Monday, August 31, 2009

Supercilious Meaning and Usage


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Supercilious Meaning:

adjective
- behaving in a superior and arrogant manner
- feeling or showing disdain; exhibiting haughty and careless contempt

Supercilious Usage:

“a supercilious look.”
supercilious manner”
supercilious attitude”
“a supercilious officer”
“a supercilious critic”
“his mother eyed my clothes with a supercilious air”
“curled his lip in a supercilious smile”

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Derivatives:
superciliously - adverb
superciliousness - noun

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Use supercilious in a sentence:

1. Jane is either too supercilious to do menial tasks around the office or not smart enough to figure out how they are done.

2. I was irritated by his supercilious detachment.

3. Nash looked as if he had seen the hollowness of things, for his face wore a bored, supercilious look.

4. He merely smiled in his supercilious way, until the Bishop felt very much inclined to spring upon him and throw him out of the cab.

5. I do not like your arrogant and supercilious attitude towards people.

6. His supercilious demeanor undermines his interaction with colleagues in his department.

7. He ended his speech on a supercilious note which was quite unexpected of a person of his balanced and stable temperament

8. Pierre is so supercilious that he won't dine in a restaurant whose waiters don't speak with a French accent.

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Supercilious Synonyms:
arrogant, cavalier, clannish, cliquish, condescending, contemptuous, contumelious, disdainful, dismissive, exclusive, haughty, imperious, insolent, lofty, lordly, overbearing, overweening, patronizing, pompous, pretentious, prideful, proud, scornful, sneering, sniffy, snippy, snobbish, superior, swaggering, withering.

Supercilious Antonyms:
humble, modest, servile


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Some more examples:

1. While they talked of him he stood a little apart from the others, watching the noisy party with a good-humored but faintly supercilious expression.

2. There was in her no longer the superciliousness which had irritated him. She was so accustomed to him now.

3. She was very supercilious towards her customers.

4. The governor gave the crowd a supercilious smile prior to his speech.

5. Cordelia had been quite the sugarplum over the last month or so, but now that she had what she wanted, she'd reverted to the sour, supercilious, often suspicious woman Susan had grown up with.

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Disingenuous Meaning and Usage

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Disingenuous Meaning:


Adjective:

- insincere or calculating; Not straightforward
- pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated;
- giving a false appearance of frankness

"a disingenuous excuse"

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Derivatives:

disingenuously - adverb.
disingenuousness - noun.

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Disingenuous Synonyms:
ambidextrous, artful, artless, calculating, clever, contriving: crafty, cunning, deceitful, designing, devious, dishonest, duplicitous, false, foxy, guileful, hypocritical, indirect, ingenuous, insidious, insincere, lubricious, mala fide, plotting, scheming, shifty, slick, sly, sneaky, tricky, underhanded, wily.

Disingenuous Antonyms:
frank, honest, ingenuous, naive, sincere


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Use Disingenuous in a sentence:

1. He always gives a quick, disingenuous response; you never get a straight answer.

2. Do you believe Mark when he says he wants to save the company or do you think saying so is a disingenuous ploy to garner support for his bid for the presidency?

3. It was disingenuous of John borrow Mary's truck without telling her he would be driving it over uncharted mountain terrain.

4. Harry tried to smile at his friend and teacher, looking up at him so disingenuously.

5. “The game of politics calls for a certain amount of disingenuousness and lack of forthrightness that we might otherwise characterize as dishonesty.”

6. The invitation to come to their country estate seemed disingenuous so she did not seriously consider it.

7. This, I know, sounds disingenuous, but it's true, this was a book not written to be published.

8. The same question, repeatedly asked, was invariably met with disingenuous answers.

9. "I swear I'll be back with the money," the customer assured the cashier with a disingenuous expression.

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Usage Note:

The meaning of disingenuous has been shifting about lately, as if people were unsure of its proper meaning.

Generally, it means "insincere" and often seems to be a synonym of cynical or calculating. Not surprisingly, the word is used often in political contexts, as in It is both insensitive and disingenuous for the White House to describe its aid package and the proposal to eliminate the federal payment as "tough love."

This use of the word is accepted by 94 percent of the Usage Panel. Most Panelists also accept the extended meaning relating to less reproachable behavior. Fully 88 percent accept disingenuous with the meaning "playfully insincere, faux-naïf," as in the example "I don't have a clue about late Beethoven!" he said. The remark seemed disingenuous, coming from one of the world's foremost concert pianists.

Sometimes disingenuous is used as a synonym for naive, as if the dis- prefix functioned as an intensive (as it does in certain words like disannul) rather than as a negative element. This usage does not find much admiration among Panelists, however. Seventy-five percent do not accept it in the phrase a disingenuous tourist who falls prey to stereotypical con artists.



disingenuous. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 27, 2009, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disingenuous


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Some more examples:

1. It would be disingenuous to imply that such funds would solve the problem in education.

2. It is disingenuous to ask for advice when what you want is assistance.

3. The director used a disingenuous remark to make his point to the student.

4. "It was disingenuous of her to claim she had no financial interest in the case."

5. Her excuse was rather disingenuous.

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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Acquiesce Meaning and Usage


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Acquiesce Meaning:

- to agree without protest.
- to comply; to submit
- to accept without question.

Acquiesce Usage:

“to acquiesce halfheartedly in a plan”
“acquiescence to his boss's demands”
“a murmur of acquiescence from the assembly”

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Derivatives:

acquiescence - noun
acquiescent - adjective
acquiescently - adverb
acquiescingly – adverb

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Use acquiesce in a sentence:

1. Linda acquiesced to Fred's plaintive pleas to hold their wedding in his Village farm house.

2. The Government never acquiesced to trade union’s demands; the minister said they were unrealistic.

3. I don't want to see that movie, but I guess I'll have to acquiesce this time.

4. The group acquiesced to the new regulations even though they were opposed to them.

5. After a hard-fought battle, the retailers finally acquiesced to the draft regulations.

6. He acquiesced in locating the farm across the street from his house.

7. The millionaire refused to acquiesce to the demand of his former driver, blackmailing him with photos of his extramarital affairs.

8. Mother asked me to do chores and although I didn't want to I acquiesced.

9. The president said that we will never acquiesce to the demands of the terrorists.

10. They were compelled to acquiesce in a government which they did not regard as just.

11. Church declared Copernicanism “false and erroneous” in 1616, and commanded Galileo never again to “defend or hold” the doctrine. Galileo acquiesced.

12. Although she had appeared to acquiesce to her employer's suggestion, I could tell she had reservations.

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Acquiesce Synonyms:
accede, accept, agree, assent, consent, nod, subscribe,

Acquiesce Antonyms:
disagree, dissent, object, protest


Acquiescence Synonyms:
assent, agreement, acceptance, conceding, concession, yielding, approval, consent, harmony, giving in, submission, compliance, obedience, conformity, accession, concord, concurrence

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Origin:
Latin acquiescere "to quieten down" made out of ad "(up) to" + quiescere "to rest, be quiet".

Mnemonic:
to acQUIEsce - to QUIEtly agree

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Some more examples:

1. Despite acquiescing in the board’s decision, he had never really changed his own view.

2. After prolonged debate over the topic, the council acquiesced to change the law; thereby ending a century-old struggle of thousands of people.

3. