He Denies It Categorically.

[Bert45]

I know what it means. But why? What does 'categorically' mean in this context? I know what it means (I repeat), but what does 'category' have to do with a denial? How did it come to be attached to 'deny'? The word 'categorically' is hardly used anywhere else. It's an example (I think) of a collocation. What is the difference in meaning between "He denies it" and "He denies it categorically."? As a side issue, any other collocations? Breath is often bated. The word 'bated' is hardly used anywhere else. Is this a collocation or a cliché?

[jno]

this is one possible answer

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=categorically%20deny

[jno]

oh, and bate is much the same as abate, more or less meaning reduce.

[Jackdaw33]

As an adjective/adverb it means unambiguous, explicit, direct.

[Ken4155]

"He denies it" simply means he didn't do it. "He categorically denies it" means he is absolutely, 100%, sure-as-hell certain he did not do it. It's akin to 'swearing on my daughter's life' or as today's youth say, 'I swear down, now.'

[THECORBYLOON]

The word "category" derives from a Greek word meaning an "assertion" or "affirmation" so a "categorical denial" is a definite statement and there shouldn't be any doubt about it.

[Bert45]

I know what 'bated breath' means. I know that categorically means 'absolutely, unqualifiedly, unconditionally', or, if you like 'unambiguously, explicitly, directly'. But why does it means those things? What has 'category' got to do with it? I also know that a categoric denial means what Ken4155 says it means. But if someone denies that he did something (without adding 'categorically') does that mean he is admitting that he might have done it? I am really just pointing out that it is a word that is unnecessary and over-used. It adds nothing to the meaning of the sentence "He denies it". When they ask the accused, "Do you plead guilty or not guilty?" they don't say "Do you plead not guilty categorically?"

[AZardoz]

From Chambers:

ORIGIN: Gr katēgoriā assertion, predication, accusation,
from katēgoros an accuser, kata down, against, and agorā assembly

[Bert45]

Gilbert (he of Gilbert & Sullivan) used the word 'categorical' in the Major-General's song: From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical.
Although I deplore the use of the word in the context of a denial, I would still like to know how the word came to have the meanings it has been given in that context.

[jno]

why do you abate your breath? The idea is that you're so involved or anxious or excited about something you forget to breathe properly. Does that answer your question?

[margarettom]

I never thought about this until I read your OP. It is explained in the website Origin and meaning of category my Online Etymology Dictionary. (Sorry, don’t do links).
It seems that although both words have the same origin, as words move into different languages their meanings can become slightly altered and in this was the case with category, which took it’s present meaning in the 1600s.

[THECORBYLOON]

I was reading about an Irish politician who said an apology he had given was fulsome but in his mind, he meant it as a positive.

Might it be the "ful" part of the word confused him and he thought his statement was "full of" apology?

[ToraToraTora]

bert, you need to get out more!

[Bert45]

"why do you abate your breath? The idea is that you're so involved or anxious or excited about something you forget to breathe properly. Does that answer your question?" -- I know what 'bated' means. People wait with bated breath. It can be when you don't want to make a noise, not even the noise of breathing. That was a side issue about collocations, words which are usually used together, especially (I would add) when one of the words is hardly ever used except in that collocation, like bated breath and categoric denial.

[Bert45]

"I was reading about an Irish politician who said an apology he had given was fulsome but in his mind, he meant it as a positive."
Fulsome: mid-13c., "abundant, plentiful," Middle English compound of ful "full" (see full (adj.)) + -som "to a considerable degree" (see -some (1)). Perhaps a case of ironic understatement. Sense extended to "plump, well-fed" (mid-14c.), then "arousing disgust" (similar to the feeling of having over-eaten), late 14c. Via the sense of "causing nausea" it came to be used of language, "offensive to taste or good manners" (early 15c.); especially "excessively flattering" (1660s). Since the 1960s, however, it commonly has been used in its original, favorable sense, especially in fulsome praise.
'Fulsome praise', 'fulsome apology': two more collocations -- 'fulsome' is hardly used anywhere else.