Dormitive-principle Definition

noun

(idiomatic, rhetoric, logic, linguistics) A type of tautology in which an item is being explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Dormitive-principle

Noun

Singular:

dormitive-principle

Plural:

dormitive-principles

Origin of Dormitive-principle

A modern translation of Latin, virtus dormitiva, coined by Molière in The Imaginary Invalid. In the play, he lampoons a group of physicians providing an explanation in macaronic Latin of the sleep-inducing properties of opium as stemming from its "virtus dormitiva".

From Wiktionary