de·ter·mi·na·tion

My word for 2008 is DETERMINATION

On Ali's blog she has a word-focus challenge this year. I have chosen the word determination because this is the year I am determined to accomplish my goals/resolutions. Every year I set goals and I don't keep them but this year I have the determination to do so.

de·ter·mi·na·tion--/dɪˌtɜrməˈneɪʃən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[di-tur-muh-ney-shuhn] –noun

1. the act of coming to a decision or of fixing or settling a purpose.
2. ascertainment, as after observation or investigation: determination of a ship's latitude.
3. the information ascertained; solution.
4. the settlement of a dispute, question, etc., as by authoritative decision.
5. the decision or settlement arrived at or pronounced.
6. the quality of being resolute; firmness of purpose.
7. a fixed purpose or intention: It is my determination to suppress vice.
8. the fixing or settling of amount, limit, character, etc.: the determination of a child's allowance.
9. fixed direction or tendency toward some object or end.
10. Chiefly Law. conclusion or termination.
11. Embryology. the fixation of the fate of a cell or group of cells, esp. before actual morphological or functional differentiation occurs.
12. Logic.
a. the act of rendering a notion more precise by the addition of differentiating characteristics.
b. the definition of a concept in terms of its constituent elements.

Determination is a virtue characterized by firmness of purpose and resoluteness, such as never giving up when odds are against you.