Entry: microsmic (adj.)
In context: "Gentlemen, what the president is articulating is that what we face here is a microsmic exemplar of the infamous Democratic Triple Bind faced by visionaries from FDR and JFK on down."
Definition: No idea. I was able to find this journal article: Regional metabolism in microsmic patients with schizophrenia. It appears DFW is using the term in an idiosyncratic way. How about from microcosm (n.): More generally: a place, situation, etc., regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristic qualities or features of something much larger.
Other:
SNOOT score: 1
Page: 440
Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Definitive Jest is a vocabulary-building and SNOOT-approved word-of-the-day blog centered around David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.
Microsmic means "diminished olfactory ability". So they probably misspelled "microcosmic", as you said.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon. I wasn't able to find microsmic anywhere.
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