dasein means being; especially the nature of being; existence, presence, hereness, suchness, essence. It carries an Arena rating of 1450, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, dasein ranks #1,897 of 17,111 for Most Sublime Words, #4,130 of 17,118 for Most Ponderous Words, #4,652 of 17,123 for Most Malleable Words, #6,017 of 17,140 for The Improbable.
dasein is pronounced /dɑː.zʌɪn/.
Why “dasein” is a great word
Dasein is the mode of being unique to a human, conceived as a situated, self-aware existence that is fundamentally concerned with its own being. From the German Dasein, from da ("there") + sein ("to be"). Unlike "existence," a hollowed-out abstraction denoting mere presence, or "essence," the static, pre-ordained nature of a thing, Dasein is the raw, questioning fact of finding oneself already thrown into a world of tools, others, and meaning. It is the commuter paused on a subway platform, struck by the uncanny weight of being here; the insomniac at three in the morning, confronting consciousness as a task; the reader who recognizes herself in a sentence written a century ago. It is not a thing that is, but the very activity of being that must interpret itself.
Etymology
From German Dasein (“there-to be”), from da (“there”) + sein (“to be”).
noun
- Being; especially the nature of being; existence, presence, hereness, suchness, essencee.g.“Hereness (Dasein) might be perhaps be called more expediently, Now-Being (Jetztsein), ...”
Words closest in meaning
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