videlicet

English

Alternative forms

• viz., vid., videl.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vidēlicet, which itself is a contraction of vidēre licet, meaning "it is permitted to see".

Pronunciation

Often read out in translation as namely or to wit.

• IPA^(key): /vɪˈdɛlɪsɛt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈneɪmlɪ/
• IPA^(key): /təˈwɪt/, /ˈtuːwɪt/

Adverb

videlicet (not comparable)

1. Namely, to wit, that is to say (used when clarifying or naming the preceding item or topic)
   • 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man in Deptford:

     My father did speak much of the day he was not speedily to forget, videlicet May Day of 1517, when there was great apprentice rioting against insolent foreigners.

Usage notes

Where videlicet is carefully distinguished from scilicet, viz. is used to provide glosses and sc. to provide omitted words or parenthetic clarification.

Synonyms

• See namely

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Latin

Etymology

A contraction of vidēre licet (“[it] is permitted to see”). Cf. scīlicet.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /u̯iˈdeː.li.ket/, [u̯ɪˈd̪eːlʲɪkɛt̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /viˈde.li.t͡ʃet/, [viˈd̪ɛːlit͡ʃet̪]

Adverb

vidēlicet (not comparable)

1. Videlicet: namely, to wit, that is to say
   • c. '1300' Tractatus de Ponderibus et Mensuris

     Per Ordinacionem tocius regni Anglie fuit mensura Domini Regis composita videlicet quod denarius qui vocatur sterlingus rotundus & sine tonsura ponderabit triginta duo grana frumenti in medio Spice.

2. clearly, evidently

References

• “videlicet”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “videlicet”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• videlicet in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.