aporia

See also: aporía

English

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

• impasse, paradox, contradiction

Translations

expression of doubt

• Dutch: twijfel (nl), onzekerheid (nl)
• Greek: απορία (el) f (aporía)

• Portuguese: aporia (pt) f

contradiction, logical impasse

• Hebrew: אפוריה‎
• Portuguese: aporia (pt) f

• Russian: апори́я (ru) f (aporíja)

Further reading

• Aporia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

---

Italian

Etymology

Ancient Greek

Noun

aporia f (plural aporie)

1. aporia

Anagrams

• rapaio

---

Portuguese

Verb

aporia

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