Make Your Point: PREDIGESTED

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pronounce PREDIGESTED:

PRE die JES tud

connect this word to others:

While we're talking about all things predigested (thanks? ew? both?), see if you can recall a word that first meant "nourishment," then was modified into the name of a soft, mushy, easy-to-digest cereal for babies, then grew to mean "predigested information or entertainment: stuff that amuses or instructs you in an unexciting or unoriginal way." That word is p_b___m.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

The word "digest" has Latin bits that literally mean "to carry apart." To digest stuff, like food or information, is to carry it apart, to absorb it: to break it into small pieces so that your body or mind can make use of it.

So, when food has been predigested, someone else has already done the work of breaking it into parts, so now it's just a wet goop that's ready to be swallowed and won't require any more work to digest. Like how some birds feed their babies.

And when information and other abstract things are predigested, they're already broken down into small, easy-to-understand bits, requiring almost no effort for someone else to understand or use.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "a predigested story;" "The whole storyline seemed predigested."

Other forms:

"Predigest" is also a verb, the transitive kind: "They predigest the news for us." Its other forms are "predigested" and "predigesting," and the process is "predigestion."

how to use it:

When you want to complain about the way people are feeding you ultra-processed information, denying you the opportunity to think for yourself as you process it, describe that information with the funny, somewhat rare, scientific-sounding word "predigested."

The metaphor is pretty gross. You're implying that the information has been not just pre-chewed, but swallowed and regurgitated; and, you might be implying that the person doing the predigesting is treating you like you're stupid or helpless. (For a metaphor that's less gross, you could refer to information as "spoon-fed.")

You might talk about predigested stories, histories, lists, explanations, studies, or arguments.

examples:

"[Carl Sagan] saw the emergence of a generation at risk of becoming unable to differentiate between 'what feels good and what's true,' exposed to media soundbites, predigested science — and even pseudoscience."
— Michael Mann, Nature, 3 August 2017

"At their best, [streaming shows] hand us a predigested, precritiqued dose of the vexed and vexing world we're in, allowing us both an engagement with it and an escape from it."
— Josh Appignanesi, The Guardian, 24 December 2019

has this page helped you understand "predigested"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "predigested" without saying "pre-chewed" or "broken-down."

try it out:

Here's Charles McNulty on reading a difficult book:

"I'm tackling James Joyce's 'Ulysses' again. I'll admit it's a struggle. I read a chapter, browse through supporting materials online... The resources on the internet were not available to me when I read 'Ulysses' for the first time as a student. But back then... I wasn't conditioned to expect everything worthwhile to be predigested and readily exploitable."

In your opinion, is it fair to describe easy-to-read books (like, say, Harry Potter or The Da Vinci Code) as predigested? Also, do you agree or disagree with McNulty's impression that worthwhile things, like good novels, shouldn't be predigested?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is Confounding Contronyms!

In each issue, I'll give you two quotes, each with a blank. The same word goes in both blanks—but it means opposite things. Your job is to come up with that word: that slippery little contronym. To see the hints, highlight the hidden white text. To see the answer, scroll to the bottom.

Try this last one today:

Quote 1: "I pace, trying to _____ the old frustration."
— Ayana Gray, Beasts of Prey, 2021

Quote 2: "_____ed in a Crucible of Violence, Zelensky Rises to the Moment... In much of the world, President Volodymyr Zelensky, once brushed off as a political lightweight, has become a household name, representing Ukraine's tenacity and underdog victories against Russia."
— Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times, 25 February 2023

Hint 1: This word starts with the letter... T.

Hint 2: This word means both... "soften" and "harden."

review this word:

1. The precise opposite of PREDIGESTED would be UNPREDIGESTED, but a pretty close opposite could be

A. RAW.
B. HALF-BAKED.
C. OVERDONE.

2. In the New York Times, Farhad Manjoo argued that "on social networks, every news story comes to you predigested," ensuring that readers are "_____."

A. wondering whether the [content is] a blatant lie
B. never required to delve into the story to come up with their own view
C. allowing professionals time to figure out what happened, and how it fits into context

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
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How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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