# What is the word for...?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 4, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892 "2011-11-04T20:19:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892/1 "2011-11-04T20:19:59Z")

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I am having a terrible case of tip-of-the-tongue syndrome.

I am looking for a word. It’s not an especially difficult word. I KNOW this word. But I cannot recall it.

It roughly means “to act or make a decision without seeking or considering input from others.” It has a definite negative connotation.

If anyone can help, I would be tremendously grateful. I can’t figure out how to google something like this!

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**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892/2 "2011-11-04T20:24:19Z")

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Are you thinking of “unilateral”?

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**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892/3 "2011-11-04T20:26:58Z")

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Yes, ‘making a decision unilaterally’ was the first thing that came to mind.

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**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892/4 "2011-11-04T20:49:54Z")

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YES!!!

God, what is wrong with me? I need to sleep more than three hours a night.

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**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892/5 "2011-11-04T20:56:43Z")

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I did actually try Googling “to act or make a decision without seeking or considering input from others”, just to see if it would have been appropriate to tell you “you really should have tried just Googling it”…but the only hit was this thread 🙂

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892/6 "2011-11-04T21:11:22Z")

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> [@storyteller0910](#):
>
> YES!!!
> 
> God, what is wrong with me? I need to sleep more than three hours a night.

How old are you? I’m discovering that I lose about 10% of my vocabulary each year. 🙂

(The other night I couldn’t think of the word “production” - as in, “Stop making such a big production out of it.”)

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**Author:** ![Nuveena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@Nuveena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nuveena)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892/7 "2011-11-04T21:49:34Z")

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> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> How old are you? I’m discovering that I lose about 10% of my vocabulary each year. 🙂

Hey, you can say your vocabulary is literally being decimated every year. So that’s something.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892/8 "2011-11-05T05:01:39Z")

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> [@Nuveena](#):
>
> Hey, you can say your vocabulary is literally being decimated every year. So that’s something.

I could say that if I recall the word “decimated.” 🙂

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**Author:** ![silvermist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@silvermist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silvermist)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892/9 "2011-11-05T14:26:52Z")

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rash

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**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word-for/601892/10 "2011-11-05T14:56:00Z")

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impetuous, impulsive