tabula rasa

noun

ta·​bu·​la ra·​sa ˌta-byə-lə-ˈrä-zə 

-sə

plural tabulae rasae ˌta-byə-ˌlī-ˈrä-ˌzī 

-ˌsī

1

: the mind in its hypothetical primary blank or empty state before receiving outside impressions

2

: something existing in its original pristine state

Did you know?

Philosophers have been arguing that babies are born with minds that are essentially blank slates since the days of Aristotle. (Later, some psychologists took up the case as well.) English speakers have called that initial state of mental blankness tabula rasa (a term taken from a Latin phrase that translates as "smooth or erased tablet") since the 16th century, but it wasn't until British philosopher John Locke championed the concept in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1690 that the term gained widespread popularity in our language. In later years, a figurative sense of the term emerged, referring to something that exists in its original state and that has yet to be altered by outside forces.

Examples of tabula rasa in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The moral relativism of the recent past slashed and burned the traditional values of our culture, producing the tabula rasa on which tyrannical revolutionaries always seem to build their utopias. —Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 9 Jan. 2024

Among younger people and on the political left, a deeper unease arose from the lack of a national reckoning over the invasion of Iraq, justified at the time with the notion that destroying one regime would create a tabula rasa from which democracy would naturally emerge. —Timothy Snyder, Foreign Affairs, 6 Sep. 2022

The Georgian penchant for head-to-toe black acted as a tabula rasa for Ochuba’s brand relaunch. —Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 19 July 2023

In the 17th century John Locke rejected this idea, insisting that the human mind begins as a tabula rasa, or blank slate, with almost all knowledge acquired through experience. —Jacob Beck, Scientific American, 14 Feb. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Latin, smoothed or erased tablet

First Known Use

1535, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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