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presentation

Definition of presentation

• fairing [ British ]
• freebee
• largess

Examples of presentation in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'presentation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing presentation

• breech presentation

Dictionary Entries Near presentation

present arms

presentation copy

Cite this Entry

“Presentation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/presentation. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of presentation, medical definition, medical definition of presentation, more from merriam-webster on presentation.

Nglish: Translation of presentation for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of presentation for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about presentation

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present (adj.)

c. 1300, "being in the same place as someone or something;" early 14c., "existing at the time," from Old French present "evident, at hand, within reach;" as a noun, "the present time" (11c., Modern French présent ) and directly from Latin praesentem (nominative praesens ) "present, at hand, in sight; immediate; prompt, instant; contemporary," from present participle of præesse "be before (someone or something), be at hand," from prae- "before" (see pre- ) + esse "to be" (from PIE root *es- "to be").

Meaning "abiding in a specified place" is from mid-14c. in English. As a grammatical tense expressing action or being in the present time, recorded from late 14c.

present (v.)

c. 1300, presenten , "bring into the presence of, introduce (someone or something) formally or ceremonially;" also "make a formal presentation of; give as a gift or award; bestow; approach with a gift, bring or lay before one for acceptance," from Old French presenter (11c., Modern French présenter ) and directly from Latin praesentare "to place before, show, exhibit," from stem of praesens (see present (adj.)).

From late 14c. as "exhibit (something), demonstrate, reveal, offer for inspection, display;" also, in law, "accuse to the authorities, make a formal complaint or charge of wrongdoing." From c. 1400 as "represent, portray." Related: Presented ; presenting . To present arms "bring the firearm to a perpendicular position in front of the body" is by 1759.

present (n.1)

c. 1300, "the present time, time now passing, this point in time" (opposed to past and future ), also "act or fact of being present; portion of space around someone," from Old French present (n.) "the present time" (11c.), from Latin praesens "being there" (see present (adj.)).

In Middle English also "the portion of space around someone" (mid-14c.). In old legalese, these presents means "these documents, the documents in hand" (late 14c.).

present (n.2)

c. 1200, "thing offered, what is offered or given as a gift," from Old French present and directly from Medieval Latin presentia , from phrases such as French en present "(to offer) in the presence of," mettre en present "place before, give," from Latin in re praesenti "in the situation in question," from praesens "being there" (see present (adj.), and compare present (v.)). The notion is of "something brought into someone's presence."

The difference between present and gift is felt in the fact that one may be willing to accept as a present that which he would not be willing to accept as a gift : a gift is to help the one receiving it; a present does him honor, or expresses friendly feeling toward him. A present is therefore ordinarily to an individual; but in law gift is used, to the exclusion of present , as including all transfers of property without consideration and for the benefit of the donee. [Century Dictionary]

Entries linking to present

"quality of being in all places simultaneously," c. 1600, from Medieval Latin omnipraesentia , from omnipraesens "present everywhere," from Latin omnis "all, every" (see omni- ) + praesens "present" (see present (adj.)).

"everywhere present, in all places at the same time," c. 1600, from Medieval Latin omnipraesentem (nominative omnipraesens ) "present everywhere," from Latin omnis "all, every" (see omni- ) + praesens "present" (see present (adj.)). Related: Omnipresently .

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presentation

present-day

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updated on October 23, 2020

Dictionary entries near present

prescriptive

prescriptivism

preselection

presentiment

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Presentation etymology

English word presentation comes from Latin praesento (I present, exhibit or show.)

Etymology of presentation

Detailed word origin of presentation, words with the same origin as presentation, descendants of praesento.

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presentation

[ prez- uh n- tey -sh uh n , pree-zen- ]

• an act of presenting.
• the state of being presented.
• a social introduction, as of a person at court.
• an exhibition or performance, as of a play or film.
• offering, delivering, or bestowal, as of a gift.
• a demonstration, lecture, or welcoming speech.

His presentation was very poor.

• Commerce. the presentment of a bill, note, or the like.
• the position of the fetus in the uterus during labor.

a breech presentation.

• Ecclesiastical. the act or the right of presenting a member of the clergy to the bishop for institution to a benefice.

/ ˌprɛzənˈteɪʃən /

• the act of presenting or state of being presented

the presentation of the project is excellent but the content poor

his presentation of the facts was muddled

a presentation on the company results

• an offering or bestowal, as of a gift

a presentation copy of a book

• a performance or representation, as of a play
• the formal introduction of a person, as into society or at court; debut
• the act or right of nominating a clergyman to a benefice
• med the position of a baby relative to the birth canal at the time of birth
• See presentment commerce another word for presentment
• television linking material between programmes, such as announcements, trailers, or weather reports
• See gift an archaic word for gift
• philosophy a sense datum
• See Candlemas often capital another name for (feast of) Candlemas

Discover More

Derived forms.

• ˌpresenˈtational , adjective

Other Words From

• nonpres·en·tation noun
• self-presen·tation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of presentation 1

Example Sentences

Look no further than those execs who have sat through online presentations outlining a more inclusive workplace only to have to go back to working in teams where they’re made to feel different.

The day of the presentation comes, and the ecommerce team gathers around, continuously nodding along with each slide.

In the questions-and-answer presentation on Wednesday, Palantir did not address the issue of voting power.

For repurposing, you can use four different formats, which are – video series, infographics, podcasts, and presentations.

This presentation will explain the ins and outs of the process as well as the need for older children who are looking for a home as well.

We were scoring it like the Olympics: presentation, technique.

Bogucki includes the leaflet in a Powerpoint presentation he has developed.

Her biggest surprise, she said, was realizing how much presentation and technical points mattered.

That may be partially because The Big Lebowski is their most nihilistic presentation.

One of the hottest tickets at the 2014 edition of Comic-Con, the annual nerd mecca in San Diego, was the Marvel presentation.

You were obliging enough to ask me to accept a presentation copy of your verses.

Nor was ever a better presentation made of the essential program of socialism.

After the presentation of the Great Southern case our Bill was heard and all the opposition.

The presentation of the Railway case and the rebutting evidence did not begin till all the public witnesses had been heard.

Furthermore, a note is payable on demand when it is thus stated, or is payable at sight or on presentation.

Related Words

• demonstration
• introduction

[ ak -s uh -lot-l ]

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A Brief History of Presentations: How Bill Gates and Microsoft Monopolized All Cave Walls

It’s a warm summer evening. The year - 15,000BC. Far away in the caves of Lascaux (France), a primitive homo sapiens has just returned from his daily hunt. His mind in the zone: a creative zone. He lets his hands sway holding whatever colored stone or tool he has, and he paints and etches these murals of horned bulls and other such fauna; murals that will amaze archaeologists into thinking that the basic instinct of visual communication has been with us since time immemorial. Besides, these cave drawings are also a remarkable example of humans’ fascination with presentations.

Before we were clicking and typing away in our computer programs to make a colorful document, there were tools deep-rooted in a chapter of the history of presentations. Modern-day technology has made it possible to create stunning presentations and other visual content in PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Keynote; something that is a far cry from where it all began. In this blog, we trace the timeline of how we came around to making presentations and communicating business ideas and information with their help.

1. Cave paintings

The earliest evidence of human communication and projection of ideas can be traced back to prehistoric times in the form of cave paintings made by the early age humans in Lascaux. These spark the notion that the surface of the cave walls served as a huge slide to the human mind. The prehistoric man described what he may have seen in his surroundings and painted it onto this slide to bring the world’s first-ever presentation to life 20,000 years ago. Sure, he couldn’t write what he had in his mind for us to read, but he could do something even better. He projected what he had seen onto a surface, a concept that forms the basis of any modern-day PowerPoint presentation.

2. Hieroglyphs

Yes, we all went “Ooh” and “aah” when we first came across the drawings of Egyptian gods in the Hollywood classics The Mummy , The Mummy Returns, and The Scorpion King . If archaeological inspection has found anything while digging through the tombs of the revered rulers buried under the Egyptian tombs, it is that with the passage of time, reaching 3000BC, the human intellect had figured out how to use symbols to portray an actual story about those resting in the catacombs. This means that ancient Egyptians actually collected data about the emperors throughout their lives and then presented it to those visiting the tombs. As eyes spanned chamber after chamber, one could find ways to know the deceased through these hieroglyphs (or kill them if they were raised from the dead). Fascinating things lie under those pyramids, don’t they?

3. Bar chart

Transcending ahead to the mid-1300s, there was the advent of bar graphs or bar charts. Reportedly devised and represented in The Latitude of Forms , a bar chart projected a case of uniformly accelerated motion with the help of comparative bars. The classic bar chart quantified the qualities in a more decipherable manner that would give the audience more leverage in understanding the data quickly. With bar graphs, the human mind was able to extrapolate thoughts and data, a concept that modern-day infographics derive from.

4. Chalkboards and whiteboards

This will take all of us back to those old school days. But for some, the chalkboard or blackboard, and its fancy cousin, the whiteboard, emerged from the most rudimentary concepts of learning at school. In ancient times when classrooms had not come into being, students in early settlements used clay slabs as boards to write by etching them with a stylus (which evolved into the current pen or pencil).

In fact, later in the 1600s, teachers were piqued by the wonders a wooden slate and chalk can do for efficient learning. The result of that evolution became a much larger wooden slate hung against a wall and the use of chalk to write on it. Chalkboards thus became synonymous with the most economical way of giving presentations back then. The cheapness of wood and the utility of the duster or eraser made chalkboard a remarkable tool for teacher’s assistance. You could draw your mind to it and just erase it for the next chapter.

Later with the advent of marker ink and whiteboards, it became even more practical to project ideas and lessons without having to worry about coughing on the chalk dust. Thus, communication through whiteboards became a milestone in the history of presentations.

The modern-day presentations have whiteboards and chalkboards to thank for bringing in the need to develop flexible tools to manipulate and edit data in an adaptive manner.

5. Flip charts

Another means of communication whose origins can be traced back to classrooms are the paper flip charts. With printed posters fastened with metal clips, a flip chart enabled a teacher to present detailed information with diagrams. This was an improvement over the chalkboard usage as it eliminated the time lapse involved in copying the printed material onto a bigger surface. Textbooks were aligned according to the lecture content with each poster on the flip chart, which found several teaching applications in the medical courses.

