It's when you know you're gonna do something that you shouldn't but you do it anyways, like dropping something even though you had no intention of dropping it but the thought of dropping it crossed your mind and you consciously decided not to drop the thing but you did anyways.  The thought process is pretty much "I know I shouldn't do this but I'm going to even though I don't want to". Might be a medical term, maybe there isn't even a word for it.  Best use I can think of is: "The patient has been suffering from ____ for a long time"  I'm seeking the word or definition for the act of doing said thing even though you don't want to and made a conscious decision not to but still do.  It's not a compulsion, but more of a momentary dissonance(?) between your brain and your body about what to do. Not sure if this will clarify it enough.
122692
I am reading Of Mice and Men, and I am trying to come up with a word that describes how George manages to shoot Lennie at the end of the book.  I have come up with Self Discipline, and Overcoming Weakness, but none of those really seem to suffice.  Any suggestions would be great!
9710
First Q here. If this has been asked before sorry (Did search)  Term for a choice that you like and you dislike? And you can/would probably only take the choice you like.  For example:  A justice department lawyer says to you "Either testify or go to prison for 25 to life". Or "Enter witness protection or Vito is going to put you in the ground".  In the above statements, we have two choices. But only one choice is viable. "To testify", or "Enter witness protection".  What is such a choice called? (It can not be called a dilemma).
15706
Context: You made the decision not to see a person any more. The relationship was good, you were both happy with one another but the one main stumbling block (for you) in the relationship was never dealt with. It remained, a permanent fixture, that forced you to make that sad, and final decision.   Is there a word, an idiom, or a famous line that expresses the sadness for something that might have been; e.g. a rich and fulfilling relationship. It's not nostalgia, because that expresses a wistfulness for the past.   Instead, you are wistful for the future.
61289
What do you call it when someone has a strong opinion about something without having any experience with that thing? For example, if someone writes an entire newspaper article about how disgusting pie is without having ever eaten pie.  The word lodged in my brain is "hypocritical", but I know that's not correct.
114254
A discussion at work recently involved our CEO (who has a psychology degree and is generally very knowledgable.. I have a lot of respect for his opinion) stating with great confidence that altruism is impossible, the argument being that an act of kindness is at the very least motivated by making oneself feel better by doing it. That makes an assumption that people are gratified by their act of kindness, but that's a different question. This is about the term itself.  The notion that we can't be kind without expecting reward didn't sit well with me, so I started thinking about it more, and realised I couldn't see past an apparent flaw in the concept.  First: definition. I'd understood it to mean an act of kindness for no reward. Google defines as: "disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others"  My CEO's argument appears to be that it's impossible because (effectively) the act of kindness is the reward, or at least that the feel-good-factor is directly linked to kindness, so there can be no kindness without feeling good.  This seems to be generally accepted.  If that's the case, then my own definition phrase becomes "An act of kindness without kindness", which makes no sense.  Google's definition makes it even more clear: "disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others"  "disinterested concern" surely is a contradiction.  At that point, I find it difficult to think further on the subject. The only way I can see it working is if the act of kindness itself is discounted as a reward, in which case altruism becomes entirely possible.  So my question is:  Is there an inherent contradiction in the notion of altruism? And if so, where does that leave the arguments about whether it's possible / impossible ?
101429
So you're craving something, say a particular chocolate or sex with one very attractive person that you desire. Take the sexual encounter one for example. You sleep with the person so many times until you are fulfilled. But it gets somewhat "nauseating" to enjoy that thing again (the sex or the chocolate) because you've overindulged earlier.   Now what is that feeling called, the feeling of being overly "satisfied" or "quenched" to the point of nausea?  I wouldn't say what I'm looking for is satisfaction or quench. Is there a more specific term?  Example sentence:     "I've been eating T-bone steak all day yesterday. I had leftovers today, but I couldn't eat them - I'm just so ____ towards (or from) steak right now."
82607
Example:  A: Hey, do you like to do bungee jumping? B: Um, OK. Haven't done it before, but let's try it.  I'm not looking for adventurous or something similar. That word should also fit in less action-packed activities:  A: I have a new board game. Do you like to play? B: I don't know this game and, actually, I don't like these varieties of games but I'll play. Maybe it's fun.  First I thought about open-minded but I think this means more willing to listen to people, think about their ideas, arguments, ... and accept them (not necessarily agree). What word describes person who is willing to try activities he doesn't know or hasn't experienced before?
14711
I usually tend to see the behavior in which someone takes an action, and people criticize, and even suggest what they should have done, yet when they take that same suggestion people still criticize.  For instance: I'm slim; when I eat with my family, everyone exclaims at the amount of food I'm eating. When I eat normally, they ask "Don't you know, you should eat more so you can grow better?" When I don't eat, the same shouting takes place. So in other words, is there a word I could use to describe them or their behavior in this regard?
50060
ie.:  The idea was "(blank)".  It didn't come from myself, it was divine inspiration, dumb luck, etc.  or maybe: My essence/spirit was outside my body.  It was "(blank)".
23699
This is a quote from a  where she talks about her miscarriage:     "It was awful," she told the Daily Mail's You magazine. "It happened really late, and I wasn't expecting it at all. "For a long time I just couldn't understand that it had happened and why. I was like 'But I can't not be pregnant. I'm already past the first trimester, and I have three car seats in my head.' To this day I feel like I'm missing that kid. But it wasn't meant to be and you have to trust the universe. "   What does she mean by saying "I can't not be pregnant?" Is this "can't not" construction a grammatical and common usage?
109293
I am looking for a word that means someone makes choices. The choice doesn't have to be good or bad just that they are decisive. I am looking for the word to be in the form of a noun. As an example - "That woman makes many decisions; she is a (insert here)".   The only thing I can think of is chooser or decider but I'm not even sure those are words.  Thanks for any help in advance.
29578
Sometimes my brain (maybe because I'm not a native English speaker) tends to come up with logical extensions to common formats; in this case, more than once I caught myself thinking (not out loud, thankfully) that I was feeling "pissy". Now, the actual meaning of that word is nothing close to what I meant, but I can't help but feel like there's a gap there.   seem to have wondered the same but I don't think I can draw anything conclusive from that...
75305
What is the word/phrase to mean something that just happens once? For example,     I have often been told/expected to do this and not to do that. I become aimless   and gradually lose the idea of who I am. I ask myself "What is the point?" If   life is just once thing, why can't I live my life in my own way,   the way I think is right and suitable to me? If I cannot, I would   rather live a shorter life.
52376
Sometimes, others just inform us about things without us asking them, other times they do not do that even if we ask them. I want a verb for when others do not give us information — whether because they do not like to or they just don't give it, but we cannot directly ask them to — but we actively extract the information from them sometimes without them being aware of it.   So the word I am looking for shouldn't be only for cases where we coerce or force others to give us information, and it shouldn't be only for cases where others do not like to give us information.  Example:     I needed that information. But I couldn't ask her for it, or most   probably she would not give to me even if I asked her. So, I ....   the information I wanted.   It could be a phrasal verb and so not just a single word, but I couldn't devise a  blank suitable for all possibilities!   Two verbs I've already had but I think are not suitable:  to give someone the third degree   To prize something from/out of somebody
33963
I'm fairly certain this has happened to all of us at some point: You go into a room to get something, but once you're there, you can't remember what you intended to get. It seems like a specific, common phenomenon like this must have a name, but I can't think of it. Does anyone know a name (either formal or slang) for this?  I don't want a general term like forgetfulness or absent-mindedness, which could apply to all sorts of forgetting, or a term for not being able to remember a certain word. I'm looking for a word or phrase that describes this one specific situation of forgetting what you need to get as soon as you go to get it.
28713
I'm looking for an idiom to describe something that has a negligible effect.   The only similar question I found here was: , but I'm looking for something else.  I remember it being something to do with water or fire. Something along the lines of throwing a very small amount of water on a large fire? Does anyone know what I'm thinking of?
60613
"Name three things that, if you were told were part of the job, would cause you to not take the position. "   I've just come across this sentence while reading the news.   Question is: Why to not is used instead of not to? This usage in this way imposes different meaning?