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Thursday September 24, 2009

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scintilla [sin-TIL-uh]

noun

1. The least particle; a tiny or scarcely detectable amount; a spark; a trace.

• Taxpayers are now on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees the county incurred to defend itself in this case. If Kevin White had a scintilla of self-respect or common decency, he would resign the office he has so sullied.
  Daniel Ruth, "A Starring Role in the Annals of Sleaze", St. Petersburg Times, Aug 28, 2009
• But Stevens said that, under Scalia's argument, it would not matter how persuasive the evidence was. "Imagine a petitioner in Davis's situation who possesses new evidence conclusively and definitively proving, beyond any scintilla of doubt, that he is an innocent man," Stevens wrote. "The dissent's reasoning would allow such a petitioner to be put to death nonetheless. The court correctly refuses to endorse such reasoning."
  Robert Barnes, "Death Row Prisoner Wins Hearing", The Washington Post, Aug 18, 2009
• We may add that this epistle does not mention the martyrdoms of the eye-witnesses, and it is hard to know why Paley drags it in, unless he wants to make us believe that his eye-witnesses suffered all the tortures he quotes; but even Paley cannot pretend that there is a scintilla of proof of their undergoing any such trials.
  Annie Besant (1847 - 1933) An Indian Theosophist and writer. The Freethinker's Text Book

Origin of the Word

Scintilla, approximately 1692, derives from figurative use of Latin scintilla "particle of fire, spark, glittering speck, atom."