opacityn.

Brit.

/ə(ʊ)ˈpasᵻti/, U.S.

/oʊˈpæsədi/

Forms: 1500s–1600s opacitie, 1600s– opacity, 1600s– oppacity (Scottish).

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French opacité.

Etymology: < Middle French, French opacité shadow (1512), lack of transparency (1667), intellectual or moral obscurity (1690) < classical Latin opācitās shadow, darkness, in post-classical Latin also obscurity (c1150 in a British source), lack of transparency or translucency (c1360 in a British source) < opācus opaque adj. + -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix).

a. Obscurity of meaning; resistance to interpretation; impenetrability; an instance of this. rare before 20th cent.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [noun]

deepnessa1000

subtletya1387

difficultyc1405

mistiheadc1425

darknessc1450

obscurity1474

profoundnessc1475

obscureness1509

profundity1559

perplexity1563

opacity1575

darksomeness1583

perplexednessa1586

deptha1593

spinosity1605

abstruseness1628

abstrusity1649

inevidence1673

enigmaticalness1684

dark1699

indistinctness1704

confusion1729

reconditeness1779

obfuscity1832

oracularity1840

irrecognizability1847

recondity1856

unrecognizableness1865

crypticity1892

1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus ii. f. 26 Sa full thair warkis was of opacitie [1884 printed oporcitie] Culd few thairof mak Interpretatioun.

1818 T. L. Peacock Nightmare Abbey i. 16 He plunged into the central opacity of Kantian metaphysics.

1968 Philos. & Phenomenol. Res. 29 189 Obscurity or opacity of meaning.

1991 E. S. Connell Alchymist's Jrnl. (1992) 49 In counting our possession do we not wonder that superior texts teach opacities?

2000 Independent on Sunday 29 Oct. (Review Suppl.) 69/4 A vocabulary of furtive euphemisms whose very opacity testifies to the hideously pervasive fear of the Inquisition.

b. Denseness or obtuseness of intellect or understanding. Also (in quot. 1844): a person exemplifying this. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > person of weak intellect > [noun]

mis-feelinga1382

noddyship?1589

shallow-pate1600

wattle-head1613

insensiblea1618

non-intelligent1628

underhead1643

no conjurer1668

insipid1699

shallow-brains1707

sillytonian1707

inane1710

coof1724

incapable1809

ganache1814

insipidity1822

wanwit1837

opacity1844

stupiditarian1850

scant-brain1864

insensate1877

slowie1901

no-brow1926

1806 J. W. Croker Amazoniad i. ii. 44 Some clerk in a public office, who possesses a comfortable opacity of intellect, and a moderate knowledge of vulgar arithmetic.

1844 T. Carlyle Crit. & Misc. Ess. (1865) IV. 297 The Opacities have been pleased to suppress this election.

1874 L. Carr Judith Gwynne I. iv. 111 A light dawned through the thick opacity of his brain.

1915 C. A. Ellwood Social Prob. i. 1 An American publicist..cites the mental opacity of our ruling classes as in many respects similar to the stupidity of the old French nobility.

1984 M. Faber tr. F. Nietzsche Human, All too Human v. 162 Human opacity..will..slacken the bow of all-too-taut thinking.

a. The state of being in shadow; darkness, dimness, obscurity; an instance of this. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupidity, dullness of intellect > [noun]

