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Manifesto Has Latin Roots
Manifesto is related to manifest, which occurs in English as a noun, verb, and adjective. Of these, the adjective, which means "readily perceived by the senses," is oldest, dating to the 14th century. Both manifest and manifesto derive ultimately from the Latin noun manus ("hand") and -festus, a combining form of uncertain meaning that is also found in the Latin adjective infestus ("hostile"), an ancestor of the English infest. Something that is manifest is easy to perceive or recognize, and a manifesto is a statement in which someone makes his or her intentions or views easy for people to ascertain. Perhaps the most well-known statement of this sort is the Communist Manifesto, written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to outline the platform of the Communist League.
Examples of manifesto in a Sentence
Joshua P. Cohen, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025
In Part Two of The Second Interrogation, Wang offers a manifesto.
—Philip Tinari, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2025
Political manifestos, smileys, religious satire––the provocative and ironic Moschino symbology is very much here, along with a colorful array of ties, collars, bras.
—Chiara Barzini, Vogue, 28 Feb. 2025
In notable ways, the night unfolded very differently from a Rage Against the Machine concert, which are dependably explosive gatherings, a nightly manifesto on social justice amid the crushing riffs and agitated vocals.
—Steve Appleford, SPIN, 11 Feb. 2025
Toscani and American freelance journalist Ken Shulman interviewed and photographed 26 prisoners awaiting execution in US jails in a campaign which read like a passionate manifesto against capital punishment.
—Reuters, CNN, 13 Jan. 2025
Part memoir, part manifesto, No One is Self-Made dismantles the myth of individualism in business, reminding us that behind every success story is a network of people contributing to the journey.
—Jasmine Browley, Essence, 11 Feb. 2025
Mangione himself penned a short, handwritten manifesto railing against the industry before he was captured on Dec. 9 in Altoona, Pa.
—Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 10 Feb. 2025
President Donald Trump distanced himself from the Project 2025 manifesto while running for office, however many of his moves and hiring choices in the past two and a half weeks have been likened to Project 2025 policy proposals.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 5 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Manifesto.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifesto. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
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