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10-Dec-2006, 00:13
|  | Member | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Country: Hungary
Posts: 338
Current Location: Budapest, Hungary Native Language: Hungarian Member Type: Student or Learner | |  Which is the correct word for....?
Would you help find the correct word (maybe a prefix) that shows the action in question is redundant or unnecessary because the outcome is evident or fixed. Like a trial; when a famous person, having evidently committed a crime, is on trial, but will certainly be acquitted.
Thank you! |
10-Dec-2006, 03:45
|  | VIP Member | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: USA
Posts: 6,089
Current Location: New York Native Language: American English Member Type: Academic | | Re: Which is the correct word for....?
Quote:
Originally Posted by retro  Would you help find the correct word (maybe a prefix) that shows the action in question is redundant or unnecessary because the outcome is evident or fixed. Like a trial; when a famous person, having evidently committed a crime, is on trial, but will certainly be acquitted.
Thank you! | You may be looking for "predetermined". |
10-Dec-2006, 23:14
| | Member | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Country: Hungary
Posts: 338
Current Location: Budapest, Hungary Native Language: Hungarian Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: Which is the correct word for....?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeNewYork You may be looking for "predetermined". | And can we call a predetermined trial a window dressing trial? |
10-Dec-2006, 23:18
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Feb 2003 Country: USA
Posts: 16,226
Current Location: North Carolina Native Language: English Member Type: Other | | Re: Which is the correct word for....?
I would call it a show trial. (In the former Soviet Union the outcomes of trials were predetermined. Those trials were show trials.)
~R |
10-Dec-2006, 23:22
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Country: Scotland
Posts: 1,652
Current Location: England Native Language: English Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: Which is the correct word for....?
A whitewash, a foregone conclusion, a travesty, a fix, a set-up. A kangaroo court.
Last edited by curmudgeon; 11-Dec-2006 at 00:32.
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11-Dec-2006, 04:44
| | VIP Member | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: USA
Posts: 6,089
Current Location: New York Native Language: American English Member Type: Academic | | Re: Which is the correct word for....?
Quote:
Originally Posted by retro And can we call a predetermined trial a window dressing trial? | I wouldn't use "predetermined before "trial"; it is the outcome that is predetermined. One could say the trial was window dressing, but not usually a window dressing trial. |
11-Dec-2006, 16:36
| | Member | | Join Date: Sep 2006 Country: Hungary
Posts: 338
Current Location: Budapest, Hungary Native Language: Hungarian Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: Which is the correct word for....?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeNewYork I wouldn't use "predetermined before "trial"; it is the outcome that is predetermined. One could say the trial was window dressing, but not usually a window dressing trial. | Should we say "the trial that was predetermined.........." instead? Quote:
Originally Posted by RonBee (In the former Soviet Union the outcomes of trials were predetermined.
~R | So were in Hungary and, I think, in every other former (?) Iron Curtain country.
Last edited by retro; 11-Dec-2006 at 16:57.
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11-Dec-2006, 17:30
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Jul 2006 Country: England (South East)
Posts: 8,020
Current Location: England (South East) Native Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | | Re: Which is the correct word for....?
Quote:
Originally Posted by retro Would you help find the correct word (maybe a prefix) that shows the action in question is redundant or unnecessary because the outcome is evident or fixed. Like a trial; when a famous person, having evidently committed a crime, is on trial, but will certainly be acquitted.
Thank you! | If you specifically want a prefix, it would be 'pseudo-'. There isn't a collocation (however weak) between pseudo- and trial, but that would be the one to use. Quote:
Originally Posted by retro Should we say "the trial that was predetermined.........." instead?
... | It'd be much better to use one of the synonyms suggested by curmudgeon. Or you could use the term 'rigged' instead of 'predetermined'.
b |
12-Dec-2006, 15:19
| | VIP Member | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: USA
Posts: 6,089
Current Location: New York Native Language: American English Member Type: Academic | | Re: Which is the correct word for....?
Quote:
Originally Posted by retro Should we say "the trial that was predetermined.........." instead?
So were in Hungary and, I think, in every other former (?) Iron Curtain country. | Again, it is not the trial; it is the outcome, the verdict, the result. | |
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