Here Are The Definitions
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
All definitions are from 1934 Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition (©G.&C. Merriam Co.). Any errors in transcription are unintentional. This is a website created by one individual and it has no affiliation with or endorsement from the publishers of Webster's Dictionary or any Twelve Step literature.
WORDS FOUND IN THE TWELVE STEPS
All definitions are from 1934 Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition (©G.&C. Merriam Co.). Any errors in transcription are unintentional. This is a website created by one individual and it has no affiliation with or endorsement from the publishers of Webster's Dictionary or any Twelve Step literature.
WORDS FOUND IN THE TWELVE STEPS
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Powerless
adj. Destitute of the ability (whether physical, mental, or moral) to act [parentheses are original]
Restore
v. To give back something which has been lost or taken
Decision
n. The act of terminating by giving judgment on
Inventory
n. An account, catalog, or schedule made by the executor of all the goods and chattels,
and sometimes the real estate, of a deceased person
Admit
v. To suffer to enter
Ready
adj. Prepared for what one is about to do or experience
Remove
v. To change or shift the location, position, station, or residence of
Harm
v. To hurt
Amends
n. Compensation for a loss or injury
Continue
v. To remain in a given place or condition
Conscious (1 of 2)
n. Sharing knowledge
Contact (2 of 2)
n. A union or junction of bodies
Spiritual
adj. Of, pertaining to, or consisting of the breath of life
FROM THE TWELVE TRADITIONS
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Welfare
n. State of faring, or doing, well (in such a manner as is desirable or pleasing) [parentheses are original]
Conscience
n. Sense of awareness, especially of something within oneself, of right or wrong
Membership
n. State or status of being one of the persons composing a society, community, or party
Affecting
v.t. To lay hold of or attack (as a disease does) [parentheses are original]
Message
n. Any notice, word, or communication, written or oral, sent from one person to another
Endorse
v. To write on the back of (a check, bill, note, or other commercial document) [parentheses are original]
Self Supporting
adj. Having a singularity in holding up or in position
Non-professional
adj. Not of or pertaining to a profession, esp. a learned or skilled profession
Responsible
adj. Liable [liable = "bound or obliged in law or equity"] to respond
Controversy
n. Acts of disputing or contending
Attraction
n. Act, process, or power of drawing to, or causing to tend to
Anonymity
n. Quality or state of bearing or giving no name
FROM SERENITY PRAYER
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God
n. A being of more than human attributes and powers
Grant
v. To agree or assent to
Serenity
n. The quality of being bright, clear, and calm
Accept
v. To receive with an assenting mind
Thing
n. A matter of concern
Can
v. To know how to
Not
adv. Makes negative a word or group of words
Change
v. To alter by substituting something for
Courage
n. The heart as the seat of intelligence, or feeling
Wisdom
n. The quality of judging soundly concerning what is true or false
Difference
n. The quality of being partly or totally unlike in nature, form, or quality
FROM TWELVE PROMISES
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Freedom
n. Not being subject to an arbitrary external power
Past
n. A former time or state
Comprehend
v. To take into the mind.
Peace
n. A pact or agreement to end hostilities or to come together in amity
Scale
n. Anything graduated, especially when employed as a measure
Disappear
v. to cease to come or be in sight
Interest
n. A right, title, share, or participation in a thing
Self-seeking
v. To go in search of the entire person of an individual
Outlook
n. A careful looking or watching for any object or event
Fear
n. Painful emotion marked by alarm, extreme awe, or anticipation of danger
Baffle
v. To check or defeat by perplexing
Realize
v. To convert from the imaginary or fictitious into the actual
“INSANITY” - Words from page 37 of the Big Book
Freedom
n. Not being subject to an arbitrary external power
Past
n. A former time or state
Comprehend
v. To take into the mind.
