Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ


Feb 4, 2010
This week's theme
Eponyms

This week's words
Annie Oakley
John Bull
Maginot line
daltonism
methuselah

John Dalton
John Dalton
Photo: John Dalton and the Rise of Modern Chemistry, by Henry Roscoe

Discuss
Feedback
RSS/XML
Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

daltonism

PRONUNCIATION:
(DAWL-tuh-niz-em)

MEANING:
noun: Color blindness, especially the inability to distinguish between red and green.

ETYMOLOGY:
After John Dalton (1766-1844), chemist and physicist, who gave us Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures. He studied his own color blindness as well.

USAGE:
"Theodore R. Weeks refers to 'national daltonism: the extreme difficulty nationalists had... in perceiving and appreciating the viewpoints or needs of members of other nationalities."
Stephen D. Corrsin; Nation and State in Late Imperial Russia; Canadian Slavonic Papers (Ottawa); Sep-Dec 1999.

See more usage examples of daltonism in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Poverty is the worst form of violence. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith