conatus

American  

[koh-ney-tuhs] / koʊˈneɪ təs /

noun

1. an effort or striving.

2. a force or tendency simulating a human effort.

3. (in the philosophy of Spinoza) the force in every animate creature toward the preservation of its existence.

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conatus British  

/ kəʊˈneɪtəs /

noun

1. an effort or striving of natural impulse

2. (esp in the philosophy of Spinoza) the tendency of all things to persist in their own being

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• conatus
  plural

Etymology

Origin of conatus

1655–65; < Latin: exertion, equivalent to cōnā ( rī ) to attempt + -tus suffix of v. action

Example Sentences

Ille stolide perrexerunt ad dicunt quod "illi conatus defecerint."

From Slate • Feb. 11, 2013

Here, however, I choose to confirm them only by the conatus, forces and motions in dead and in living subjects.

From Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom by Ager, John

Ast verò Munsterus cum incendij tanti & tam incredilis caussas in famosissimâ Ætna inuestigare conatus sit, quam rem illic naturalem facit, hic verò præternaturalem imo infernalem faciat, an non monstri simile est?

From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 01 by Hakluyt, Richard

And attraction, a kind of conatus accedendi, is the crown, according to the eighteenth century, of the series of secondary causes.

From Benjamin Franklin Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notes by Jorgenson, Chester E.

Libera me de manu adversariorum meorum: confunde ingenia et conatus eorum contra me.

From Primitive Christian Worship Or, The Evidence of Holy Scripture and the Church, Against the Invocation of Saints and Angels, and the Blessed Virgin Mary by Tyler, James Endell