In fact, so versatile were the flip charts that even businesses took notice and started using them to present ideas and pitch entrepreneurial avenues to investors. Slowly and steadily, the flip chart gave birth to poster cards. Businesses used all data and figures and presented them onto sequenced cardboard posters which the presenter went through one by one on a board affixed to a wooden or metallic stand. Soon, the presentations started becoming more refined and data-oriented than before. There was a tool with the presenter, and ideas just flew off the shelf with it.

Instinctively, this laid down the basic groundwork for the slideshows that we see in PowerPoint presentations today.

6. Projectors, filmstrip, and more

While technology and optical advancements kept on growing with the passage of time, it was not until the early 1800s that the first-ever projector was developed. Called by the name “the magic lantern”, it used a flaming candle to project transparencies onto a screen. A transparency was a thin transparent strip of paper or glass through which light can pass and the designs on the strip could be replicated onto a screen.

With the advent of electricity, the projector got modernized. Inventors started figuring out how the very first overhead projector could be used to effectively disseminate information in classroom or business meeting setups. Teachers, in fact, used overhead projectors with transparencies late into the 80s and even early 90s.

However, as the human tryst with knowledge and experimentation kept growing, so did the projector. The average business leveraged this to improve their meeting productivity and corporate communication strategy. With the camera and design technologies climbing new heights, soon the meeting room presentation started employing thin strips of negatives of written and organized information. These filmstrips were able to replicate the contents printed on the reel in the sequential form with each frame capturing each ‘slide’.

Consequently, the slide projector came into action in the 1950s. By this time, corporates had understood how visual content could lead to enhanced learning and information supply. A slide projector used specially designed slides that were prepared much before a meeting and then arranged onto the projector column that used a similar concept as the magic lantern. The only difference was that this time, the light source was powered by electricity. The presenter could present up to 80 slides on a specific topic. To enhance the functionality, however, the presenters also started using pre-recorded voiceovers that were played alongside the presentation for better dissemination of information. An outstanding and revolutionary example of this projector remains the Kodak Carousel Projector, which revolutionized the way lectures were delivered.

Then along came PowerPoint

A significant issue with the slide projectors was the amount of people and resources it went into preparing the slides. Not only that, while transparencies were cheaper than slides, these were not easy to make for an individual and needed a specialized designing resource at work. Moreover, lack of editing capacity and re-usability was also a key issue. A significant drawback was of the portability of the slides and the usual wear and tear and other glitches.

However, it was only due to these drawbacks that need arose for having presentation creating programs, which eventually catapulted the famous PowerPoint on the scene.

Launched in April of 1987, PowerPoint, initially named “Presenter”, was developed by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin while working at a Silicon Valley giant, Forethought Inc. The program was launched for Apple Macintosh primarily, and was pitched with its look and feel on the Microsoft Windows 1.0, which was yet to be released back then.

PowerPoint 1.0 was used for producing overhead transparencies in the Macintosh computer. It was only after Microsoft acquired PowerPoint for $14 million in July 1987 that its later versions were used for creating colorful slides that could be used in projectors. It was only after PowerPoint 3.0 was released for both Windows and Macintosh that it began picking up pace.

But before we delve into how PowerPoint became the unconquerable giant it is today , here are some fun facts that add to the run-up to its dominance.

• PowerPoint was Microsoft’s first significant acquisition in its days of competition with early Macintosh computer.
• Did you know that Bill Gates earlier had been for keeping PowerPoint as part of Microsoft Word and not as a separate application? In fact, the earliest versions of Office Suite did not even have PowerPoint as its part. It was only later in the early 1990s that it was sold as part of the Office bundle software.
• Within three years of its launch and acquisition by Microsoft, PowerPoint reported poor sales. It was only after launch of later versions of Windows after 1991 that the sales picked up and PowerPoint grabbed more than half the market share of computer graphic presentation creation software.

How PowerPoint made a difference

At the time of its inception and distribution, PowerPoint had brought together a revolution in the field of presentation in day-to-day official communication. Besides its application with a projector, there were several reasons why the software gathered much traction:

• PowerPoint enabled teachers, businessmen, entrepreneurs and other presenters to create slides at their own discretion and ability instead of waiting for a design vertical to do it for them.
• With each successive version, PowerPoint got more flexibility, intuition, and robustness. Not only could one represent facts and figures, but also could process data with bar graphs, pie charts, funnels, line graphs, and much more.
• Coupled with a portable computer and projector, one could present an entire business pitch deck like this to a group of audience in a meeting.
• It alleviated the pain points that presenters faced regarding portability and distribution. The slides could be printed on paper and even distributed with linked files on a CD-ROM. With the development of data storage technologies, it became even more portable and usable.
• PowerPoint’s linkage with Office Suite apps like Word and Excel added to its popularity. One could just input figures into the excel sheet of each PowerPoint file and then simply choose an infographic to represent that information.
• With each successive version, Microsoft kept improving upon its original concept of “slide master” (or templates as we call them) with additional design variants and more readymade slides to give users a head start in making an eye-catching presentation.
• PowerPoint also enabled users to embed a presentation into a webpage or a blog, or run it as a slideshow, or simply record it as a video.
• The latest version of PowerPoint is capable of churning out stunning animations, audio-visuals, infographics coupled with video insertion as well.

PowerPoint gave the user everything they needed to make eye-catching content. But the term “Death by PowerPoint” also stayed with it persistently. Then again, the point remained that it depended on the presenter to use it precisely and use it better. In fact, a classic example of impressing the audience right off the bat was this pitch deck by dating app Tinder. The focus remained on captivating the audience with an interesting pain point and giving the solution immediately. More needs to be seen on how human instinct for presenting and communicating information enables better and smarter usage of PowerPoint.

What the future holds     

Technology is never a bowl of water kept on a table. It is an ever-flowing river of faster and better things. With each wave of genius that methods of presentations have borne, the role of virtual reality and artificial intelligence has become even more prominent. In fact, Microsoft has teased how it plans to use artificial intelligence to make its Office Suite products including PowerPoint more efficient and user-friendly. With time, the tech giant has also forayed into Android and web applications, taking PowerPoint to the user’s fingertips.

While more and more web tools are also coming up (Google Slides, Prezi), the basic concept behind presentations remains efficient communication of ideas. It only remains to be seen how the man who etched murals in Lascaux will keep captivating the minds of his audience with ideas and information in the years to come.

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Definition of presentation noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

presentation

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Meaning of presentation – Learner’s Dictionary

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presentation noun ( SHOW )

Presentation noun ( talk ), presentation noun ( ceremony ).

(Definition of presentation from the Cambridge Learner's Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Translations of presentation

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be chasing your tail

to be busy doing a lot of things but achieving very little

Binding, nailing, and gluing: talking about fastening things together

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An introduction to etymology: eight great word origins.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and how the meaning of words has changed over the course of history. Let’s get meta and take the word “etymology” as an example. “Etymology” derives from the Greek word etumos , meaning “true.” Etumologia was the study of words’ “true meanings.” This evolved into “etymology” by way of the Old French ethimologie . That’s all fairly straightforward, but there are many, many words in the English language that have unexpected and fascinating origins. Here are a few of our favorite examples.

1. Avocado (Origin: Nahuatl)

The word avocado comes from Spanish aguacate , which in turn comes from the Nahuatl ahuacatl , meaning testicle. Surprised? Perhaps, but the more one thinks about it, the less surprising it gets — they do rather resemble a man’s soft spot, and this resemblance becomes even more pronounced when you see avocado duos dangling clumsily from trees.

Nahuatl is the language of the Aztecs and is still spoken by approximately 1.5 million people native to Mexico and other parts of Central America. Avocado isn’t the only Nahuatl word that has been borrowed by the English language; chili, chocolate, tomato and guacamole were also coined by speakers of Nahuatl. Indeed, the -mole of guacamole is derived from the Nahuatl molli , which means sauce. It’s a good thing the origin of this word has been obfuscated on its way into the English language. Otherwise, guacamole ( Nahuatl: ahuacamolli) probably wouldn’t be as popular as it is.

2. Cappuccino (Origin: Italian/German)

Next time you’re trying to flirt with someone at your local coffee shop, impress them with this whimsical anecdote about the origin of the word cappuccino : it’s the diminutive form of the word cappuccio , which means “hood” in Italian. Wondering what the link is between a (little) hood and a cappuccino? One must look no further than the Capuchin Monks, whose hooded habits were a dark, oak brown similar to the color of a good cappuccino.

The first recorded use of the word was in 1790 in Vienna, Austria. Wilhelm Tissot jotted down a recipe for an exquisite Kapuzinerkaffee (lit. “Capuchin coffee”), which was rather different in constitution to its modern-day successor, containing sugar, cream and egg yolks. The current, somewhat simplified recipe now consists of espresso and foamed milk, but there are still parts of Austria where you can order a good ol’ Kapuziner .

3. Disaster (Origin: Italian/Greek)

The word disaster has been passed around Europe like a hot potato. The English version is most closely tied to the French désastre , which is derived from the Old Italian disastro , itself derived from Greek. The pejorative prefix dis- and aster (star) can be interpreted as bad star , or an ill-starred event . The ancient Greeks were fascinated by astronomy and the cosmos, and believed wholly in the influence of celestial bodies on terrestrial life. For them, a disaster was a particular kind of calamity, the causes of which could be attributed to an unfavorable and uncontrollable alignment of planets. It’s therefore interesting to note that the strict, modern English definition of disaster explicitly stipulates that a disaster is human-made, or the consequence of human failure.

4. Handicap (Origin: English)

This word originates from the 17th-century English trading game “hand-in-cap.” The game involved two players and an arbitrator, or umpire. The players would present two possessions they would like to trade. The umpire would then decide whether the possessions were of equal value or not, and if they weren’t, would calculate the discrepancy. The owner of the lesser object would make up the difference with money, and then all three participants would place forfeit money into a hat. If the two players agreed with the umpire’s valuation, they would remove their hands from the hat with their palm open. If they disagreed, they would pull out their hands clenched in a fist. If both agreed or disagreed, the umpire would get the forfeit money, while if one agreed and the other didn’t, the player who approved the transaction would receive the forfeit money.

Over time, hand-in-cap came to be known as “handicap” and started to be used to refer to any kind of equalization or balancing of a contest or game. The word handicap is still used in many sports today, such as golf and horse racing. Indeed, horse racing was probably the first sport to introduce the term in order to define an umpire’s decision to add more weight to a horse so that it runs equally to its competitors. This notion of being burdened or put at a disadvantage was carried over to describe people with a disability in the early 20th century. By the mid-20th century, it was widely used, but it has since fallen out of the popular lexicon.

5. Jeans (Origin: Italian)

Although jeans are quintessentially American, and their invention is commonly attributed to Jacob W. Davis and Levi Strauss, the etymology of the popular garment is actually of European origin. The fabric Strauss used for his patented, mass-produced trousers was first produced in Genoa, Italy and Nimes, France. Why’s that significant? Well, the French word for Genoa is Gênes , and the name “jeans” is likely an anglicization of the material’s city of origin. Similarly, the word “denim” most likely comes from de Nimes , meaning “from Nimes” in French. Although we often talk about denim jeans nowadays, the two materials actually differed. Denim was coarser, more durable and of higher quality than the toughened cotton corduroy manufactured in Genoa. Workers in Northern Italy were sporting jeans as early as the 17th century, long before post-war American subcultures picked up on them as a fashion accessory.

6. Salary (Origin: Latin)

The word “salary” comes from the Latin salarium , meaning “salt money.”

In ancient times, salt was used for many important things and was often referred to as “white gold.” It could be used as an antiseptic to treat wounds — In Romance languages one can recognize a connection between sal/sale , meaning “salt,” and salud/saude/salute , meaning “health”) — and to preserve food, and also as a method of payment in Greece and Rome.

As far back as the Egyptian Empire, laborers were paid with salt that they could use to preserve their food. The Roman Empire continued using this form of payment and it took on the name “salary” for “that which was given to workers at the end of the working month,” which adds a new dimension to the notion of a company’s solvency.

7. Trivial (Origin: Latin)

“Trivial” originates from the Latin word trivium , which was used to mean “a place where three roads meet” ( tri- meaning “three,” and -vium from via , meaning “road”). A trivium gained the connotation of being an open, public place — a mini agora — where people from across society’s technicolor spectrum could relax, chat and simply coexist. The adjective trivialis was a derivative of trivium and came to mean “vulgar, ordinary, of little importance, common and contemporary,” and the English adjective trivial carries much of this definition to this day: tired, ordinary, commonplace; of little use, import, consequence or significance.

8. Whiskey (Origin: Gaelic)

Medieval monks called it aqua vitae , meaning “life water.” The expression was transformed into uisce beatha when it was transferred to Gaelic. As time passed and the word was anglicized, uisce evolved into uige , usque , and then uisky , which bears an obvious and close resemblance to “whiskey.”

You may have noticed that you can spell the drink two different ways — “whiskey” and “whisky.” Some people believe the extra “e” was added to by Irish and American distilleries to differentiate their higher quality whiskeys during a period when Scottish whisky had a bad reputation.

Scotch was also introduced to denominate a Scottish whisky, and the word “whiskey” has been adopted in other countries for quite different reasons. In some South American countries, it’s used as an alternative to “cheese” to encourage people to smile when being photographed. How and why we chose “cheese,” and why the South Americans chose “whiskey” (and the Spanish patata , or “potato”) is a story for another time.

Why Study Etymology?

Etymology not only enhances your understanding of your native language but also gives you insights into its shared roots with other languages. Prior to reading this article, would you have thought that every time you say “avocado,” you’re prompting Moctezuma to chuckle in his tomb? Some word origins are wonderfully idiosyncratic and make for great anecdotes, while others demonstrate common standards and rules which help you assimilate new words and terms across languages.

Take the simple examples of the Latin prefixes con- (also “com-” in English) and dis- , which are widely used in Romance languages and indicate “togetherness” and “apartness,” respectively. Knowing such elements of etymology can vastly improve your guesswork when it comes to deciphering words, whether it be concatenate ( con – and -catenate , from catena , meaning “chain”; a verb meaning to chain together) or disconsolate ( dis- and con – and -solate , from solari , meaning “to comfort”; an adjective describing someone who can’t be comforted or consoled).

Want to explore further? We encourage you to put on your etymologist’s hat and venture into the jungle of meaning.

Illustrations by Raúl Soria

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Presentation

Definition : A presentation is a form of communication in which the speaker conveys information to the audience. In an organization presentations are used in various scenarios like talking to a group, addressing a meeting, demonstrating or introducing a new product, or briefing a team. It involves presenting a particular subject or issue or new ideas/thoughts to a group of people.

It is considered as the most effective form of communication because of two main reasons:

• Use of non-verbal cues.
• Facilitates instant feedback.

Business Presentations are a tool to influence people toward an intended thought or action.

Parts of Presentation

• Introduction : It is meant to make the listeners ready to receive the message and draw their interest. For that, the speaker can narrate some story or a humorous piece of joke, an interesting fact, a question, stating a problem, and so forth. They can also use some surprising statistics.
• Body : It is the essence of the presentation. It requires the sequencing of facts in a logical order. This is the part where the speaker explains the topic and relevant information. It has to be critically arranged, as the audience must be able to grasp what the speaker presents.
• Conclusion : It needs to be short and precise. It should sum up or outline the key points that you have presented. It could also contain what the audience should have gained out of the presentation.