Peace
n. A pact or agreement to end hostilities or to come together in amity
Scale
n. Anything graduated, especially when employed as a measure
Disappear
v. to cease to come or be in sight
Interest
n. A right, title, share, or participation in a thing
Self-seeking
v. To go in search of the entire person of an individual
Outlook
n. A careful looking or watching for any object or event
Fear
n. Painful emotion marked by alarm, extreme awe, or anticipation of danger
Baffle
v. To check or defeat by perplexing
Realize
v. To convert from the imaginary or fictitious into the actual
“INSANITY” - Words from page 37 of the Big Book
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Insanity
adj. The state of being unsound [unsound = "flawed, defected, or decayed]
Proportion
n. The relation of one portion to another, or to the whole, or of one thing to another, as respects magnitude, quantity, or degree
Straight
adj. Having an invariable direction
Reflect
v. To turn or direct
Consequence
n. That which follows something on which it depends
Reasoning
n. The drawing of inferences [inferences = "passing from one judgment to another, or from a belief or cognition to a judgment"]
Excuse
n. The act of excusing [excusing = "excepting"], apologizing, exculpating, pardoning, releasing, and the like
Deliberately
adv. Done or offered with deliberation [deliberation = "weighing and examining the reasons for an against a choice or measure"]
Justified
adj. To prove or show to be just [just = "confirming to the spiritual law"]
Casually
adv. Without design [design = "accidentally, fortuitously, by chance, incidentally"]
Absurd
adj. Contrary to reason or propriety [propriety = "quality or status of being proper or fitting"]
Incomprehensible
adj Not capable of being taken into the mind
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I made the deliberate decision to illustrate only the first definition of each word (for more on that, please see the blog entry titled "Why I always illustrate the first definition for each word"). Even within that first definition, I noticed that there were often included multipe phrases, separated by semi-colons. Here is the first definition for the word "comprehend" including all of its semi-colons:
comprehend v. 1. To take into the mind; to grasp with the understanding; to apprehend the meaning of; to understand.
After some reflection, I decided to end each definition at the first semi-colon. Here is the result:
comprehend v. 1. To take into the mind
Why did I do that? Because that initial phrase seemed perfectly complete. The phrases which followed did reinforce or amplify that opening phrase, but they did not alter its basic meaning. I decided to "Keep It Simple". An expert in dictionaries may disagree with me and their reasons would probably be valid. This website is not reviewed by any experts, so please diregard anything that disagrees with what your literature or sponsor tells you.
I admit this is an amateur effort. I remind you that there is no one here except me, an old dictionary, and a drawing pad. I strive to capture the spirit of each definition rather than catalog its many facets. Sometimes God speaks through geniuses. I hope He also speaks through fools, when necessary.
1934 Dictionary Definitions? Seriously?
My sponsor always encouraged me to look up Twelve Step words in the dictionary. I was not enthusiastic. Reading dictionaries is something I try to avoid. But I followed his directions and I am glad I did. His instruction deepened my understanding of early recovery literature and led to my series of drawings inspired by the Twelve Steps.
At first, I looked up words using a recent dictionary. Then one rainy day, I ducked into a used book store and I noticed a Websters Dictionary that was published in 1934*.
The date caught my eye because I remembered Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson got sober in 1934. I had always been puzzled by the quaint writing style used in the Big Book. So, I opened the old dictionary to read the official definition for some Twelve Step words. I flipped idly to a word I was really having trouble with at the time: “God”.
Webster’s 1934 definition of “God” was “a being of more than human attributes or powers”.
It struck me at once that these words were similar to Bill W.’s phrase “a power higher than human power.”
The wording was different—but the meaning seemed nearly identical. I looked up other words from The Big Book. In every case, the primary definition of each word helped me better understand Bill’s 1934 writings. The words rang more true once I heard their earlier definitions.
Did Bill W. write The Big Book with Webster's Dictionary open in front of him? I seriously doubt it. In his day, the correct meanings of words did not change as quickly as they do today*. Writers chose their words based on an exact understanding of the definition—much more so than in today's culture. So, if Bill W. described something as being "cool", he was literally referring to its temperature, not using slang to refer to its fashionable attractiveness.
Ironically, reading those older definitions renewed my personal comprehension of the Steps. I collected dozens of the most helpful word definitions (appearing at the top of this page). You might look into an old dictionary yourself. Your local library will probably have an enormous Webster's Dictionary somewhere in the back room (if libraries still HAVE books whenever you read this). Chances are, the librarians will be very pleased if you ask to see it for yourself.
My point is simple. If you want to better understand any word, why not read its definition in a dictionary that was current when the writer wrote it?
Keep It Simple.
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* In Bill W's time, the definitions of words changed more slowly than they do today. Why do I think so? Because dictionaries were updated every two or three decades, not every year. Here is a comment from Merriam-Webter's website: "Since they were first released, Webster's International Dictionary and Webster's Collegiate Dictionary have been updated and revised many times. New editions of the unabridged appeared in 1909 (Webster's New International Dictionary), 1934 (Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition), and 1961 (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged). Addenda sections, featuring words that came into use after publication of the 1961 edition, have been added regularly, most recently in 2002." (source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/commitment.htm)
It is revealing that the publisher says the updates have occured "many times" when, in fact, those revisions were 20 to 30 YEARS apart.
Bill Wilson's Use of Words
I confess I am a LITTLE obsessed with the historical roots of words that Bill W. used in writing the Twelve Steps. Words can have very vague or very precise meanings, depending on who is using them and when. For example, lawyers choose words for their precise meanings. Bill W studied law for more than two years. He passed every class, but for some reason Bill never took the bar exam and so never earned the right to be called a "Lawyer".
Still, Bill's legal training must have come in handy when he began writing the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. He knew that the lives of his alcoholic readers were on the line when they read the Big Book. He was painfully aware that words could be slippery things, especially in the hands of alcoholics who were well-practiced in evasion and denial. When Bill re-examined the six Oxford Group tenants that helped him get sober, he reportedly found there too many loopholes in the wording; loopholes that alcoholics might use to wriggle out of sobriety. So, he recast those six tenants into twelve steps. I assume he did that to close those loopholes using clearer wording.
My point is that I now pay close attention to the precise meanings of words in the original Twelve Step literature because I suspect Bill W. did too. I first got that idea from Joe & Charlie's "Big Book Comes Alive" lecture series. They carefully examined the exact definition of such words as "resent", "believe", "decide", and many others. I went an extra step and found a 1930-era Webster's Dictionary since it contained exactly the definitions Bill had at his disposal.
Have I taken it too far? I suppose it is possible. I have no professional training that relates to recovery or the roots of word definitions. Most of what I have said above come from my own assumptions. But the process of looking up the precise definitions of Twelve Step words has helped me stay sober for another day. One day at a time.
••••••••••••
TRIVIA: I have read that Bill W. began writing the Big Book of AA under the strict editorial review of some 40 recovered alcoholics. They probably wanted the book to have the continuity and tone that comes from the pen of a single author.
Unfortunately, there were countless disagreements about the words Bill W. chose. In a particularly important example, some loved the word "God" because of what it meant to them. Others objected to the word "God" because it meant something different to them. I have no idea how Bill and the group reconciled their differing definitions. It is possible someone pulled out a current Webster's dictionary and read this definition to the group:
"God n. - a being of greater than human attributes and powers"
Bill did settle on a similar phrase—a power greater than human power—to refer to God. Coincidence? Maybe. But, as a student of the law, Bill knew that choosing words with well-documented definitions was a wise strategy. This would ensure that if anyone raised later objections to the word "God", a dictionary could be used to settle the matter. Plus, there was another benefit to that strategy. In the early days of AA, the Big Book was mailed by the thousands (later millions) to individuals and groups across America. Since AA groups would be initially established in scattered and diverse locations, arguments over Twelve Step writings would have to be settled using locally-available resources—like a dictionary.
Do I have any proof that Bill or any AA founder chose words by looking up their meaning in Webster's 1934 Dictionary? I do not. My speculations are just that. Your guess is as good as mine.
Who Are "Joe & Charlie"?
You will see several references on this site to "Joe & Charlie". Their names are sometimes heard at local Twelve Step meetings. So, who exactly are Joe and Charlie? They were two long-recovered alcoholics who traveled the world for several decades, sharing their insights into the Big Book of AA. Because all Twelve Step programs are derived from the AA Big Book, I suspect their recordings might help anyone in ANY Twelve Step program....not just AA.
The Big Book Study (officially called "The Big Book Comes Alive") recordings are not conference-approved literature. Any sponsee interested in listening to the series should ask their sponsor first. I can recommend the talks with confidence because many long-sober speakers have openly given credit to Joe and Charlie with their own recovery. I have heard people say said they never really "got" how Twelve Step recovery works until they heard the free-wheeling and good-natured recordings of Joe P and Charlie McQ. I know that was true for me.
To say it more clearly, Joe and Charlie's talks saved my life. When I first got into recovery, I could not really grasp what I was reading and I did not get sober. I was about to give up and go back out there. My kindly mother startled me by mailing me a complete set of the recordings. At first, I scoffed. Then, I listened. Honestly, I doubt I would be alive today if I had not heard that Old-School message carried directly to me by Joe and Charlie's talks.
Joe and Charlie inspired my habit of looking up recovery-related words in the dictionary. Listening to two rough-hewn men casually discussing the Latin roots of the word "resentment" was stunning at first (i.e., I was startled to learn that to "resent" meant to "feel again". I had always inventoried my resentments as if the word meant to simply feel angry. With a new and more historically accurate definition in mind, the resentment inventory became much more powerful for me.) Bringing such mental discipline reading the Big Book had never occurred to me. Joe and Charlie's lifelong search for recovery in the Big Book still inspires me today through their recordings.
