dormitive virtue

English - English

Definition of dormitive virtue in English English dictionary

A type of tautology in which an item is being explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words

Hyphenation

dormitive vir·tue

Synonyms

dormitive principle

Etymology

() A calque translation of Latin, virtus dormitiva, coined by Molière in The Imaginary Invalid. In the play, he lampoons a group of physicians providing an explanation in macaronic Latin of the sleep-inducing properties of opium as stemming from its "virtus dormitiva".