English Vocabulary

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Timid means "overly cautious or fearful," like a timid driver who drives very slowly or avoids highways altogether.Timid...
04/01/2025

Timid means "overly cautious or fearful," like a timid driver who drives very slowly or avoids highways altogether.

Timid comes from the Middle French word timide, meaning "easily frightened, shy." Those who are timid often worry that things will go wrong: a timid eater orders bland food to avoid the possibility not liking the flavor of something new, just as a timid partygoer talks to people he already knows, afraid that he won't be able to talk to strangers.

English Vocabulary

A gleam is a bright flash of light. If you were lost on a dark, stormy night, you'd be hugely relieved to see the gleam ...
03/01/2025

A gleam is a bright flash of light. If you were lost on a dark, stormy night, you'd be hugely relieved to see the gleam of a roadside diner's sign up ahead.

Use the verb gleam when something is shining as if it were wet or glinting with light. Your new toothpaste might make your teeth so white that they gleam. You can also describe an emotion that appears briefly as a gleam, like a gleam of hope. And as you hatch a plan to toilet-paper the neighbor's yard, mischief might gleam in your eyes.

English Vocabulary

03/01/2025

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To expunge is to cross out or eliminate. After Nicholas proved he had been in school on the day in question, the absence...
03/01/2025

To expunge is to cross out or eliminate. After Nicholas proved he had been in school on the day in question, the absence was expunged from his record.

Expunge is often something you do to a document. When government censors block out text in documents before making them public, they are expunging the text. You can also use the word in a more metaphorical sense. The principal tried to expunge all traces of bullying from the school by implementing a kindness initiative and treating all complaints as serious.

To be infirm is to be physically weak. If your great grandmother can't get around without a walker or a wheelchair, you ...
26/05/2021

To be infirm is to be physically weak. If your great grandmother can't get around without a walker or a wheelchair, you might describe her as infirm.

The adjective infirm is most often used to talk about elderly people whose bodies don't work as well as they used to — there's an implication of old age in the word. You could also describe an infirm person as decrepit or feeble. Sometimes a person's morals or character are described as infirm, which means you can't count on them to do the right thing. The Latin root, infirmus means "weak or feeble," or alternately, "superstitious or inconstant."

An impetus is the force behind something, whether it's a boulder rolling down a hill or a person making a decision.Very ...
24/05/2021

An impetus is the force behind something, whether it's a boulder rolling down a hill or a person making a decision.

Very little would get done if there were no such thing as an impetus: an impetus is some kind of force that gets something or somebody moving. If you push a car that's out of gas, you're the impetus that's getting it moving. An impetus doesn't have to be physical. Advertisers hope their commercials will be an impetus to buy the product.

When you elicit, you're bringing out a response of some sort. A good comedian elicits a lot of laughs.Elicit has to do w...
20/05/2021

When you elicit, you're bringing out a response of some sort. A good comedian elicits a lot of laughs.

Elicit has to do with creating or provoking a response. A great speech will elicit cheers — a bad speech will elicit boos. Teachers try to elicit responses from students. If a friend smiles at you, it will probably elicit a smile of your own. In court, a lawyer might try to elicit mistakes and inconsistencies in the testimony of a witness. In all cases, whatever is elicited is some kind of response.

When you rent an apartment by taking over another person's lease, instead of renting directly from a landlord, you suble...
13/05/2021

When you rent an apartment by taking over another person's lease, instead of renting directly from a landlord, you sublet. You can also say the person sublets the apartment to you.

As a noun, sublet refers both to the lease agreement and to the property itself: "I'm living in a tiny sublet right next to the train tracks." The formal, legal word for this is sublease, but it's more common for renters to use the informal sublet instead. Being able to sublet to another person makes it possible for a renter to leave an apartment without breaking their lease.

To bedevil is to "be" a bit like a "devil." To bedevil means to cause trouble, or, when talking about a person, to torme...
12/05/2021

To bedevil is to "be" a bit like a "devil." To bedevil means to cause trouble, or, when talking about a person, to torment or harass.

Bedevil has nothing to do with the eggs you eat on a picnic. Those are just plain deviled. And although, in the 1570s, bedeviled could be taken to mean literally "possessed," the word no longer involves an actual devil, either. It just applies to people or things that make trouble like a devil would want to do.

When you bring together unlike elements, you unify them. Political movements can unify people by inspiring them to work ...
12/05/2021

When you bring together unlike elements, you unify them. Political movements can unify people by inspiring them to work towards a shared goal. Likewise, a shared love of a team or band can unify people who otherwise don't have much in common.

The verb unify comes from the Latin prefix uni-, “one,” and the root facere, “to make.” When you unify things, you make them one. Often squabbling people just need someone to point out their similarities in order to unify them. If your classmates are sabotaging each other to try to win the “best-decorated locker” award, you might be able to unify their efforts suggesting a “most awesome class” award instead.

Vindicate means to justify, prove, or reinforce an idea — or to absolve from guilt. If your family thinks you hogged the...
12/05/2021

Vindicate means to justify, prove, or reinforce an idea — or to absolve from guilt. If your family thinks you hogged the last piece of pie on Thanksgiving, you'll be vindicated when your younger brother fesses up.

Vindicate derives from the Latin vindicatus, which is the past tense of vindicare, meaning "lay claim to" or "avenge." When a physicist proves a theory that his colleagues derided, he vindicates it. When a lawyer clears her client's name in a trial, she vindicates him. Machiavelli argued that the results he got vindicated his tactics — in other words, the ends justified the means.

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