hardnessOE

stuntnessc1000

sotshipc1050

witlessnessa1100

sotheada1200

dullness1398

bluntness1483

slowness1495

grossnessa1530

stupidity?1541

assishness?1548

dastardness1552

lourderie1555

dastardliness1556

blockishness1561

doltishness1569

sottage1569

sheepishness1574

doltry1581

sottishness1589

doltage1593

dorbellism1593

grout-headry1600

opacity1611

duncery1615

dunstery1615

stupidness1619

hebetude1621

insulsity1623

unintelligence1634

obtuseness1648

jobbernowlism1652

dullery1653

non-intelligence1653

blockheadishness1656

crassness1664

blockheadedness1716

stolidness1727

blockheadism1753

numbskullity1779

nincompoophood1791

duncishness1805

numbskullism1806

foziness1821

noodledum1821

obtusity1823

soft-headedness1823

noodledom1827

duncehood1829

dunderheadedness1830

sumphishness1830

asininity1831

dunderheadism1836

stockishness1837

dullardness1840

fat-headedness1840

stupor1845

duncedom1847

misintelligence1848

nincompoopery1850

wooden-headedness1850

dumminess1852

jolterheadedness1852

ninnyship1852

donkeyism1855

dumbness1860

beef-wittedness1863

crassitude1865

donkeyhood1869

slow-wittedness1869

chuckle-headedness1880

leatherheadedness1880

pinheadedness1884

numbskulledness1885

donkeydom1889

thickheadedness1889

density1894

moronism1922

nitwittedness1931

nitwittery1931

noodleness1931

dopiness1942

squirrel-headedness1955

nincompoopism1957

dim-wittedness1960

clottishness1961

the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > darkness or gloom > [noun]

thicknessc1000

dusknessa1382

umbraclec1500

duskishness1541

sadness1601

duskiness1611

gloominess1611

opacity1611

gloom1645

shadowinessa1672

dusk1700

brown1729

gloaming1832

bat-light1871

dreich1928

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Opacité, opacitie, shadinesse, vmbrage [etc.].

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica vi. x. 322 Their..causes; which while some ascribe unto the mixture of the Elements, others to the graduality of opacity and light.

a1677 I. Barrow Wks. (1686) III. 531 No external instruction could..penetrate those opacities of ignorance.

a1763 W. Shenstone Ess. (1806) 3 He renders the opacity of the other more discernible.

1807 J. Jebb Let. 4 Aug. in J. Jebb & A. Knox Thirty Years' Corr. (1834) I. 358 When the soul emerges from the opacities of this mortal life.

1812 G. Chalmers Hist. View Domest. Econ. Great Brit. & Ireland Pref. 13 The glimmering of the faintest dawn is more invigorating than the gloom of total opacity.

1878 T. Hardy Return of Native I. i. i. 4 The face of the heath by its mere complexion..could..intensify the opacity of a moonless midnight to a cause of shaking and dread.

1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience vi. 32 Fate's dark opacity.

1977 Times 23 June 16/5 The opacity of the future is darkened by the desperate twists and turns of the Liberals.

2002 Canberra Times (Nexis) 28 Sept. a18 The grey opacity of Glasgow.

†b. The fact or condition of not reflecting light. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > dimness or absence of brightness > [noun]

dimnessc825

dimc1430

dunnessc1475

dullness1567

dimmedness1596

faintness1651

filminess1727

opacity1794

tenuity1794

1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. II. xxi. 448 Opacity..[in one sense] signifies want of transparency; in the other that no light comes from a body.

1862 J. Tyndall Mountaineering in 1861 ix. 75 It was most interesting to observe..tree after tree losing its opacity and suddenly robing itself in glory.

a. The quality or condition of not transmitting light; lack of transparency or translucency; inability to be seen through; (Physics) the ratio of the intensity of the light incident on a sample or object to that of the light transmitted through it.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > [noun] > imperviousness to radiation

opacity1634

the world > matter > light > transparency or translucence > opacity > [noun]

cloudiness1594

opacity1634

umbrosity1646

opaqueness1647

opacousness1656

filminess1870

intransparency1902

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > X-rays > [noun] > imperviousness to X-rays

opacity1634

radiopacity1917

the world > matter > light > transparency or translucence > opacity > [noun] > degree of

opacity1890

1634 H. Peacham Gentlemans Exercise (new ed.) iii. 139 As Cristall, Ice, &c. by reason of their perspicuitie..so are Quicksilver, Silver, Lead, Steele, Iron, Tin, and the like, by reason of their opacity.

1685 R. Boyle Short Mem. Hist. Mineral Waters 25 Of the Transparency, the Muddiness, or the Opacity of the Mineral Water.

1750 tr. C. Leonardus Mirror of Stones 35 Perspicuity, or opacity, occasion many differences in stones.

1814 A. Aikin Man. Mineral. Introd. 31 When the passage of light is entirely stopped opacity comes on.

1890 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry 31 May 455/2 The inverse of that fraction, or I/I_x = e^k a measures the opacity of the substance.

1939 Q. Jrnl. Royal Meteorol. Soc. 65 417 In the case of five stations..the summer values of opacity are higher than the winter values, owing to the prevalence of sea fogs in summer.

