Word of the Day Archive
Saturday September 13, 2003
stoic \STOH-ik\ , noun:
1. (Capitalized). A member of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno holding that one should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and should submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity.
2. Hence, one who is apparently or professedly indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain, joy or grief.
adjective:
1. Of or pertaining to the Stoics; resembling the Stoics or their doctrines.
2. Not affected by passion; being or appearing indifferent to pleasure or pain, joy or grief.
Lorraine had been raised to be a stoic, and she put on a strong facade through most of the services following the crash.
-- Bob Duffy, "Twists of fate", Boston Globe, December 31, 2000
They just try to be stoic, and withstand assault.
-- Jeanine Basinger, Silent Stars
His seductive charm melted away whatever hostility his absence had aroused; it took time before his extended absences and repeated betrayals burned the romance out of her system, leaving a residue of stoic resignation.
-- Ron Chernow, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
William Coley appears to have been one of those stoic personalities who betray no emotion, not because he didn't feel any but probably because he felt too much.
-- Stephen S. Hall, A Commotion in the Blood
With each year, his face became more stoic until it looked as though it had been chipped from pale rock.
-- Brian McDonald, My Father's Gun
Stoic comes from Greek stoikos, literally "of or pertaining to a colonnade or porch," from stoa, "a roofed colonnade, a porch, especially, a porch in Athens where Zeno and his successors taught."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for stoic
