In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
TROPISM
tropism
(noun) an involuntary orienting response; positive or negative reaction to a stimulus source
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
tropism (countable and uncountable, plural tropisms)
(biology) The turning of an organism in response to a stimulus, either towards or away from the stimulus.
(virology) Which type of tissue supports a certain virus.
Usage notes
(biology): Distinguished from taxis in that in a taxis, the organism has motility and moves towards or away from stimulus (e.g, bacteria, animals), while in a tropism the organism is not motile, and simply turns or grows towards or away from stimulus (e.g, plants, fungi). Similarly, kinesis is distinguished as non-directional movement.
In compound terms, analyzed as suffix -tropism, not stand-alone tropism.
Anagrams
• imports, primost, promist
Source: Wiktionary
Tro"pism, n. [Gr. a turning, to turn + -ism.] (Physiol.)
Definition: Modification of the direction of growth.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
25 February 2025
ENDLESSLY
(adverb) (spatial sense) seeming to have no bounds; “the Nubian desert stretched out before them endlessly”
Coffee Trivia