defenestration

[ dee-fen-uh-strey-shuh n ]

/ diˌfɛn əˈstreɪ ʃən /

noun

the act of throwing a thing or especially a person out of a window: the defenestration of the commissioners at Prague.

Nearby words

Origin of defenestration

1610–20; de- + Latin fenestr(a) window + -ation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for defenestration

Geddie, for his part, fought his defenestration but ultimately accepted defeat.
The View’s Bloody Backstage Politics: How Barbara Walters and Bill Geddie Lost Control of Their Show|Lloyd Grove|July 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A tablet stating that the defenestration had been planned here was placed on this house, but almost immediately removed.
The Story of Prague|Count Francis Ltzow
Many of the stormy meetings of the Bohemian nobles that preceded the defenestration of 1618 were held here.
The Story of Prague|Count Francis Ltzow
The defenestration, in fact, only precipitated a conflict that was in any case inevitable.
A History of Bohemian Literature|Count Ltzow

Slavata immediately resolved on refuting this work, written by the originator of the defenestration.
A History of Bohemian Literature|Count Ltzow

British Dictionary definitions for defenestration

defenestration

/ (diːˌfɛnɪˈstreɪʃən) /

noun

the act of throwing someone out of a window

Word Origin for defenestration

C17: from New Latin dēfenestrātiō, from Latin de- + fenestra window

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

Word Origin and History for defenestration

defenestration

1620, "the action of throwing out of a window," from Latin fenestra "window" (see fenestration). A word invented for one incident: the "Defenestration of Prague," May 21, 1618, when two Catholic deputies to the Bohemian national assembly and a secretary were tossed out the window (into a moat) of the castle of Hradshin by Protestant radicals. It marked the start of the Thirty Years War. Some linguists link fenestra with Greek verb phainein "to show;" others see in it an Etruscan borrowing, based on the suffix -(s)tra, as in Latin loan-words aplustre "the carved stern of a ship with its ornaments," genista "the plant broom," lanista "trainer of gladiators." Related: Defenestrate (1915); defenestrated (1620).