demarcation
/ˌdɛm.ɑːˈkeɪ.ʃən/
demarcation means the act of marking off a boundary or setting a limit, notably by belligerents signing a treaty or ceasefire. It carries an Arena rating of 1551, earned across 40 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, demarcation ranks #937 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,112 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,318 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,387 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
demarcation is pronounced /ˌdɛm.ɑːˈkeɪ.ʃən/.
Why “demarcation” is a great word
DEMARCATION — [Noun] The act of marking off a boundary or setting a limit, or the boundary or limit so established. From Spanish línea de demarcación or Portuguese linha de demarcação ("line of demarcation"), from demarcar ("to mark the limits of"), from de- ("off") + marcar ("to mark"), from Italian marcare, from a Germanic root meaning "boundary" (as in "march"). First recorded in English c. 1720–1752. Unlike "boundary," a more general term for any limiting line, or "distinction," an abstract recognition of difference, demarcation is the formal, authoritative act of making separation manifest. It is the freshly painted stripe on the factory floor, the rusted iron fence bisecting a field, or the invisible meridian decreed by a pope to divide an ocean between empires—a fragile human assertion of "here, not there" against the world's seamless grain.
Etymology
First recorded c.1752, from Spanish línea de demarcación and/or Portuguese linha de demarcação, the demarcation line laid down by the Pope on May 4, 1493, dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal on a line 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Both derive from demarcar, from de- + marcar (“to mark”), from Italian marcare, from the same Germanic root as march.
noun
- The act of marking off a boundary or setting a limit, notably by belligerents signing a treaty or ceasefire.
- A limit thus fixed, in full demarcation line.
- Any strictly defined separation.e.g.“There is an alleged, in fact somewhat artificial demarcation in the type of work done by members of different trade unions.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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