the.com/entitlement
the firm belief that the universe owes you a refund it never agreed to issue
means A claim or right to something, whether legally granted or merely felt — and, in its everyday critical sense, the attitude of expecting privileges or special treatment as one's due.
from From the verb 'entitle,' built from 'title' — and 'title' comes from Latin 'titulus,' an inscription, label, or placard, the kind of written notice that announced ownership or rank. To 'entitle' someone was literally to give them a title, a documented claim. The abstract noun 'entitlement' grew from this legal-paperwork root: first the formal right that a title confers, and only much later the sniffier modern sense of feeling owed without any document to back it up.
- latin root
- From titulus, meaning inscription or claim of right
- legal sense
- A real benefit guaranteed by law, like Social Security
- split meaning
- Same word names both a right and a flaw
- economics
- Entitlement programs are largest U.S. budget category
affluenza defense trial — 2013 case where ethan couch's lawyer argued wealthy upbringing created entitlement that caused him to kill 4 people while driving drunk