*diction*

n. [ L. benedictio: cf. F. bénédiction. See Benison. ] 1. The act of blessing. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A blessing; an expression of blessing, prayer, or kind wishes in favor of any person or thing; a solemn or affectionate invocation of happiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

So saying, he arose; whom Adam thus
Followed with benediction. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Homeward serenely she walked with God's benediction upon her. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Specifically: The short prayer which closes public worship; as, to give the benediction. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Eccl.) The form of instituting an abbot, answering to the consecration of a bishop. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (R. C. Ch.) A solemn rite by which bells, banners, candles, etc., are blessed with holy water, and formally dedicated to God. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A book of benedictions. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A collected series of benedictions. [ 1913 Webster ]

The benedictionary of Bishop Athelwold. G. Gurton's Needle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. contradictio answer, objection: cf. F. contradiction. ] 1. An assertion of the contrary to what has been said or affirmed; denial of the truth of a statement or assertion; contrary declaration; gainsaying. [ 1913 Webster ]

His fair demands
Shall be accomplished without contradiction. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Direct opposition or repugnancy; inconsistency; incongruity or contrariety; one who, or that which, is inconsistent. [ 1913 Webster ]

can he make deathless death? That were to make
Strange contradiction. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

We state our experience and then we come to a manly resolution of acting in contradiction to it. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Both parts of a contradiction can not possibly be true. Hobbes. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of contradictions infinite the slave. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

Principle of contradiction (Logic), the axiom or law of thought that a thing cannot be and not be at the same time, or a thing must either be or not be, or the same attribute can not at the same time be affirmed and and denied of the same subject; also called the law of the excluded middle. It develops itself in three specific forms which have been called the “Three Logical Axioms.” First, “A is A.” Second, “A is not Not-A” Third, “Everything is either A or Not-A.” [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Contradictory; inconsistent; opposing. [ R. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. dicto a saying, a word, fr. dicere, dictum, to say; akin to dicare to proclaim, and to E. teach, token: cf. F. diction. See Teach, and cf. Benison, Dedicate, Index, Judge, Preach, Vengeance. ] Choice of words for the expression of ideas; the construction, disposition, and application of words in discourse, with regard to clearness, accuracy, variety, etc.; mode of expression; language; as, the diction of Chaucer's poems. [ 1913 Webster ]

His diction blazes up into a sudden explosion of prophetic grandeur. De Quincey.

Syn. -- Diction, Style, Phraseology. Style relates both to language and thought; diction, to language only; phraseology, to the mechanical structure of sentences, or the mode in which they are phrased. The style of Burke was enriched with all the higher graces of composition; his diction was varied and copious; his phraseology, at times, was careless and cumbersome. “Diction is a general term applicable alike to a single sentence or a connected composition. Errors in grammar, false construction, a confused disposition of words, or an improper application of them, constitute bad diction; but the niceties, the elegancies, the peculiarities, and the beauties of composition, which mark the genius and talent of the writer, are what is comprehended under the name of style.” Crabb. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A lexicographer. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Dictionaries [ Cf. F. dictionnaire. See Diction. ] 1. A book containing the words of a language, arranged alphabetically, with explanations of their meanings; a lexicon; a vocabulary; a wordbook. [ 1913 Webster ]

I applied myself to the perusal of our writers; and noting whatever might be of use to ascertain or illustrate any word or phrase, accumulated in time the materials of a dictionary. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, a book containing the words belonging to any system or province of knowledge, arranged alphabetically; as, a dictionary of medicine or of botany; a biographical dictionary. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. extra- + L. dictio a saying. See Diction. ] Consisting not in words, but in realities. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Of these extradictionary and real fallacies, Aristotle and logicians make in number six. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. indictio: cf. F. indiction. See Indict, Indite. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Declaration; proclamation; public notice or appointment. [ Obs. ] “Indiction of a war.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Secular princes did use to indict, or permit the indiction of, synods of bishops. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A cycle of fifteen years. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This mode of reckoning time is said to have been introduced by Constantine the Great, in connection with the payment of tribute. It was adopted at various times by the Greek emperors of Constantinople, the popes, and the parliaments of France. Through the influence of the popes, it was extensively used in the ecclesiastical chronology of the Middle Ages. The number of indictions was reckoned at first from 312 a. d., but since the twelfth century it has been reckoned from the birth of Christ. The papal indiction is the only one ever used at the present day. To find the indiction and year of the indiction by the first method, subtract 312 from the given year a. d., and divide by 15; by the second method, add 3 to the given year a. d., and the divide by 15. In either case, the quotient is the number of the current indiction, and the remainder the year of the indiction. See Cycle of indiction, under Cycle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. interdictio: cf. F. interdiction. ] The act of interdicting; prohibition; prohibiting decree; curse; interdict. [ 1913 Webster ]

The truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accurst. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. jurisdictio; jus, juris, right, law + dictio a saying, speaking: cf. OF. jurisdiction, F. juridiction. See Just, a., and Diction. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Law) The legal power, right, or authority of a particular court to hear and determine causes, to try criminals, or to execute justice; judicial authority over a cause or class of causes; as, certain suits or actions, or the cognizance of certain crimes, are within the jurisdiction of a particular court, that is, within the limits of its authority or commission. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The authority of a sovereign power to govern or legislate; the right of making or enforcing laws; the power or right of exercising authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

To live exempt
From Heaven's high jurisdiction. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

You wrought to be a legate; by which power
You maim'd the jurisdiction of all bishops. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Sphere of authority; the limits within which any particular power may be exercised, or within which a government or a court has authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Jurisdiction, in its most general sense, is the power to make, declare, or apply the law. When confined to the judiciary department, it is what we denominate the judicial power, the right of administering justice through the laws, by the means which the laws have provided for that purpose. Jurisdiction is limited to place or territory, to persons, or to particular subjects. Duponceau. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. LL. jurisdictionalis, F. juridictionnel. ] Of or pertaining to jurisdiction; as, jurisdictional rights. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. maledictio: cf. F. malédiction. See Maledicent. ] A proclaiming of evil against some one; a cursing; imprecation; a curse or execration; -- opposed to benediction. [ 1913 Webster ]

No malediction falls from his tongue. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Cursing; curse; execration; imprecation; denunciation; anathema. -- Malediction, Curse, Imprecation, Execration. Malediction is the most general term, denoting bitter reproach, or wishes and predictions of evil. Curse implies the desire or threat of evil, declared upon oath or in the most solemn manner. Imprecation is literally the praying down of evil upon a person. Execration is literally a putting under the ban of excommunication, a curse which excludes from the kingdom of God. In ordinary usage, the last three words describe profane swearing, execration being the strongest. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. praedictio: cf. F. prédiction. ] The act of foretelling; also, that which is foretold; prophecy. [ 1913 Webster ]

The predictions of cold and long winters. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Prophecy; prognostication; foreboding; augury; divination; soothsaying; vaticination. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Prophetic; prognostic. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of contradicting one's self or itself; repugnancy in conceptions or in terms; a proposition consisting of two members, one of which contradicts the other; as, to be and not to be at the same time is a self-contradiction. [ 1913 Webster ]