nisus

American  

[nahy-suhs] / ˈnaɪ səs /

noun

• nisus
  plural

1. an effort or striving toward a particular goal or attainment; impulse.

---

nisus British  

/ ˈnaɪsəs /

noun

1. an impulse towards or striving after a goal

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• nisus
  plural

Etymology

Origin of nisus

First recorded in 1690–1700; from Latin nīsus “planting one’s feet firmly, strong muscular effort,” equivalent to nīt(ī) “to support or exert oneself” + -sus, variant of -tus suffix denoting the action of the verb

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nisus

To deny such a nisus would be to deny the activity, efficiency, and energy of cause.

From A Review of Edwards's by Henry Philip Tappan

This nisus, by its very conception and definition, admits of no antecedent, phenomenon, or movement: it is in the substance of the cause; its first going forth to effects.

From A Review of Edwards's by Henry Philip Tappan

The will is the cause of its own act; a cause per se, a cause self-conscious and self-moving; it obeys the reason by its own nisus.

From A Review of Edwards's by Henry Philip Tappan

The nisus of gravitation we do not observe; we observe merely the facts of gravitation.

From A Review of Edwards's by Henry Philip Tappan

They put forth their nisus, and produce phenomena by a fixed and invariable law, established by the divine will.

From A Review of Edwards's by Henry Philip Tappan