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tabula rasa

[tab-yuh-luh rah-suh, -zuh, rey-, tah-boo-lah rah-sah] / ˈtæb jə lə ˈrɑ sə, -zə, ˈreɪ-, ˈtɑ bʊˌlɑ ˈrɑ sɑ /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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If the brain started as a true tabula rasa, with no built-in connections, neurons would first need to locate and connect with one another.

From Science Daily May 3, 2026

Somewhere inside a tabula rasa passed off as an office space, a diligent worker is rewarded with a five-minute "dance experience."

From Salon Jan. 18, 2025

In part, it is how pioneering South Bronx resident groups like Banana Kelly spared their neighborhood from tabula rasa schemes by outside politicians and planners when the neighborhood was burning.

From New York Times Feb. 15, 2023

The top is a tabula rasa of post-pandemic young adulthood, ready to absorb and reflect the 2023 equivalent of those aforementioned references: It looks like TikTok, tastes like espresso martinis and sounds like Dua Lipa.

From Washington Post Jan. 7, 2023

The doings and actions of last year are as uninteresting and vague to me as the blank gulf of the future, the tabula rasa that may never be anything else.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. XXII (of 25) Juvenilia and Other Papers by Robert Louis Stevenson




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