This website is dedicated to the tireless work of Joe and Charlie, and the others behind the scenes who helped them carry their Message to thousands like me.
Joe McQ passed away October 25th, 2007. Another gentleman (coincidentally named Joe) continued presenting the Big Book Study with Charlie P until the latter died in April of 21, 2011. All three of these men gave voluntarily of their time for many years, helping others gain a better understanding of the practice and history of Twelve Step recovery.
Listening to Big Book Study recordings cannot change the importance of thoroughly reading the Big Book or your own recovery program's literature. But because the complete series of recordings lasts many hours, I believe only the most devoted sponsor could duplicate all the careful review of the Twelve Step process that is presented in these talks.
If you go looking for these recordings online or elsewhere, you will probably find numerous versions of them. The exact content of Joe & Charlie's discussions changed surprisingly little over the years—I notice that recordings from the 1980s sound remarkably similar to talks given decades later. I suspect the pair saw many lives being saved by their original talk and made a strenuous effort not to change it for fear of "spoiling" its good results.
• Here is a link to FREE MP3 downloads up-to-date Joe & Charlie Big Book Studies:
I personally got sober while listening to one of the earliest recordings which included Joe McQ. However, the core remained very similar throughout the decades of recordings, including the ones made after Joe McQ passed away. I happen to prefer the 1987 talk because it included Joe McQ in his full vibrancy at http://www.peopleschoicerecovery.com/contents/en-us/d135.html which charges for some recordings and has no financial or other connection to my website.
[Update as of January 2020: I have found a site that ofers the original Joe McQ and Charlie recording at no charge http://www.ppgaadallas.org/aa_speakers.htm]
DISCLAIMER: None of the above sites endorse my site, nor can I guarantee their current availability. Naturally, you may do your own search for Joe and Charlie's Big Book Study (officially titled "The Big Book Comes Alive").
May we meet you as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. God Bless you and keep you until then.
What's the REAL reason for this site?
When I first achieved lengthy sobriety, I found that every word in the Big Book made much more sense to me. I thought I could get others sober by sharing the Big Book, word for word. However, I had difficulty getting others to see what I was seeing. I would speak with passion and confidence and verve and clarity—only to see their eyes glaze over with boredom. I have since discovered this is not unusual. Even AA co-founder Bill Wilson spent months of early sobriety going from bar-to-bar, trying to share his spiritual experience with other drunks. I had no better luck than Bill did.
I did not give up. I still worked with others. I encouraged them to listen to "The Big Book Comes Alive" study (see the "Who are Joe and Charlie?" link in the far right column of this website). Unfortunately, most newcomers were far too rattled to patiently sit and listen to these recordings. They needed smaller bites of information.
I had recently been looking up some Big Book words in a 1930s Webster's Dictionary.
Their definitions really brought the Twelve Steps alive in a way that my oridinary "modern day" definitions did not. I believed that those old school definitions revealed much about what Bill Wilson seemed to be saying. I made some personal drawings to help me remember each definition in case my memory faded. That plan worked, and many more drawings followed. They were very personal responses to the deeper meanings I found in the 1930s definitions as they related to my own Step work. (I really want this point to be clear.)
I wanted to call attention to those 1930s definitions of Twelve Steps words. That's the REAL reason for this site twelvedrawings.com.
FAIR WARNING: This website is not conference-approved by any Twelve Step program. If you don't understand why, I strongly suggest you ask your sponsor or anyone who has long-term sobriety in your program. Conference approved literature has been carefully reviewed hundreds of times by countless sober people. The information is considered safe and sound for use in recovery work. By comparison, only one person has reviewed the information on this website.
Please be wary of the information on this site or on personal sites like this. Common sense should tell you this. You don't know anything about me (the sole person involved in creating the artwork and writing). You have no way of knowing whether I am sober now or ever have been. I warn my sponsees that their desperation for recovery will cause them to latch onto ANY idea that sounds good to them. Worse, they will eagerly believe anything which reinforces their incorrect old assumptions, biases, sickness, etc.
So please do NOT assume that just because you find my pictures to be interesting or because you agree with anything written here, that you are headed towards sobriety. If you are not yet sober, I urge you to leave this site right now. It will only confuse you. I am very serious about this.
