aporia

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin aporia, from Ancient Greek ἀπορία (aporía), from ἄπορος (áporos, “impassable”), from ἀ- (a-, “a-”) + πόρος (póros, “passage”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈpɔːɹɪə/

Noun

aporia (plural aporias)

1. (rhetoric) An expression of deliberation with oneself regarding uncertainty or doubt as to how to proceed.
   • 2012, Andy Martin, ‘Text Messenger’, Literary Review 404:

     Meanings are superposed in an aporia – not ‘either/or’, but ‘and/and’.

   • 2016, Ian McEwan, Nutshell:

     What they intend sickens and frightens them, and they can never speak of it directly. Instead, wrapped in whispers are ellipses, euphemisms, mumbled aporia followed by throat-clearing and a brisk change of subject.

2. (philosophy) An insoluble contradiction in a text's meaning; a logical impasse suggested by a text or speaker.

Etymology

Ancient Greek

Noun

aporia f (plural aporie)

1. aporia

Anagrams

• rapaio

Verb

aporia

1. first-person singular conditional of apor
2. third-person singular conditional of apor