different between watertight vs hermetic

English

Etymology

From water +? tight.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w??.t?.ta?t/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w??.t?.ta?t/, /?w??.t?.ta?t/

Adjective

watertight (comparative more watertight, superlative most watertight)

1. So tightly made that water cannot enter or escape.
2. (figuratively) So devised or planned as to be impossible to defeat, evade or nullify.

Synonyms

• waterproof, water-proof, impervious, impermeable

Derived terms

• watertight alibi
• watertightness

Related terms

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• hermetical
• hermetick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin hermeticus, irregular derivation of Hermes Trismegistus, the god and mythological alchemist, said to possess a magic ability to seal treasure chests so that nothing could access their contents.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h?(?)?m?t?k/
• Rhymes: -?t?k

Adjective

hermetic (comparative more hermetic, superlative most hermetic)

1. (chiefly with capital initial) Pertaining to Hermes Trismegistus or the writings attributed to him.
2. Pertaining to alchemy or occult practices; magical, alchemical.
3. Hermetically sealed.
4. Isolated, away from outside influence.
   • 2013, Martin S. Alexander, "Fighting to the last Frenchman", in Joel Blatt (ed), The French Defeat Of 1940: Reassessments, page 325, ?ISBN.

     Increasingly isolated in the military's hermetic world, as winter stretched endlessly onward, Gamelin was finally overcome by an insidious complacency in the adequacy of his fellow generals, their British counterparts and his own troops.

   • 2011, Vivian Sobchack, "When the ear dreams", in Jacques Khalip and Robert Mitchell (eds), Releasing the Image: From Literature to New Media, page 130, ?ISBN.

     Thus, in concert with the privatization, intensification, and amplification of digitized sound, the digitized imagery renders not only the immensity, intimacy, and heightened detail of reverie but also the surrounding vagueness of its internalized and hermetic space.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “hermetic”, in Online Etymology Dictionary