Word of the Day

Tuesday March 16, 2010

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myopia [mahy-OH-pee-uh]

noun

1. Intolerance; narrow-mindedness.
2. An abnormal eye condition in which parallel objects are seen distinctly only when near to the eye; nearsightedness.
3. Lack of foresight or discernment; shortsightedness.

• The greater the conviction of the soothsayers, the more likely they are to be wrong. If we should have learnt anything from the tumultuous changes of the post-cold war era, it is how hard it is to predict the way things will turn out. Sad to say, the economists who failed so dismally to spot any flaws in the financial system are not alone in their myopia.
  Philip Stephens, "Look further than the fads and fashions of geopolitics", Financial Times, Feb 19, 2010
• Like father, like daughter. Elisabeth Murdoch, chief executive of British TV program producer Shine Group, delivered tough talk in a keynote address to a gathering of television executives Wednesday in Las Vegas, sounding a lot like her father, News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, when it comes to leveling charges of intransigence and myopia at the TV industry.
  Joe Flint, "Murdoch's daughter sees new TV role", Los Angeles Times, Jan 28, 2010
• A man of keen understanding who can argue the legs off a cow when duly roused, he seems far too good for a small place like this, where, by the way, he is a newcomer. Maybe his infinite myopia condemns him to relative seclusion and obscurity.
  Norman Douglas (1868 - 1952) A British writer. Alone (1921)

Origin of the Word

Myopia, approximately 1727, derives from medical Latin, Late Greek myopia "near-sightedness," from myops "near-sighted," from myein "to shut" + ops "eye."