Incite versus insight is a pair of heterographs (a subset of homophone) that are so opposite each other.
A verb, incite is usually a negative action pushing people to do terrible things.
A noun, insight is primarily psychological, a mental action of understanding and clarity into one’s mind and/or behavior.
Word Confusions…
…started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.
If you found this post on “Incite versus Insight” interesting, consider tweeting it to your friends. Subscribe to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| Incite | Insight |
|---|---|
| Credit to: Apple Dictionary.com; Dictionary.com: insight; Lexico.com: incite, insight | |
.jpg)
Speaker at a Rally Against Racism and Hate Speech, 6 October 2016, by Fibonacci Blue from Minnesota is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — It’s a good cause to incite people to espouse. |
Insight into One’s Mind by Gerd Altmann is under the CC0 license, via Pixabay. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Verb, transitive
Third person present verb: incites |
Noun
Plural: insights |
Encourage or stir up violent or unlawful behavior
|
The capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing
[Psychiatry] New understanding by a mentally ill person of the causes of their disorder
|
| Examples: | |
| He was guilty of the offense of inciting racial hatred.
The Public Order Act of 1986 made it a criminal offense to incite racial hatred — but its provisions do not extend to sexual orientation. I am aware that Britain has legislation which makes it a criminal offense to incite racial hatred. He incited loyal subjects to rebellion. And it did not incite me to physical violence, but it changed me, materially, and my world. Students in the band said they’re just singing the lyrics and not inciting anyone to do anything. |
This paper is alive with sympathetic insight into Shakespeare.
And as we get older our perspectives grow wider: we forget a lot but we also gain more insight into things. We also envisage this as a discovery kind of museum in which the villagers can gain some insight into science. The town offers some insight into Finnish rural life. Einstein had deep insights into how to incorporate gravitation into relativity theory. The signals would give marine biologists new insights into the behavior of whales. Eric gained new insight into his childhood background after a session with Dr White. A growing body of evidence points to the fact that for many people with serious mental illness, lack of insight is a medically based condition. These results suggest that preserved insight may be a protective factor that buffers mentally ill mothers. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: incitable, incitant Noun: incitant, incitement, inciter, incitation |
Adjective: insightful Adverb: insightfully |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late 15th century, from the French inciter, from the Latin incitāre, from in- (towards) + citare (rouse). | Middle English, in the sense inner sight, wisdom, is probably of Scandinavian and Low German origin and related to the Swedish insikt, the Danish indsigt, the Dutch inzicht, and the German Einsicht. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them…and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions by exploring the index. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, and/or the Properly Punctuated.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Fixing a Brain by j4p4n and courtesy of Open Clip Art Library, via Public Domain Files, was flipped horizontally in Photoshop and then overlaid by the colorful Head Human Brain by GDJ (pixabay.com), via Needpix.com. Both are under the CC0 license.
