Wiktionary:Word of the day/2020/October 30

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thesis n

Senses relating to logic, rhetoric, etc. (rhetoric) A proposition or statement supported by arguments. (by extension) A lengthy essay written to establish the validity of a thesis (sense 1.1), especially one submitted as a requirement for a university degree; a dissertation. (logic) An affirmation, or distinction from a supposition or hypothesis. (philosophy) In the dialectical method of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: the initial stage of reasoning where a formal statement of a point is developed; this is followed by antithesis and synthesis. Senses relating to music and prosody. (music, prosody, originally) The action of lowering the hand or bringing down the foot when indicating a rhythm; hence, an accented part of a measure of music or verse indicated by this action; an ictus, a stress. (music, prosody, with a reversal of meaning) A depression of the voice when pronouncing a syllables of a word; hence, the unstressed part of the metrical foot of a verse upon which such a depression falls, or an unaccented musical note. Today is the eve of Reformation Day on which, in 1517, German friar and theologian Martin Luther sparked off the Reformation by writing to Albert, the Archbishop of Mainz, to protest the sale of indulgences, attaching his Ninety-five Theses. According to Philip Melanchthon, on the same day Luther also nailed the Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg. However, modern scholars argue that there is little foundation for the story.

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