1972 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 82 147 A discussion on the opacity of the atmosphere and properties associated with the so-called ‘atmospheric windows’ [follows].

2000 Paper Technol. Feb. 17/2 Dr. Smith opened with an overview of some of the high cost pigments which are used for their functional performance, for example opacity.

b. An opaque area on or in something that is otherwise transparent or translucent.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > light > transparency or translucence > opacity > [noun] > opaque object or medium > opaque part or area

cloud1541

opacity1796

1796 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 87 9 A lady who had lost the sight of both [eyes], by opacities in the crystalline lenses.

1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. II. 177/2 Slight opacities..confined to the conjunctival covering of the cornea.

1892 A. Duane tr. E. Fuchs Text-bk. Ophthalmol. viii. 371 These partial opacities embrace the equator of the inner opacity in front and behind.

1967 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 113 911/2 A skull X-ray showed small calcified opacities in both hemispheres.

1990 Q. Jrnl. Med. 77 1147 A perfusion defect smaller than an opacity on radiography is less likely to indicate pulmonary embolism.

c. In extended use: inability to allow the passage of a form of radiation other than light, as sound, heat, or X-rays.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > particle avoiding strong interaction > electron > [noun] > of microscope: imperviousness to electrons

opacity1971

1879 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (ed. 6) II. x. 331 Here we had the acoustic opacity of the air.

1928 F. G. Chandler & W. B. Wood Lipiodol in Diagnosis Thoracic Dis. i. 1 The properties of lipiodol are opacity to the X-rays, [etc.].

1971 Jrnl. Electron Microsc. 20 124/1 The pronounced electron opacity was localized especially..on the outer membrane.

1984 B. W. Jones Solar Syst. (BNC) 221 The dominance of thermal convection is aided by the infrared opacity of the atmosphere below 0.2 bar altitude.

1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 776/1 The kappa mechanism is an opacity increase that causes the radiation blocking.

a. Philosophy and Linguistics. The property of a context of failing to preserve the truth value of a complete statement when one of its elements is replaced by a different but coreferential expression.

ΚΠ

1956 W. V. Quine in Proc. 11th Internat. Congr. Philos. 14 68 Whatever breach of extensionality it prima facie involves is shared by examples like (10) and attributable to the referential opacity of quotation.

1977 R. M. Kempson Semantic Theory ii. 15 The solution to the problem of opacity in particular remains an open one, and something of an issue for philosophers.

1990 L. Antony in G. Boolos Meaning & Method 116 The syntactic and lexical properties of mentalese expressions can..be exploited..to explain a whole range of phenomena typically classified as opacity phenomena.

b. Linguistics. Inability of a rule in phonology to be extrapolated from every occurrence of a particular phenomenon.

ΚΠ

1971 P. Kiparsky in W. O. Dingwall Surv. Ling. Sci. 621 Define the concept opacity of a rule as follows:..A rule A→B/C–D is opaque to the extent that there are surface representations of the form (i) A in environment C–D or (ii) B in environment other than C–D.

1977 Language 53 19 In each instance of opacity, a phonological rule which relates a large number of surface lexical items is obscured by the presence of other items in which the rule appears to fail.

c. Linguistics. In government and binding theory: a constraint on the grammatical contexts within which an expression can be free; spec. the property that an anaphor cannot be co-indexed with an item outside the clause containing its governing category.Although Chomsky wrote his paper On Binding in January 1978, it was not published until late 1980, hence his first published use of the term was in Rules & Representations.

ΚΠ

1980 N. Chomsky Rules & Representations iii. 91 The choice of antecedent [is governed] by a principle of ‘opacity’—variable-like elements can't be free in certain opaque domains.

1980 N. Chomsky On Binding in Linguistic Inq. 2 11 We will henceforth refer to (19) or subsequent modifications as the ‘Opacity Condition’.

1991 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 36 398 The structural view of transparency and opacity is used to determine where in the hierarchy a given feature may (or, more correctly, may not) occur.

