Aphorising

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Expressing thoughts in brief, memorable maxims that condense a general truth into a few words
2. Speaking or writing in concise, pointed sayings that capture wisdom in a single sentence
3. Formulating observations as terse, witty statements that distill a principle into compact form

Etymology: "Aphorising" is the present participle of "aphorise", the British spelling of "aphorize", which means to utter or write aphorisms. The verb itself rests on the noun "aphorism", which came into English from Late Latin "aphorismus", borrowed from Greek "aphorismos", a word built from "aphorizein", meaning to mark off or define, from "apo" (away from) and "horizein" (to bound, to divide, from "horos", a boundary). An aphorism was, in its root sense, a boundary-marking definition: a brief statement that set out the limits of a idea. Over time the sense shifted from defining a limit to a short, pointed sentence that compresses a truth into a few words.

Synonyms: aphorize, epigrammatize, moralize