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A recent Wired article had the following sentence: "... beneath the paranoia and infighting lurked something more vulnerable, an almost theodical disappointment."

I've never encountered this word, and I haven't found it in any online dictionaries either. I'd guess it shares a root with Theology, but I can't guess at the exact meaning.

--Edit--

Even after reading the Wikipedia article, the meaning of this sentence is not clear. What makes disappointment "theodical" when the subject is not God?

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First Google hit on the word: js.emory.edu/BLUMENTHAL/Theodicy.html . – Monica Cellio Dec 5 '11 at 22:16
That article starts off using the word as if the reader knows what it means: "Theodicy is grounded in cognitive dissonance." – AShelly Dec 5 '11 at 22:20
General reference. With "Google Instant", just typing theodi puts up theodicy as the word you're probably looking for. – FumbleFingers Dec 5 '11 at 22:29

closed as general reference by FumbleFingers, Mitch, Mehper C. Palavuzlar, kiamlaluno, simchona♦ Dec 6 '11 at 16:25

This question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link to a standard internet reference source designed specifically to find that type of information. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

2 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Theodical is of or relating to theodicy, for which Wordnik aggregates several definitions. The most pertinent is probably this one:

: an area of philosophy that treats of the nature and government of God

In the context of the article, Satoshi Nakamoto was the god of the bitcoining world; and his absence in the face of the implosion of the world he had created led the bitcoiners to question their god's 'goodness' and very existence.

To paraphrase the article:

Why had their god created this world only to abandon it?

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up vote 0 down vote

In actual technical merit word "Theodical" doesnt exist in dictionary either Oxford or Webster and therefore its use is questionable in a formal context. The correct adjective would have been "Theodidact disappointment" because that is the correct adjective for theodicy.

And in the context of its supposed meaning, it merely states disappointment in the ways of God.

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