ad-
(From Latin: "to, toward, a direction toward, an addition to, near, at"; and changes to: "ac-, af-, ag-, al-, an-, ap-, aq-, ar-, as-, at-" and ad- is also combined with certain words that begin with the letters c, f, g, l, n, p, q, r, s, and t.)
The Latin element ad carries the idea of "in the direction of" and combines with many Latin words and roots to make common English words.
In agreement; at a meeting of the minds: She said the parties were ad idem and in consent with each other.
The complete phrase is argumentum ad ignorantiam and when used in law, it is an argument in a trial that may be based on ad ignorantiam, that is on an opponent's ignorance of the facts in a legal case.
Also, a judicial decision may be appealed ad ignorantiam, that is on the basis that the case was decided without knowledge of important information which was known but was not revealed during the trial.
The term is often used interchangeably with ad nauseam and the original Latin sense is "beyond limits".
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The topics to discuss were placed directly ad initium so that those present at the conference knew what was to be talked about.
For the costume party, Janet dressed up ad instar Audrey Hepburn!
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In the Roman calendar, the Calends meant the first day of the month. Since the Greeks did not have this term, the expression was used by the Romans to designate an event that would never occur.
Discussed in Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars: Augustus, chapter 87, section 1; in which Ad Calendas Graecas was explained to mean that the next day after never. Since the Greeks used no Kalends in their reckoning of time, the phrase was used about anything that could never take place.
Another Latin proverb with the same meaning: Paulo post futurum or "A little after the future."
An old English proverb that is similar says, "When two Sundays meet (come together)."
There is a French equivalent: "L'arrest fera donné es prochaines Calendes Grecques. C'est à dire: iamais." (from Rabelais, Gargantua) "The judgment shall be given out at the next Greek Calends, that is, never."
This is usually shortened to ad lib. and can be written with or without a period. Ad lib is used both as a verb and as a noun.
When used in the entertainment world, to ad lib means to improvise, to add an impromptu word or statement to a script. As a noun, an ad lib is an "off-the-cuff", or unprepared, remark.
It is said that there are some politicians who have "carefully planned ad libs".
This applies to matters appropriate for papal consideration and disposition before the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. It is often abbreviated ad limina and is used in non-church situations to mean that a dispute must be settled by a higher authority.
Used in law as a decision that is taken as valid only for the action being adjudicated and is a reference, for instance, of a guardian appointed to represent someone incapable of acting for himself or herself during a court case.
At the passage previously indicated or mentioned: Jack referred ad locum in the text that the students were reading to quote an important paragraph.
Motto used by the Jesuit order (Society of Jesuits).
Sometimes the full expression is cited as the rationale for actions taken by Christians.
The secretary in the law office aways had the documents the lawyers wanted ad manum, or near by.