Purpose of Presentation

• To inform : Organizations can use presentations to inform the audience about new schemes, products or proposals. The aim is to inform the new entrant about the policies and procedures of the organization.
• To persuade : Presentations are also given to persuade the audience to take the intended action.
• To build goodwill : They can also help in building a good reputation

Factors Affecting Presentation

Audience Analysis

Communication environment, personal appearance, use of visuals, opening and closing presentation, organization of presentation, language and words, voice quality, body language, answering questions, a word from business jargons.

Presentation is a mode of conveying information to a selected group of people live. An ideal presentation is one that identifies and matches the needs, interests and understanding level of the audience. It also represents the facts, and figures in the form of tables, charts, and graphs and uses multiple colours.

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• 7 C’s of Communication

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The Origins and Development of the English Language Chapter 10: Words and Meanings

Apr 06, 2019

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The Origins and Development of the English Language Chapter 10: Words and Meanings. John Algeo Michael Cheng National Chengchi University. Number of Words in English. English has a huge vocabulary 1,000,000 words? Half a million in unabridged dictionaries

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The Origins and Development of the English Language Chapter 10: Words and Meanings John Algeo Michael Cheng National Chengchi University

Number of Words in English • English has a huge vocabulary • 1,000,000 words? • Half a million in unabridged dictionaries • 200,000 words in an English college dictionary • 100,000 words in French or Spanish dictionary • College graduate may be able to use about 60,000 words • Recognize 75,000

Reasons • Extensive contacts with other languages • Large number of language users • Increasing purposes for which it is used • Word stock is constantly growing

Prominent new words of 2007 • Astronaut diaper • Bacn < Spam < Pressed Ham • Colony collapse disorder • Exploding ARM • Global weirding < Global warming • Maternal profiling • Mobisode • Ninja loan

What can you do if you need a new word? • Adapt a word that they already use by changing the meaning • Make one up (Chapter 11) • Borrow one from another language (Ch 12)

Change of Meaning: Variable and Vague Meanings • Some words vary in meaning with place, time, and situation • Place: tonic (medicinal tonic, tonic water) • Time: disinterested (before=impartial; now= not interested) • Situation: tonic (drink, music, linguistics)

Change of Meaning: Variable and Vague Meanings • Some words have meanings that are subjective and vague • Nice • She’s a nice person. • I have had a very nice evening.

Change of Meaning: Etymology and Meaning • Some people believe that the original meaning of a word or the roots of a word give the “correct meaning” of the word • Semantic change often alters the etymological sense of a word • Example: dilapidated • Lapis = L. stone • Should it only describe stone structures?

Change of Meaning: Etymology and Meaning • Other Examples • Eradicate from L radix = root • Calculate from L calx = stone • Enthusiastic from G theo = god • Virtue from L virtus = manliness • Words don’t have fixed meanings. Meanings are variable and change from their etymological origins.

Change of Meaning: How Meaning Changes • Meanings change in fields that are rapidly expanding and developing • bookmark, book, floppy, mail, mouse, notebook, save, server, spam, surf, virtual, virus, wallpaper, web, window, zip

Change of Meaning: How Meaning Changes • Change is not chaotic • Sense – denotation, literal sense • Associations – connotation • Father, dad, the old man, daddy, governor, pa, pappy, pater, pop, pops, sire • Sense can expand (generalization), contract (specialization), or shift (transfer of meaning) • Associations can become worse (pejoration), better (amelioration), weaker or stronger

Generalization and Specialization • The scope of the word changes • Generalization – extended or widened • Reduce the number of features in its definition that restrict it • Specialization – restricted or narrowed • Adding to the features of its meaning to reduce its referential scope

Generalization and Specialization • Examples of Generalization • Tail: hairy caudal appendage  caudal appendage  last part of something • Mill: place to grind grain to make meal • Barn: Barley House

Generalization and Specialization • Examples of Specialization • Corn: grain – oats, wheat • How did these words specialize? • Deer • Hound • Liquor • Meat • Starve

Transfer of Meaning: Metaphor • Metaphor: Extending the meaning of something to other similar things • Space  Time • Long day, a short while • length of a conversation, space of an hour • Extension • Foot of an animal, foot of a mountain, foot as a measure of the length of a typical foot • Tail

Transfer of Meaning: Metaphor • Metonymy: naming something with the name of something associated with it • The White House, Langley, Mother Tongue, Broadway, The Crown, the Press • Synecdoche /sɪˈnɛkdəki/ : a part is used to refer to the whole • Cat, earth, wheels, hungry mouths to feed, • John Hancock, Coke, Kleenex, Plastic, Pigskin, Iron, Rubber, Thermos, Old Blue Eyes, I need a pair of hands, Legs • “Fifty keels ploughed the deep.” • Explain the metaphor, metonymy, and synechdoche

Synechdoche

Transfer of Meaning: Metaphor • Synesthesia: meaning transferred from one sense to another sense • Clear sound, loud color, sweet music, sweet person, sharp cheddar cheese, warm color, warm or cold welcome

Transfer of Meaning: Metaphor • Abstract meaning from concrete meaning • Understand = stand close to • Under = among • Verstehen ‘to stand before’ • Comprehendere ‘to take hold of’ • He has a good grasp of his subject.

