Verisimilitude
I'm always on the lookout for books or articles that nicely use words I covered in Grammar Girl's 101 Words to Sound Smart. Today I came across one in Robert McKee's book Story:
If you aren't familiar with the word, I'm sure you get the meaning from the context; it describes something that seems real even though it isn't. It comes from Latin that means "like the truth."
The illustrative quotation I used in 101 Words praised the TV series Mad Men for its verisimilitude.
I don't often have the opportunity to use "verisimilitude" in life or in my writing, but when it fits, it's not a pretentious ten-dollar word—it economically conveys a specific meaning.
"Over the years I've observed two typical and persistent kinds of failed screenplay. The first is the 'personal story' bad script . . . The 'personal story' is understructured, slice-of-life portraiture that mistakes verisimilitude for truth."
If you aren't familiar with the word, I'm sure you get the meaning from the context; it describes something that seems real even though it isn't. It comes from Latin that means "like the truth."
The illustrative quotation I used in 101 Words praised the TV series Mad Men for its verisimilitude.
I don't often have the opportunity to use "verisimilitude" in life or in my writing, but when it fits, it's not a pretentious ten-dollar word—it economically conveys a specific meaning.
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Manda
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Feb 18, 2012 11:12AM
Verisimilitude is one of my favorite words.
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I use it in my writing workshops because there just isn't another word that conveys the same meaning. Then, of course, I have to define it, so I don't know about it being economical in that context. :-)
Great word! If I were only able to pronounce it.
ver-uh-si-mil-i-toodI have trouble with pronunciations too. Dictionary.com and M-W.com both have recordings so you can hear words pronounced.
I just found another good example of "verisimilitude" in a Wired article (March 2012) about the movie John Carter:But in his quest for verisimilitude, Stanton has to cope with real-world conditions--and right now they're kicking his ass.
