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Glite Dictionary
Iris Murdoch

Iris Murdoch

1 7.0
A British writer and thinker who writes about moral choices and complex characters
  • proper noun
: Iris Murdoch
  • Iris Murdoch is celebrated for her philosophically rich and psychologically acute novels.

Examples

  • Many critics regard Iris Murdoch as one of the most significant British writers of the twentieth century.

  • The works of Iris Murdoch continue to influence both literary and philosophical scholarship.

  • Iris Murdoch was brilliant.

  • Iris Murdoch wrote many novels.

  • Iris Murdoch is celebrated for her philosophically rich and psychologically acute novels.

  • Many critics regard Iris Murdoch as one of the most significant British writers of the twentieth century.

  • The works of Iris Murdoch continue to influence both literary and philosophical scholarship.

Surface Forms

Iris Murdoch main

Morphology

Iris + Murdoch

This is a proper name referring to a specific individual; knowing the constituent words 'Iris' and 'Murdoch' (one a given name, one a surname) does not allow a B1 learner to infer that the phrase denotes a British novelist and philosopher. Proper names are referential and require world knowledge or exposure rather than compositional decoding, so the meaning is not derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Iris Murdoch has a memorable name: Iris is a flower and the colored part of the eye, and Murdoch is a British family name. Think of the eye and the flower to remember a writer who looks closely at people's minds and moral choices, because she was a 'novelist and philosopher'.