Transfer of Meaning: Metaphor • Subjective to Objective • Pitiful: full of pity  deserving of pity • Fear: danger  terror

Transfer of Meaning: Association of Ideas • Examples: • Pen, Paper, Pulp • Mouse, Virus, Crash • Silver • Rubber • China, Turkey

Transfer of Meaning: Transfer from Other Languages • Other languages can affect the meaning of English words • Thing • Old English: assembly, court of law, legal case • Latin rēs: object, possession, business matter, legal case

Transfer of Meaning: Sound Association • Similarity of sound can affect meaning • Old French fay = fairy • Old English fey = fated, doomed to die • Fey: www.thefreedictionary.com • a. Having or displaying an otherworldly, magical, or fairylike aspect or quality: "She's got that fey look as though she's had breakfast with a leprechaun" (Dorothy Burnham). • b. Having visionary power; clairvoyant. • c. Appearing touched or crazy, as if under a spell.

Transfer of Meaning: Sound Association • Clang association • Meaning changes due to confusion based on sound • Fulsome praise: excessive or insincere • Fruition: enjoyment • Fortuitous: occurring by chance

Pejoration and Amelioration • Change in the association of the value of the word • Pejoration is worsening • Amelioration is improvement of the value of a word

Pejoration • Politician vs. Legislator or Senator • Knave: boy • Boor: peasant • Lewd: lay, not clerical • Vulgar: the common people • Censure: opinion • Criticism: analysis, evaluation • Deserts: what you deserve • Silly: timely  happy

Amelioration • Praise: put a value on something (appraise) • Nice: ignorant • Knight • Earl

Taboo and Euphemism • Taboo: something you can’t talk about • Euphemism: Greek ‘good sounding’ • The replacement term for a taboo word • Politically correct language • Taboo topics • Death • Pregnancy • Body parts • Excretion • Disease • Social Class

Intensifying Words • When an intensifying word becomes too common, the force of the word wears down. • Very used to mean true • OE: swīðe • ME: full, right • Sore

Intensifying Words • Substitutes for very: awfully, terribly, • Substitutes for too: that, all that

Some Circumstances for Semantic Change • Words can vary by the groups that use it • Smart: intelligent, fashionable • Words change because the thing it refers to changes • Hall, bower • Meaning changes because of a shift in point of view • Crescent, veteran

Some Circumstances for Semantic Change • Specialized word becomes popular • Meaning becomes less exact • Philosophy: love of wisdom • Complex: aberration resulting from suppressed emotion • Charisma • Interface

Riddle • A man and his son get in a car accident. The father dies instantly, and the son is rushed to the hospital. A doctor sees the boy and says, "I can't operate on this child; he's my son."

Some Circumstances for Semantic Change • Language and Semantic Marking • Unmarked: sheep • Marked: ram, ewe • Hard to talk about humans without reference to sex • Bias can result • “Men are mortal.” • “Men have shorter lives than women.” • “Men have achieved great discoveries in science …”

Chairman  chairperson • Woman  womyn , woperson  • Foreman  supervisor • Stewardess  flight attendant • Housewife housespouse?

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Etymology: The Origin of Words

Becoming Interested in the Origin of Words

Words, like facts, are difficult to remember out of context.  Remembering is greatly facilitated when you have a body of information with which to associate either a word or a fact.  For words, interesting origins or histories will help provide a context.  For example, a hippopotamus is a "river horse," from the Greek hippos , meaning "horse," and potamos , meaning "river."

Indiana is called the Hoosier state , and its people Hoosiers .  Why?  In the early days, the pioneers were gruff in manner; when someone knocked at the front door, a pioneer's voice would often boom, "Who's yere?"

If you were offered a Hobson's choice , would you know what was meant?  Thomas Hobson owned a livery stable in seventeenth-century England.  He loved his horses, and to prevent any one horse from being overworked, he hired them out in turn, beginning with stall number one.  Customers had to take the horses they were given.  Thus Hobson's choice means no choice at all. (Pauk, p. 314)

Etymology is the study of the origins of words.  The English language is living and growing.  Although many of our words have been part of our language for many years, new words are added all the time.  Following are various ways our language is influenced.

Derived from Foreign Words - English, in many cases, has been commonly expanded by incorporating foreign words into it.  Most of our language has ancient Anglo-Saxon or Latin origins.  Other languages have also added to our vocabularies.

Additions through Technology & Products - Our words often reflect current interests, trends, and innovations.  One of the most recent contributors to our language has been computer technology, which has created words such as bytes , monitor , and disk .

Another way new words come into our language is through the development of products.  Some examples include: Kleenex, Walkman, Scotch tape, Xerox, and Linoleum.

People's Names - sometimes when a person invents or introduces something, that thing becomes associated with the person's name.  The person, through time, is forgotten while the name lives on in our language.  Examples include:

• mesmerize - F.A. Mesmer, an Austrian doctor and hypnotist.
• sideburns - an American English alteration of burnsides, Ambrose E. Burnside, a Union general.