1997 P. H. Matthews Conc. Oxf. Dict. Linguistics 256 The term ‘opacity’ was briefly used by Chomsky, at the end of the 1970s, for a term soon recast in Government and Binding Theory.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	opacity
释义	opacityn. Brit. /ə(ʊ)ˈpasᵻti/, U.S. /oʊˈpæsədi/ Forms: 1500s–1600s opacitie, 1600s– opacity, 1600s– oppacity (Scottish). Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French opacité. Etymology: < Middle French, French opacité shadow (1512), lack of transparency (1667), intellectual or moral obscurity (1690) < classical Latin opācitās shadow, darkness, in post-classical Latin also obscurity (c1150 in a British source), lack of transparency or translucency (c1360 in a British source) < opācus opaque adj. + -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix). 1. a. Obscurity of meaning; resistance to interpretation; impenetrability; an instance of this. rare before 20th cent. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [noun] deepnessa1000 subtletya1387 difficultyc1405 mistiheadc1425 darknessc1450 obscurity1474 profoundnessc1475 obscureness1509 profundity1559 perplexity1563 opacity1575 darksomeness1583 perplexednessa1586 deptha1593 spinosity1605 abstruseness1628 abstrusity1649 inevidence1673 enigmaticalness1684 dark1699 indistinctness1704 confusion1729 reconditeness1779 obfuscity1832 oracularity1840 irrecognizability1847 recondity1856 unrecognizableness1865 crypticity1892 1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus ii. f. 26 Sa full thair warkis was of opacitie [1884 printed oporcitie] Culd few thairof mak Interpretatioun. 1818 T. L. Peacock Nightmare Abbey i. 16 He plunged into the central opacity of Kantian metaphysics. 1968 Philos. & Phenomenol. Res. 29 189 Obscurity or opacity of meaning. 1991 E. S. Connell Alchymist's Jrnl. (1992) 49 In counting our possession do we not wonder that superior texts teach opacities? 2000 Independent on Sunday 29 Oct. (Review Suppl.) 69/4 A vocabulary of furtive euphemisms whose very opacity testifies to the hideously pervasive fear of the Inquisition. b. Denseness or obtuseness of intellect or understanding. Also (in quot. 1844): a person exemplifying this. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > person of weak intellect > [noun] mis-feelinga1382 noddyship?1589 shallow-pate1600 wattle-head1613 insensiblea1618 non-intelligent1628 underhead1643 no conjurer1668 insipid1699 shallow-brains1707 sillytonian1707 inane1710 coof1724 incapable1809 ganache1814 insipidity1822 wanwit1837 opacity1844 stupiditarian1850 scant-brain1864 insensate1877 slowie1901 no-brow1926 1806 J. W. Croker Amazoniad i. ii. 44 Some clerk in a public office, who possesses a comfortable opacity of intellect, and a moderate knowledge of vulgar arithmetic. 1844 T. Carlyle Crit. & Misc. Ess. (1865) IV. 297 The Opacities have been pleased to suppress this election. 1874 L. Carr Judith Gwynne I. iv. 111 A light dawned through the thick opacity of his brain. 1915 C. A. Ellwood Social Prob. i. 1 An American publicist..cites the mental opacity of our ruling classes as in many respects similar to the stupidity of the old French nobility. 1984 M. Faber tr. F. Nietzsche Human, All too Human v. 162 Human opacity..will..slacken the bow of all-too-taut thinking. 2. a. The state of being in shadow; darkness, dimness, obscurity; an instance of this. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupidity, dullness of intellect > [noun] hardnessOE stuntnessc1000 sotshipc1050 witlessnessa1100 sotheada1200 dullness1398 bluntness1483 slowness1495 grossnessa1530 stupidity?1541 assishness?1548 dastardness1552 lourderie1555 dastardliness1556 blockishness1561 doltishness1569 sottage1569 sheepishness1574 doltry1581 sottishness1589 doltage1593 dorbellism1593 grout-headry1600 opacity1611 duncery1615 dunstery1615 stupidness1619 hebetude1621 insulsity1623 unintelligence1634 obtuseness1648 jobbernowlism1652 dullery1653 non-intelligence1653 blockheadishness1656 crassness1664 blockheadedness1716 stolidness1727 blockheadism1753 numbskullity1779 nincompoophood1791 duncishness1805 numbskullism1806 foziness1821 noodledum1821 obtusity1823 soft-headedness1823 noodledom1827 duncehood1829 dunderheadedness1830 sumphishness1830 asininity1831 dunderheadism1836 stockishness1837 dullardness1840 fat-headedness1840 stupor1845 duncedom1847 misintelligence1848 nincompoopery1850 wooden-headedness1850 dumminess1852 jolterheadedness1852 ninnyship1852 donkeyism1855 dumbness1860 