Ideate

The Word of the Day for October 24 is "ideate."

ideate: (verb)

1. transitive  To form an idea of; imagine or conceive.
2. intransitive  To conceive mental images; think.

Synonyms: conceive of, envisage, imagine

Usage: Such characters represent a grotesquely blown-up aspect of an ideal man... if not realizable, capable of being ideated.

Relevance to my life: I will admit unashamedly that I went through a time where I wistfully wished for revenge: long nights I'd spend in bed while my feverish brain ideated scenarios in which I came out victorious.

Ok, that was ideate used as a transitive verb, which means that it takes a direct object, in that case, "scenarios." It can also be an intransitive verb, which means that it can stand without a noun phrase following it, like:

Fixed upon revenge, I ideated well into the night, imagining complex scenarios where those who'd done me wrong would come to rue the day that they'd wished me ill.

At first glance I did not like this word at all. It sounded to me to be either a product of "corporate-speak" (as in "The committee meets bi-weekly to ideate new visions for the workplace") or a slangy back-formation of a verb from a noun, like conversate from conversation, interpretate from interpretation, and orientate from orientation. A note: we generally consider orientate  to be an error in American English although I believe it is acceptable Standard British English.

Now while formation of new words is the hallmark of a vital living language system, for the purposes of formal language, it seems wasteful to have two verbs so close in form having the same meaning, like converse/conversate, interpret/interpretate, or orient/orientate. It's not only wasteful, but it seems to be clumsy and inelegant. I think I have a thing about elegance in language, and actually, some slang and curses hold a kind of elegance in their inventiveness.

Ok, my own issues aside, I felt compelled to look into this word a bit more. According to Merriam-Webster online, ideate goes back to 1610, so it's not quite the same as a modern-day slang term like conversate, which makes me shudder every time I hear it.

You know what? I still don't really like the word ideate. I think I have to say it to myself one hundred times today and see if that changes anything. If not, no worry. English is rich in synonyms. I'll stick to envisage, conceive, imagine.

See? Corporate-speak.