exertion

Etymology

It is formed from English exert + -ion,^[2][3][4] though the OED presents it as if from Latin *exertiō.^[5] Exert is from Latin exserō (“to thrust out, put forth”), through its past participle exsertus,^[2][5] and that verb is formed from ex- (“out”) and serō (“to attach, join, bind”),^[2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to line up”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The putting forth or display of something: 1668, in J. Howe's Blessedness of Righteous.^[5] Etymonline likewise dates the word to the 1660s, as the act of exerting.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the verb from thrusting something out to putting it to use.^[2] The sense of display is the first recorded and was gone by 1811,^[5] although Jane Austen could still write of "an exertion of spirits".^[3] Before 1676, in M. Hale, it meant putting a faculty or organ into active use.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as the act of exerting, or effort.^[6] The modern sense of vigorous effort is recorded from 1777, in W. Robertson's History of America,^[5][2] and Webster (1828) has it as straining or struggling, as in a ship saved by the great exertions of its crew.^[7]

Timeline

• 1668 – a putting forth, display (obsolete by 1811).^[5]
• before 1676 – the putting of a power or faculty into active use.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1677.^[8]
• 1777 – vigorous action, effort.^[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Strenuous effort, or an act of it: He was out of breath from the exertion of pushing the cart uphill.^[8][9][5]
2. The active use of a power or faculty: the exertion of authority over the committee.^[8][5][3]
3. (obsolete, 1668–1811) A display or manifestation.^[5][3]

Word family

• exertional
• inexertion
• nonexertion

Related words

• exert
• exsert
• insert

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ Webster, Noah (1828), An American Dictionary of the English Language, New York: S. Converse
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt