Word of The Day for Wednesday, April 13, 2011

kinesthesia

kin•es•the•sia (kin-uhs-THEE-zhuh)  n
also kinaesthesia

Definition:
the sense that detects bodily position, weight, or movement of the muscles, tendons, and joints; muscle sense

kinesthesis noun; kinesthetic adjective; kinesthetically adverb

1880; Mod.L. compound of Gk. kinein "to move" + aisthesis "perception" from PIE base *au- "to perceive"

Related:
Related Words: anaesthesia, paraesthesia

Sentence Examples:
• The relation of our kinesthesia or muscular sense to fanaticism on the one hand and freedom of mind on the other is a matter now beginning to be studied with the promise of highly important results. -The Mind in the Making, by James Harvey Robinson

• I venture to suggest the probability that the physical or energy-aspect of feeling is numerous sets of kinesthetic neurokinetic strains or impulses relating all layers of the great cortex to its effective environment (whether the latter be outside the body or within it), the conscious inhibitory phase of the kinesthesia representing originally the feelings unpleasant in tone, and its subconscious actuating phase the pleasant emotion. -Medical record, George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman

• I ask what really matters about dance-floor practice and pursue an analysis of the kinesthesia of queer identifications and the choreography of queer desirings. -Dancing desires: choreographing sexualities on and off the stage, Jane Desmond

Sources: Free Dictionary, Online Etymology

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

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