nisus

American  

[nahy-suhs] / ˈnaɪ səs /

noun

nisus plural

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

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nisus British  

/ ˈnaɪsəs /

noun

1. an impulse towards or striving after a goal

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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

If cause have not within itself a nisus to produce phenomena, then wherein is it a cause?

From A Review of Edwards's by Tappan, Henry Philip

The word nisus I have adopted chiefly to express an energy truly vital, and therefore to distinguish it as clearly as possible from powers merely mechanical, by which some physiologists formerly endeavoured to explain generation.

From Curiosities of Medical Experience by Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)

There remains one obscure point in any event, and that is, the nature of what the ancients called the nisus formativus.

From Essay on the Creative Imagination by Baron, Albert Heyem Nachmen

The will as the power which by its nisus produces changes or phenomena, is conscious of ability to go in either of these directions, or in opposition to both.

From A Review of Edwards's by Tappan, Henry Philip

In God it is infinite, eternal, uncreated power; and every nisus in his will is really creative or modifying, according to its self-directed aim.

From A Review of Edwards's by Tappan, Henry Philip