beef-wittedness1863 crassitude1865 donkeyhood1869 slow-wittedness1869 chuckle-headedness1880 leatherheadedness1880 pinheadedness1884 numbskulledness1885 donkeydom1889 thickheadedness1889 density1894 moronism1922 nitwittedness1931 nitwittery1931 noodleness1931 dopiness1942 squirrel-headedness1955 nincompoopism1957 dim-wittedness1960 clottishness1961 the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > darkness or gloom > [noun] thicknessc1000 dusknessa1382 umbraclec1500 duskishness1541 sadness1601 duskiness1611 gloominess1611 opacity1611 gloom1645 shadowinessa1672 dusk1700 brown1729 gloaming1832 bat-light1871 dreich1928 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Opacité, opacitie, shadinesse, vmbrage [etc.]. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica vi. x. 322 Their..causes; which while some ascribe unto the mixture of the Elements, others to the graduality of opacity and light. a1677 I. Barrow Wks. (1686) III. 531 No external instruction could..penetrate those opacities of ignorance. a1763 W. Shenstone Ess. (1806) 3 He renders the opacity of the other more discernible. 1807 J. Jebb Let. 4 Aug. in J. Jebb & A. Knox Thirty Years' Corr. (1834) I. 358 When the soul emerges from the opacities of this mortal life. 1812 G. Chalmers Hist. View Domest. Econ. Great Brit. & Ireland Pref. 13 The glimmering of the faintest dawn is more invigorating than the gloom of total opacity. 1878 T. Hardy Return of Native I. i. i. 4 The face of the heath by its mere complexion..could..intensify the opacity of a moonless midnight to a cause of shaking and dread. 1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience vi. 32 Fate's dark opacity. 1977 Times 23 June 16/5 The opacity of the future is darkened by the desperate twists and turns of the Liberals. 2002 Canberra Times (Nexis) 28 Sept. a18 The grey opacity of Glasgow. †b. The fact or condition of not reflecting light. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > dimness or absence of brightness > [noun] dimnessc825 dimc1430 dunnessc1475 dullness1567 dimmedness1596 faintness1651 filminess1727 opacity1794 tenuity1794 1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. II. xxi. 448 Opacity..[in one sense] signifies want of transparency; in the other that no light comes from a body. 1862 J. Tyndall Mountaineering in 1861 ix. 75 It was most interesting to observe..tree after tree losing its opacity and suddenly robing itself in glory. 3. a. The quality or condition of not transmitting light; lack of transparency or translucency; inability to be seen through; (Physics) the ratio of the intensity of the light incident on a sample or object to that of the light transmitted through it. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > [noun] > imperviousness to radiation opacity1634 the world > matter > light > transparency or translucence > opacity > [noun] cloudiness1594 opacity1634 umbrosity1646 opaqueness1647 opacousness1656 filminess1870 intransparency1902 the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > X-rays > [noun] > imperviousness to X-rays opacity1634 radiopacity1917 the world > matter > light > transparency or translucence > opacity > [noun] > degree of opacity1890 1634 H. Peacham Gentlemans Exercise (new ed.) iii. 139 As Cristall, Ice, &c. by reason of their perspicuitie..so are Quicksilver, Silver, Lead, Steele, Iron, Tin, and the like, by reason of their opacity. 1685 R. Boyle Short Mem. Hist. Mineral Waters 25 Of the Transparency, the Muddiness, or the Opacity of the Mineral Water. 1750 tr. C. Leonardus Mirror of Stones 35 Perspicuity, or opacity, occasion many differences in stones. 1814 A. Aikin Man. Mineral. Introd. 31 When the passage of light is entirely stopped opacity comes on. 1890 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry 31 May 455/2 The inverse of that fraction, or I/I_x = e^k a measures the opacity of the substance. 1939 Q. Jrnl. Royal Meteorol. Soc. 65 417 In the case of five stations..the summer values of opacity are higher than the winter values, owing to the prevalence of sea fogs in summer. 1972 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 82 147 A discussion on the opacity of the atmosphere and properties associated with the so-called ‘atmospheric windows’ [follows]. 2000 Paper Technol. Feb. 17/2 Dr. Smith opened with an overview of some of the high cost pigments which are used for their functional performance, for example opacity. b. An opaque area on or in something that is otherwise transparent or translucent. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > light > transparency or translucence > opacity > [noun] > opaque object or medium > opaque part or area cloud1541 opacity1796 1796 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 87 9 A lady who had lost the sight of both [eyes], by opacities in the crystalline lenses. 1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. II. 177/2 Slight opacities..confined to the conjunctival covering of the cornea. 1892 A. Duane tr. E. Fuchs Text-bk. Ophthalmol. viii. 371 These partial opacities embrace the equator of the inner opacity in front and behind. 1967 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 113 911/2 A skull X-ray showed small calcified opacities in both hemispheres. 1990 Q. Jrnl. Med. 77 1147 A perfusion defect smaller than an opacity on radiography is less likely to indicate pulmonary embolism. c. In extended use: inability to allow the passage of a form of radiation other than light, as sound, heat, or X-rays. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > particle avoiding strong interaction > electron > [noun] > of microscope: imperviousness to electrons opacity1971 1879 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (ed. 6) II. x. 331 Here we had the acoustic opacity of the air. 1928 F. G. Chandler & W. B. Wood Lipiodol in Diagnosis Thoracic Dis. i. 1 The properties of lipiodol are opacity to the X-rays, [etc.]. 1971 Jrnl. Electron Microsc. 20 124/1 The pronounced electron opacity was localized especially..on the outer membrane. 1984 B. W. Jones Solar Syst. (BNC) 221 The dominance of thermal convection is aided by the infrared opacity of the atmosphere below 0.2 bar altitude. 1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 776/1 The kappa mechanism is an opacity increase that causes the radiation blocking. 4. a. Philosophy and Linguistics. The property of a context of failing to preserve the truth value of a complete statement when one of its elements is replaced by a different but coreferential expression. ΚΠ 1956 W. V. Quine in Proc. 11th Internat. Congr. Philos. 14 68 Whatever breach of extensionality it prima facie involves is shared by examples like (10) and attributable to the referential opacity of quotation. 1977 R. M. Kempson Semantic Theory ii. 15 The solution to the problem of opacity in particular remains an open one, and something of an issue for philosophers. 1990 L. Antony in G. Boolos Meaning & Method 116 The syntactic and lexical properties of mentalese expressions can..be exploited..to explain a whole range of phenomena typically classified as opacity phenomena. b. Linguistics. Inability of a rule in phonology to be extrapolated from every occurrence of a particular phenomenon. ΚΠ 1971 P. Kiparsky in W. O. Dingwall Surv. Ling. Sci. 621 Define the concept opacity of a rule as follows:..A rule A→B/C–D is opaque to the extent that there are surface representations of the form (i) A in environment C–D or (ii) B in environment other than C–D. 1977 Language 53 19 In each instance of opacity, a phonological rule which relates a large number of surface lexical items is obscured by the presence of other items in which the rule appears to fail. c. Linguistics. In government and binding theory: a constraint on the grammatical contexts within which an expression can be free; spec. the property that an anaphor cannot be co-indexed with an item outside the clause containing its governing category.Although Chomsky wrote his paper On Binding in January 1978, it was not published until late 1980, hence his first published use of the term was in Rules & Representations. ΚΠ 1980 N. Chomsky Rules & Representations iii. 91 The choice of antecedent [is governed] by a principle of ‘opacity’—variable-like elements can't be free in certain opaque domains. 1980 N. Chomsky On Binding in Linguistic Inq. 2 11 We will henceforth refer to (19) or subsequent modifications as the ‘Opacity Condition’. 1991 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 36 398 The structural view of transparency and opacity is used to determine where in the hierarchy a given feature may (or, more correctly, may not) occur. 1997 P. H. Matthews Conc. Oxf. Dict. Linguistics 256 The term ‘opacity’ was briefly used by Chomsky, at the end of the 1970s, for a term soon recast in Government and Binding Theory. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.1575
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