Anchoring

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of fastening or fixing something securely to a surface or base ; a cognitive bias where an individual depends too heavily on an initial piece of information when making decisions
2. The process of firmly attaching or stabilizing an object in a specific position ; a mental effect causing judgments to be influenced unduly by the first information received
3. Securing an item firmly to prevent movement or displacement ; a tendency in thinking that causes one to give disproportionate weight to the first information encountered

Etymology: Anchor is one of the oldest words in English, and it reached us by a surprisingly roundabout route. Its ancestor is the ancient Greek "ankyra," which was borrowed into Latin as "ancora." The Germanic languages picked it up separately, giving Old English "ancor" and later Middle English "anker," so the English noun descends from both a Latin loan and a Germanic form that had reached the north by a different path. "Anchoring" is simply the -ing form of the verb "anchor," which means to fasten a vessel or object firmly in place. The verb grew out of the noun, a pattern common in English where a thing that is used to hold something in place gives rise to the action of holding it. The -ing ending adds the sense of this action happening, so "anchoring" describes the act of making something stay put, whether a ship on the seabed or an idea fixed in someone's mind.

Synonyms: mooring, fastening, securing, stabilizing, holding

Antonyms: drifting, floating, loosing, releasing, unmooring