However, if you have become sober using the Twelve Steps as first outlined in the book Alcholics Anonymous (the "Big Book"), then this site may be of interest. My words and images are personal shares, comparable to someone sharing their experience, strength, and hope in a face-to-face meeting.
If someone's share includes statements that are not found in conference-approved literature, everyone in the meeting should know to ignore that part of the share (e.g., If someone shares, "I could not get sober if I did not take a hot shower while chanting the Pledge of Allegiance before working the Steps every day." My reaction would be: "Good for you, friend. But that is not found anywhere in the Big Book so it is NOT necessary in order to achieve sobriety.") Please approach what I have shared here with that same caution.
I hope you find inspiration. I pray you find experience, strength, and hope. But you will only find sobriety through the grace of God as you understand God. And the most reliable path I know to that Higher Power is to 1) attend meetings, 2) get a sponsor, and 3) work the Twelve Steps daily and without holding anything back.
Once graced with sobriety, I invite you to come back here. Maybe what seemed mildly interesting during your first visit will become more meaningful with each new visit during your lifetime of recovery.
Why illustrate the first definition for each word?
What about the other definitions?
People who see my drawings often ask why I always illustrate the first definition only. Why not pick one of the other definitions for that same word? Good question. In elementary school, my teachers said that when the dictionary contains several definitions for the same word, the first definition is the most popular one. The others are correct too, but they are not currently as popular as the #1 definition. Here is an example taken from Webster's online dictionary today:
"COOL" (adjective in year 2012)
1: moderately cold
2a : marked by steady dispassionate calmness and self-control <a cool and calculating administrator>
2b : lacking ardor or friendliness <a cool impersonal manner>
2c of jazz : marked by restrained emotion and the frequent use of counterpoint
2d : free from tensions or violence <we used to fight, but we're cool now>
3 —used as an intensive <a cool million dollars>
At first, it seemed reasonable to base my drawings on purely modern definitions. The language in the Big Book of AA certainly looks and sounds much like the English of today. But further reading of my musty 1934 Webster's New International Dictionary revealed that the older definitions #2 and #3 (below) were very different from their 2012 counterparts.
"COOL" (adjective in year 1934)
1: moderately cold
2: producing or giving a sensation of coolness
3: not ardent, warm or passionate
The first definitions matched, but if I strayed off into other definitions, there were significant differences. I became concerned about which definition would be most relevant to Bill's thinking. The first one? The one I liked the most? Or maybe all of the definitions at once? I asked a reference librarian to explain the differences between a modern dictionary and one written in 1934. She did a wonderful job which I will summarize as follows:
• COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY: The dictionaries that most people have on their shelf are "collegiate dictionaries". Traditional collegiate dictionaries were edited down to a length that was convenient for students to carrying to and from school. (Today's portable electronics make it possible for students to carry any amount of information, without worrying about size and weight.) Collegiate editing typically involved eliminating rare words and/or obscure definitions. Most collegiate dictionaries arranged definitions in order from the most common definition to the least—just as my grade school teachers told me.
• UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY: An "unabridged dictionary" (like my 1934 Webster's, shown below) strives to present every known definition of every word. Because it contains so many more words and definitions than a collegiate dictionary, the book itself is much larger and heavier. In fact, an unabridged dictionary is so large that libraries often mount them on a strong pedestal. The first definition listed in an unabridged dictionary is not the most popular one; rather it is the oldest one. The written introduction in my 1934 dictionary confirms this on page xiii: "In general the arrangement of meanings of words of many meanings in the Dictionary has been according to the following practice. The earliest meaning ascertainable is always first, whether it is literary, technical, historical, or obsolete. Meanings of later derivation are arranged in the order shown to be most probably be dated citations and semantic development."
If the first definition is the oldest one, might the word be too old to be useful? No. If that first definition is so old that no one uses it anymore, it is clearly labeled as "obsolete" or "archaic". I disregarded those definitions.
Today, most Americans probably don't give much thought to how old their word definitions are. Abandoning the formality of their grandparent's school days, Americans now favor word choices that are creative and expressive—sometimes at the expense of the word's precise definition. AA's Bill Wilson's first studied grammar in the early 1900s, when writing styles were much more rigid than they are today. Bill attended private school in New England and later studied law in New York state. In both instances, enormous importance was placed on utilizing precise words which have meanings that cannot be misconstrued by others.
Bill's expert use of precisely-defined words probably contributed to the effectiveness of the Big Book of AA. Alcoholics and addicts are notoriously slippery in