Words from Letters - The initials for the names of things may actually come to replace the names.  The initials become the words that represent the thing, concept, or group.  The following are examples of words that have developed from initials.

• TV - TeleVision
• DWI - Driving While Intoxicated
• COD - Cash On Delivery
• ZIP - Zone Improvement Plan

Word Histories - Some words also have interesting histories.  Learning the stories behind the meanings is a good way to learn those words.  The following examples will give you an idea of how history can affect language.

• footman - It was once thought to bring bad luck if a person stepped on the door threshold when entering a house.  Rich people hired a servant to stand at their doors.  His job was to guard against a guest's stepping on the threshold.  The guard became known as a footman.
• hooker - A synonym for prostitute.  The term became popular during the Civil War.  The women involved were camp followers.  General "Fighting Joe" Hooker approved their presence in order to boost the morale of his men.
• The Origin of Words
• Using a Dictionary
• Interpreting a Dictionary Entry
• Structure Analysis
• Common Roots
• Word Relationships
• Using Word Relationships
• Context Clues
• The Importance of Reading
• Vocabulary Analogies

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How Our Thoughts Shape the Way Spoken Words Evolve

What makes a word survive or go extinct?

By Anvita Patwardhan

Thomas Fuchs

Charles Darwin found inspiration for his theory of evolution in birds’ beaks, giant tortoise shells—and language. “The survival or preservation of certain favored words in the struggle for existence is natural selection,” he wrote in The Descent of Man in 1871.

Language gradually shifts over time. Much research examines how social and environmental factors influence language change , but very little grapples with the forces of human cognitive selection that fix certain words into the lexicon. For an extensive new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA , scientists investigated just that.

In an experiment much like a game of telephone, thousands of participants read English-language stories and rewrote them to be read by other participants, who then rewrote them for others. Only certain words from the first stories survived in the final versions. Researchers analyzed the word types speakers consistently favored, theorizing that such preferences drive language change over time. The scientists also separately analyzed two large collections of English historical texts from the past two centuries, containing more than 40 billion words—again seeing only certain types survive.

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The results converged to show three properties that give words an “evolutionary advantage” by helping them stick in the brain: First, words typically acquired at an early age (such as “hand,” “uncle” or “today”) are stabler. Next, concrete words linger better than abstract ones: “dog” persists longer than “animal,” which persists longer than “organism.” Lastly, emotionally exciting words—whether negative or positive—tend to endure.

Early language-evolution models assumed that language becomes increasingly complex over time. But Indiana University Bloomington cognitive scientist and study co-author Fritz Breithaupt says the new study supports a more recent theory that language ultimately gets more efficient and easier to understand. Still, as the study notes, “the English language is not baby talk.” Breithaupt explains: “Yes, we shift toward simple language, but then we also grab complex language that we need.” New words that address the intricacies of modern life may somewhat balance out this shift.

The proposed trend toward “simpler” language is controversial. Columbia University linguist John McWhorter more or less agrees with the study’s results about evolutionary advantages within language. He questions, however, implications regarding the overall efficiency of English—a language he says contains things like “needlessly complex” grammatical vestiges. “There are about five ways to indicate the future in English,” he says. “I pity anybody who doesn’t grow up with it natively” and wants to learn it.

Study lead author Ying Li, a psychologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a non-native English speaker, notes that English had even more perplexing grammar in the past. McWhorter, Li supposes, “would complain more if he traveled back 800 years ago.”

Biryani: A spiced symphony

From royal feasts to home kitchens, Biryani’s tale is a saga of culinary mastery that has stood the test of centuries.

In the royal courts of mediaeval India, Biryani was a symbol of opulence and grandeur. Chefs layered fragrant basmati rice, marinated meats and an ensemble of aromatic spices – saffron, cardamom, and cinnamon – to create a dish fit for kings and emperors. Biryani, with its intricate preparation and regal presentation, quickly became the centrepiece of royal feasts.

The name Biryani is believed to be derived from the Persian word ‘biryan,’ meaning ‘fried’ or ‘roasted’.

As empires rose and fell, Biryani’s popularity spread across the Indian subcontinent, adapting to regional tastes and techniques. In the bustling streets of Lucknow, Awadhi Biryani was meticulously crafted with layers of meat and rice, slow-cooked to perfection. Meanwhile, in the south, Hyderabadi Biryani emerged, bringing forth the marriage of spices, basmati rice and tender meat in a spicy ensemble that would redefine culinary traditions.

Fast forward to the Mughal era, where Biryani continued to evolve. In the royal kitchens of Emperor Aurangzeb the Dum Pukht technique – slow cooking in a sealed pot – elevated Biryani to new heights. This method allowed the meat to tenderise and absorb the rich flavours of the spices, creating a dish that was both succulent and aromatic.

Biryani’s journey didn’t stop within the borders of the Indian subcontinent. Imagine the aroma wafting through the bustling streets of Persia, Indonesia and beyond as Biryani’s aromatic influence crossed oceans and transcended cultural boundaries. Each region added its unique touch, turning Biryani into a global culinary ambassador.

In the 21st century, Biryani remains a beloved dish that has found its way into homes, restaurants, and celebrations worldwide. And with its ability to bring people together, Biryani has become a symbol of shared traditions and communal feasting.