herodism means the killing of unwanted people, especially children. It carries an Arena rating of 1440, earned across 44 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, herodism ranks #67 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #657 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #1,009 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,183 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
Why “herodism” is a great word
HERODISM — [Noun] A political strategy of accepting subjugation by a dominant power to preserve a degree of local autonomy and cultural continuity, derived from the biblical King Herod's accommodation of Roman rule. From the name of Herod the Great, the biblical king who ordered the Massacre of the Innocents and ruled Judea as a client king under Roman authority, with the suffix -ism; notably used as a historiographic term by Arnold J. Toynbee in his work 'A Study of History'. Unlike zealotry, which implies a fanatical and uncompromising opposition, or collaborationism, which denotes active cooperation for personal gain, Herodism is the grimly pragmatic calculus of survival. It is the bowed head that keeps the crown, the temple refurbished under a foreign banner, and the royal decree issued in a language not one’s own—a statecraft built on the quiet conviction that a compromised self is preferable to a nonexistent one.
Etymology
From Herod the Great, the biblical king who is said to have ordered the execution of all male infants under the age of two in the town of Bethlehem and the surrounding region, as he saw Jesus as a threat to his rule and who was allowed to rule by accepting Roman control and dominance.
noun
- The killing of unwanted people, especially children.
- Indulgence in or worship of worldly spectacle and power rather than that which is good or worthy.
- A political stance of allowing domination by a more powerful country, usually in order to preserve some level of control rather than being vanquished.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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