Defenestration
Noun
IPA Pronunciation
/ˌdiːfəˌnɛstrˈeɪʃən/
American Pronunciation Key dee-fuh-nes-TRAY-shun
Definition
1. The act of throwing someone or something out of a window.
2. Historically, a political or symbolic act of violence involving the forcible ejection of people from a window (famously in Prague, 1618).
3. Figuratively, the act of suddenly or forcefully removing someone from power, position, or influence.
Etymology
From Latin de- (down from, away from) + fenestra (window). First popularized after the 1618 “Defenestration of Prague,” an event sparking the Thirty Years’ War.
Literal Use
1. The rioters resorted to defenestration, hurling furniture into the street from the third-floor windows.
🔎 Here, the word is used in its basic, physical sense.
2. The Prague Castle guards were shocked by the defenestration of officials in 1618.
🔎 A direct historical reference.
3. He staged the dramatic defenestration of his typewriter to protest writer’s block.
🔎 Literal, humorous exaggeration of tossing an object out.
4. The old office chairs met their fate by defenestration into the alley.
🔎 Literal disposal through windows.
Figurative Definition
A sudden dismissal, rejection, or removal of a person, idea, or practice, often with abruptness and finality.
Figurative Use
1. The boardroom coup was nothing less than the CEO’s defenestration.
🔎 Here, it describes a sudden loss of power.
2. With one critical review, the novel suffered a literary defenestration.
🔎 Figuratively rejected from the heights of esteem.
3. The player’s repeated fouls led to his defenestration from the game.
🔎 A metaphor for expulsion.
4. The teacher’s archaic methods faced quiet defenestration in the new curriculum.
🔎 Outdated ideas were “tossed out.”
5. Her once-cherished routines met with the defenestration of modern efficiency.
🔎 The old ways are removed, figuratively thrown out.
6. The scandal prompted the senator’s political defenestration.
🔎 Dismissal from public life as if out a window.
🐘 Mnephonics Hook
Picture a frustrated king in medieval robes, hurling advisors—scrolls, wigs, and all—out of castle windows. That’s defenestration: when life, or politics, literally or figuratively tosses someone out the window. Remember: window = fenestra. Throw + window = defenestration.
🎤 Defenestration + Rap
🎶
Out the window, that’s the situation,
History calls it defenestration.
Tossin’ power down, no hesitation,
Fall from the top, a quick ejection.
Ideas crashin’, no preservation,
That’s the meaning of defenestration! 🎶
🏛️ Wisdom’s Lens
Michel de Montaigne: “The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them.”
🔎 Defenestration reminds us: power and position can be tossed away in an instant—what endures is how we’ve used our time.
🌅 Closing Meditation
Hold firm to values no one can defenestrate.
🔎 Power and titles can be thrown out, but integrity cannot be hurled from the window.
RMS INSIGHTS ✍🏾 