nemesis
pronunciation
How to pronounce nemesis in British English:
UK [ˈneməsɪs]
How to pronounce nemesis in American English:
US [ˈnɛmɪsɪs]
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- Noun:
- something causes misery or death
Word Origin
- nemesis
- nemesis: see nomad
- nemesis
- 1570s, Nemesis, "Greek goddess of vengeance, personification of divine wrath," from Greek nemesis "just indignation, righteous anger," literally "distribution" (of what is due), related to nemein "distribute, allot, apportion one's due," from PIE root *nem- "to divide, distribute, allot, to take" (cognates: Old English, Gothic niman "to take," German nehmen; see nimble). With a lower-case -n-, in the sense of "retributive justice," attested from 1590s. General sense of "anything by which it seems one must be defeated" is 20c.
Example
- 1. He thinks nemesis is a red dwarf star 1.5 light years away .
- 2. We may not have an answer to the nemesis question until mid-2013 .
- 3. Originally , nemesis was suggested as a way to explain a cycle of mass extinctions on earth .
- 4. Neither kirkpatrick nor wright think nemesis is disrupting the oort cloud and sending comets towards earth , however .
- 5. His calculations suggest nemesis is between 3 to 5 times the mass of jupiter , rather than the 13 jupiter masses or greater that some scientists think is a necessary quality of a brown dwarf .