University and Wiktionary for their Open Source word data. We're also grateful for the support given by Google, Wordnik.com, Dictionary.com, Stands4.com and YouTube, OEDILF.com, Kylescholz.com, Best-Practice.com, Forvo.com, as well as the generous Creative Commons community.