cataracts means the floodgates of heaven, regarded as holding back the rain. It carries an Arena rating of 1717, earned across 41 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, cataracts ranks #127 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #177 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #211 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #431 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
cataracts is pronounced /ˈkætəɹækts/.
Why “cataracts” is a great word
CATARACT — [Noun] A progressive opacity of the eye's crystalline lens, obscuring vision. From Middle English, from Latin cataracta ("floodgate; waterfall"), from Ancient Greek καταρράκτης (katarraktēs, "waterfall; rushing down"), from καταρράσσω (katarassō, "to dash down"). Unlike glaucoma, a pressure-driven erosion of the optic nerve, or a literal waterfall, the tumbling cascade of its root, a cataract is an internal deluge—a slow flood of opacity descending within the eye itself. It is the world seen through a frosted pane that thickens imperceptibly, the sun diffused into a painful glare, a loved one's face veiled in a milky haze—the body's own quiet floodgate closing on the light.
Etymology
From Late Middle English cataractes, cataractis, cateractes, used to translate καταρράκται (katarrháktai, “(probably) floodgates, sluices”) in the Septuagint and cataractae (“floodgates, sluices”) in the Vulgate versions of the Bible. The Middle English words are plural forms of cataract, cataracta, cateract, cateracte (“floodgate of heaven”), from Old French cataracte (modern French cataracte), and from its etymon Latin cataracta (“floodgate; waterfall”), from Ancient Greek καταρ(ρ)άκτης (katar(rh)áktēs, “(noun) waterfall; (adjective) rushing downwards”), from καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (katar(rh)ā́ssō, “to pour down; to rush downwards”) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming nouns denoting a state of being). Καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (Katar(rh)ā́ssō) is derived either: * from κᾰτᾰ- (kătă-, prefix meaning ‘downwards’) + ἀρ
noun
- The floodgates of heaven, regarded as holding back the rain.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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