Aphorised

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Expressed in short, pithy statements of a general truth, as a writer might phrase a wise observation
2. Put into concise, memorable sayings that capture a principle or wise observation in few words
3. Stated or written in the form of brief, pointed maxims that express a general truth

Etymology: "Aphorised" is the past tense and past participle of "aphorise", the British spelling of "aphorize" and "aphorism". The verb is formed from the noun "aphorism", which comes from Late Latin "aphorismus", itself borrowed from Greek "aphorismos", a word built from "aphorizein", meaning "to define" or "to mark off by boundaries." In that original sense, an aphorism was a precise definition, a sharply bounded statement of a principle. The sense we use today, a short, pithy saying that expresses a general truth, owes everything to the Greek physician Hippocrates. His collection of brief medical statements, the "Aphorisms," was so concise and memorable that the title became the name for any compact, wise sentence. To aphorise, then, is to put a thought into that kind of tight, quotable form.

Synonyms: aphorized, epigrammatized, moralized