Enforced enlistment of persons, especially for military service; draft.

With its *scrip-* root, *conscription* means basically writing someone's name on a list—a list that, unfortunately, a lot of people usually don't want to be on. Conscription has existed at least since ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom (27th century B.C.), though universal conscription has been rare throughout history. Forms of conscription were used by Prussia, Switzerland, Russia, and other European powers in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the U.S., conscription was first applied during the Civil War, by both the North and the South. In the North there were pockets of resistance, and the draft led to riots in several cities. The U.S. abandoned conscription at the end of the war and didn't revive it until World War I.

(1) To clearly limit the range or activity of something. (2) To draw a line around or to surround with a boundary.

The prefix *circum-,* “around,” is the key to *circumscribe*'s basic meaning. Thus, we could say that a boxing ring is circumscribed by ropes, just as the area for an archaeological dig may be. A governor's power is always circumscribed by a state's constitution. And a physician's assistant has a *circumscribed* role that doesn't include writing prescriptions.

(1) Something permanently written, engraved, or printed, particularly on a building, coin, medal, or piece of currency. (2) The dedication of a book or work of art.

With its prefix *in-,* meaning “in” or “on,” it's not surprising that an inscription is either written on or engraved into a surface. Inscriptions in the ancient world were always chiseled into stone, as inscriptions still may be today. The principal monument of the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C., for instance, is a black wall on which are *inscribed* the names of all the Americans who died during the war—each name in full, row upon seemingly endless row. But an inscription may also be a dedication, such as the words “For my wife” all by themselves on a page near the beginning of a book.

To forbid as harmful or unlawful; prohibit.

The Latin prefix *pro-* sometimes meant “before,” in the sense of “in front of” the people. So in ancient Rome *proscribere* meant to make public in writing the name of a person who was about to be executed, and whose property would be seized by the state. But the meaning of the English word soon shifted to mean simply “prohibit” instead. *Proscribe* today is actually often the opposite of the very similar *prescribe,* which means basically “require.”

A wrong belief; a false or mistaken idea.

Philosophers are constantly using the word *fallacy*. For them, a fallacy is reasoning that comes to a conclusion without the evidence to support it. This may have to do with pure logic, with the assumptions that the argument is based on, or with the way words are used, especially if they don't keep exactly the same meaning throughout the argument. There are many classic fallacies that occur again and again through the centuries and everywhere in the world. You may have heard of such fallacies as the “ad hominem” fallacy, the “question-begging” fallacy, the “straw man” fallacy, the “slippery slope” fallacy, the “gambler's” fallacy, or the “red herring” fallacy. Look them up and see if you've ever been guilty of any of them.

Containing a mistake; not true or accurate.

*Fallacious* is a formal and intellectual word. We rarely use it in casual speech; when we do, we risk sounding a bit full of ourselves and all-knowing. But it's used widely in writing, especially when one writer is arguing with another. And it's used to describe both errors in fact and errors in reasoning, including fallacies of the kind described in the previous entry.

Capability of making mistakes or being wrong.

You'll find this word showing up in discussions of eyewitness testimony at crime scenes, of lie detectors, and of critical airplane parts. Some of us are most familiar with the fallibility of memory, especially when we remember something clearly that turns out never to have happened. Being *fallible* is part of being human, and sometimes the biggest errors are made by those who are thought of as the most brilliant of all.

(1) Not capable of being wrong or making mistakes. (2) Certain to work properly or succeed.

Watch out when you hear about infallible predictions, an infallible plan, an infallible cure, or even infallible lip gloss. *Infallible* isn't a claim that scientists, engineers, and doctors like to make, so you're probably getting better information when the word *not* comes first. You may have heard the phrase “papal *infallibility*,” which refers to the official position of the Roman Catholic church, adopted in the 19th century, that certain solemn statements made by a Pope about faith or morals were not to be questioned. Popes since then have been careful not to make many of these statements.