mateology means vain, pointless discourse or inquiry; waffle. It carries an Arena rating of 1501, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, mateology ranks #176 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #244 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #615 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #945 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
Why “mateology” is a great word
A vain, unprofitable, or pointless discourse or inquiry. From Ancient Greek μάτη (mátē, "folly, vain endeavour") + λόγος (lógos, "discourse, study"). Unlike dialectic, which denotes a logical method aimed at establishing truth, or a seminar, which implies a structured and productive exchange, mateology is argument as an end in itself, a circuit of words generating only its own heat. It is the protracted debate over angels and pinheads in a dusty seminary, the fevered online thread dissecting a celebrity's breakfast, the earnest parsing of a policy everyone knows will never be enacted—the sound of human intellect spinning in a void, polished and perfect and going precisely nowhere.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μάτη (mátē, “folly”) + λόγος (lógos, “discourse”): compare French matéologie.
noun
- vain, pointless discourse or inquiry; waffle.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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