ergonic

E1R1G2O1N1I1C3

adjective

Pertaining to energy, especially the expenditure or transfer of energy.

Scrabble 10

Meanings

adjectiveergonic (comparative more ergonic, superlative most ergonic)

comparative more ergonic · superlative most ergonic

  1. Pertaining to energy, especially the expenditure or transfer of energy.

    Corresponds to the ergonic part of a circuit, i.e. the part that does not include any open subcircuits.

    2024, Adrian W. Froehlich, The Embodiment of Philosophy, page 334
    4 more examples

    The vibrations cannot be of the kind postulated by Boltzmann, in which every atom possesses some kinetic energy (except at the absolute zero), and the kinetic energies are distributed according to the probability law expressing a state of elementary chaos; rather, there must be a certain amount of order, and this corresponds with the ergonic distribution, where a fraction only of the atoms are vibrating with definite energies.

    1913, James Riddick Partington, A Text-book of Thermodynamics, page 531

    The intracellular surfaces of the electron-transferring proteins should, like the extracellular surfaces, develop ionic and ergonic products of electrode reactions.

    1990, Hendrik Keyzer, George M. Eckert, Felix Gutmann, Electropharmacology, page 202

    In the right-hand side of the formula, the enthalpic and the ergonic contribution to the standard entropy of adsorption are recognized.

    2013, Aline Auroux, Calorimetry and Thermal Methods in Catalysis, page 35

    Figure 1 indicates some of the multiple and close interrelations between the ergonic (energy-related ) and the cybernetic (information-related) components (1) .

    2014, E. O. Attinger, “Structure and Function of the Peripheral Circulation”, in J. H. U. Brown, Donald S. Gann, editor, Engineering Principles in Physiology: Volume 2, page 3
  2. Pertaining to work or productive activity.

    Psychic time is pathic and ergonic time, it is the working through of passion and action.

    2013, Sara Brill, Plato on the Limits of Human Life, page 243
    2 more examples

    The ergonic fallacy, by contrast, assumes that the work (ergon) embodies the character of its creator; the qualities present in the completed work are assumed to have been present in the originating agent.

    2017, John Hope Mason, The Value of Creativity

    Turner was well aware that the liminoid arts and entertainments of our society have their "ergonic" (workful) aspects, and he took their transformative power quite seriously. He was equally cognizant of the "ludic" (playful) component in the rituals of archaic societies.

    2019, Tom F. Driver, Liberating Rites
  3. Involving functional constraints; non-random due to functional considerations.

    Another assumption is that the world is 'non-ergonic': there is no underlying stable structure to keep variation within certain limits, and the world changes in novel and unforeseeable ways.

    2010, Martin Johanson, Heléne Lundberg, Network Strategies for Regional Growth, page 41
    2 more examples

    Difference depends on heterogeneity. Moreover, heterogeneity is local: what is incommensurate in one perspectie may not be incommensurate in another. Determinateness and indeterminateness are functional, ergonic.

    1994, Stephen David Ross, Locality and Practical Judgment: Charity and Sacrifice, page 36

    While types of spears may have been produced by mimetic processes, the parallel convergence on making pointy sticks is an example not of classificatory or mimetic processes, but rather of ergonic convergence.

    2021, Jason Ananda Josephson Storm, Metamodernism: The Future of Theory, page 124
  4. datedhuman sciencesPertaining to the functional categories of linguistic elements; syntactic.

    Ergonic analysis is the reduction by means of symbols and formulae, complete sentences to their minimal parts.

    1954 ·, C. R. Sankaran, Some Problems in Kannada Linguistics, page 36
    2 more examples

    If, in making our ergonic combinations, oblivious of all except ergonic considerations, we happen to pronounce the foreign equivalent of I follow two trees, we shall at once be informed that it is a sentence not in use among the natives.

    1917, Harold E. Palmer, The Scientific Study & Teaching of Languages, page 270

    "Ultimate minimal elements" which have rather a functional (ergonic) force than a strongly semantic force have to a large extent been joined to the stronger elements (“stems”) to form single words. Examples of some of the commonest of these ergonic elements are : ( a ) those indicating the gender, number, and case of nouns […]

    1938, Douglas Martyn Beach, The Phonetics of the Hottentot Language, page 25

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Cite this entry
APA

ergonic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ergonic

MLA

“ergonic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ergonic. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ergonic,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ergonic.

Source: ergonic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.