Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

conatus

[koh-ney-tuh s]
See more synonyms for conatus on Thesaurus.com
noun, plural co·na·tus.
  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.
Show More

Origin of conatus

1655–65; < Latin: exertion, equivalent to cōnā(rī) to attempt + -tus suffix of v. action
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

conation, conatus

Examples from the Web for conatus

Historical Examples

  • Conatus est omne divortium inter regiam majestatem et reginam dissuadere.

    History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Volume V

    J. H. Merle d'Aubigné

  • Strange that this great length of time should not have produced even one new organ, or the marks of a conatus to produce one.

British Dictionary definitions for conatus

conatus

noun plural -tus
  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
Show More

Word Origin

C17: from Latin: effort, from cōnārī to try
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012