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Quiddity vs Nature - What's the difference?

quiddity | nature |

As a noun quiddity

is (philosophy) the essence or inherent nature of a person or thing.

As a proper noun nature is

the sum of natural forces reified and considered as a sentient being, will, or principle.

quiddity

Noun

(quiddities)
  • (philosophy) The essence or inherent nature of a person or thing.
  • * 1822 , October, (Charles Lamb), The Old Actors'', published in ''London Magazine , section on “Mr. Munden” ( ebook):
  • A tub of butter, contemplated by him, amounts to a Platonic idea. He understands a leg of mutton in its quiddity . He stands wondering, amid the commonplace materials of life, like primæval man, with the sun and stars about him.
  • * 1962 , (Vladimir Nabokov), Pale Fire :
  • My vision reeked with truth. It had the tone,
    The quiddity and quaintness of its own
    Reality.
  • * 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia'', Faber & Faber 1992 (''Avignon Quintet ), p. 352:
  • He represented my quiddity I suppose – the part which, thanks to you, has converted a black pessimism about life into a belief in cosmic absurdity.
  • (legal) A trifle; a nicety or quibble.
  • An eccentricity; an odd feature.
  • Synonyms

    * (essence) nature, quintessence, whatness

    Derived terms

    * quidditative

    Coordinate terms

    * (essence) quality

    See also

    *

    nature

    English

    Alternative forms

    * natuer (obsolete)

    Noun

  • (lb) The natural world; consisting of all things unaffected by or predating human technology, production and design. e.g. the ecosystem, the natural environment, virgin ground, unmodified species, laws of nature.
  • * (1800-1859)
  • *:Nature has caprices which art cannot imitate.
  • *1891 , (Oscar Wilde), ''(The Decay of Lying)
  • *:Nature has good intentions, of course, but, as Aristotle once said, she cannot carry them out. When I look at a landscape I cannot help seeing all its defects.
  • The innate characteristics of a thing. What something will tend by its own constitution, to be or do. Distinct from what might be expected or intended.
  • *1920 , (Herman Cyril McNeile), , Ch.1:
  • *:Being by nature of a cheerful disposition, the symptom did not surprise his servant, late private of the same famous regiment, who was laying breakfast in an adjoining room.
  • *1869 , , :
  • *:Mark hardly knew whether to believe this or not. He already began to suspect that Roswell was something of a humbug, and though it was not in his nature to form a causeless dislike, he certainly did not feel disposed to like Roswell.
  • The summary of everything that has to do with biological, chemical and physical states and events in the physical universe.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:I oft admire / How Nature , wise and frugal, could commit / Such disproportions.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2012-01, author=Robert M. Pringle, volume=100, issue=1, page=31
  • , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= How to Be Manipulative , passage=As in much of biology, the most satisfying truths in ecology derive from manipulative experimentation. Tinker with nature and quantify how it responds.}}
  • Conformity to that which is natural, as distinguished from that which is artificial, or forced, or remote from actual experience.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
  • Kind, sort; character; quality.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:A dispute of this nature caused mischief.
  • *
  • *:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.
  • (lb) Physical constitution or existence; the vital powers; the natural life.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:my days of nature
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Oppressed nature sleeps.
  • (lb) Natural affection or reverence.
  • *(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • *:Have we not seen / The murdering son ascend his parent's bed, / Through violated nature force his way?
  • Derived terms

    * animal nature * back to nature * bad nature * by nature * call of nature * defy the laws of nature * crime against nature * freak of nature * good nature * human nature * law of nature/laws of nature * let nature take its course * Mother Nature * nature morte * nature preserve * nature reserve * nature strip * nature study * nature worship * second nature (nature)

    Verb

    (natur)
  • (obsolete) To endow with natural qualities.
  • Statistics

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    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----