physis
Americannoun
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the principle of growth or change in nature.
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nature as the source of growth or change.
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something that grows, becomes, or develops.
Etymology
Origin of physis
< Greek phýsis origin, natural form of a thing; akin to phŷlon race ( see phylon)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A key part of philosophy, as that discipline was inherited from Aristotle and taught in the universities, was the study of nature—‘nature’ coming from the Latin word natura, for which the Greek equivalent is physis.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
In environmental terms, Thoreau, who saw the landscape as imbued with an essential wildness that could be heedlessly destroyed, embodies physis.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Beneath the entangling personal motives, the debate is one of the oldest in the Western philosophical tradition, between nomos and physis.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
A leading part was here played by the sophistic distinction between nomos and physis, Law and Nature, i.e. that which is based on human convention, and that which is founded on the nature of things.
From Atheism in Pagan Antiquity by Andersen, Ingeborg
Liddell and Scott definition of physis: "the nature, inborn quality, property or constitution of a person or thing."
From Plato and Platonism by Pater, Walter
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
