Word of the Day

: June 12, 2014

stoic

noun STOH-ik

What It Means

: one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain

stoic in Context

Stoic that she is, Edra finished the marathon despite a painful pulled tendon in her knee.

"Pitchers can be stoics. They usually say not getting a win because of offensive shortcomings does not bother them." - Gerry Fraley, Dallas Morning News, May 4, 2014

Did You Know?

Zeno of Citium, born in Cyprus in the 4th century B.C.E., traveled to Athens while a young man and studied with the important philosophers of the day, among them two influential Cynics. He eventually arrived at his own philosophy and began teaching at a public hall called the Stoa Poikile. Zeno's philosophy, Stoicism, took its name from the hall where he taught, and it preached self-control, fortitude, and justice; passion was seen as the cause of all evil. By the 14th century, English speakers had adopted the word "stoic" as a general term for anyone who could face adversity calmly and without excess emotion. By the 15th century, we'd also begun using it as an adjective meaning "not affected by or showing passion or feeling."