Recurring Words - Vocabulary Builder

pal·imp·sest  (plmp-sst)

n.

1. A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible.

2. An object, place, or area that reflects its history: "Spaniards in the sixteenth century . . . saw an ocean moving south . . . through a palimpsest of bayous and distributary streams in forested paludal basins" (John McPhee).

I came across this word while reading Orwell's 1984 and then again as I just started The Handmaid's Tale and I just had to share it.  Another word that cropped up time and time again during the Solstice Residency was, 'agency' used to mean " the state of being in action or exerting power" or "how a result is obtained or an end is achieved; 'a means of control.'" It was used most commonly in this construct: "... a character's sense of agency..." and, "... I'll allow for that agency..."  This was terminology that I was completely unfamiliar with prior to my time in Boston.  

agency [ˈeɪdʒənsɪ]

n pl -cies

1. (Business / Commerce) a business or other organization providing a specific service an employment agency

2. (Business / Commerce) the place where an agent conducts business

3. (Business / Commerce) the business, duties, or functions of an agent

4. action, power, or operation the agency of fate

5. intercession or mediation

6. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) one of the administrative organizations of a government

[from Medieval Latin agentia, from Latin agere to do]

Amanda LaFantasie (Skoora) © 2013