defenestration
/diˌfɛnəˈstɹeɪʃən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.85 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The act of throwing something or especially someone out of a window, especially lethally.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The high-profile removal of a person from an organization.
British usage; Countable; Uncountable
noun
The high-profile removal of a person from an organization.
British usage; Countable; Uncountable
noun
The act of removing the Microsoft Windows operating system from a computer in order to install an alternative one.
Countable; Humorous; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The "Defenestration" at Prague (A.D. 1618). [...] The imperial Austrian Councillors are thrown out of the window of the castle of Hradschin by the enraged Bohemian Deputies [...]"
- "The brook in the gully behind the garden, a trembling trickle most of the time, was tonight a loud torrent that tumbled over itself in its avid truckling to gravity, as it carried through corridors of beech and spruce last years leaves, and some leafless twigs, and a brand-new, unwanted soccer ball that had recently rolled into the water from the sloping lawn after Pnin disposed of it by defenestration."
- "The Third Defenestration of Prague occurred on 10 March 1948. During the closing stages of the communist takeover in Czechoslovakia, Jan Masaryk, the popular foreign minister and son of Tomáš Masaryk, fell – or more likely was pushed – out of a window."
- "On September 11, 2001 when NYC's Twin Towers were impacted [...] some occupants trapped above the inferno facing certain death instead jumped from windows to their certain death (self defenestration)."
- "Be that as it may, his defenestration was coldly abrupt, and in his place, the Football Association resurrected a veteran manager and former England star in Joe Mercer for seven games."
- "With Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid gone from the cabinet, it could all be over for Boris Johnson – although quite how long it will take his enemies to finish him off is not at all clear and his defenestration does not look immediate."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Etruscan *𐌚𐌍𐌄𐌔𐌕𐌓𐌀 (*fnestra)bor.? Latin fenestra Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin -ātiō New Latin dēfenestrātiōder. English defenestration From New Latin defenestratio, from dē (“from; out”) + fenestra (“window”) + -atio (suffix indicating an action or process); compare Middle French défenestrer (modern French défenestrer), défenestration, Italian defenestrazione and German Fenstersturz. The verb defenestrate was formed later.
Word Breakdown
- Root: defenestratio
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /diˌfɛnəˈstɹeɪʃən/
- British English: /dɪˌfɛnɪˈstɹeɪʃ(ə)n/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- British usage
- Humorous