"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Saturday, 19 November 2011

Eidetic

   
Eidetic (pronounced eye-det-ik) is an adjective meaning of, pertaining to, or constituting visual imagery vividly experienced and readily reproducible with great accuracy and in great detail. Relating to or denoting mental images having unusual vividness and detail, as if actually visible.

The word can also be used as a noun for a person who is able to to form or recall eidetic images.

I remember that at school we envied my friend George who could read pages of a history book and recall them almost word for word - even knowning where on the page any particular fact lay.

I'm not sure if it has an antonymn but it's the opposite of what my brother, GB, experiences - he has difficulty visualising things!
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2 comments:

  1. Librarian19 November 2011 at 08:29

    Sounds like what in German is often called "fotografisches Gedächtnis", photographic memory.

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  2. Scriptor Senex20 November 2011 at 06:07

    Yes, Librarian, the term 'photographic memory' is much more common here than eidetic.

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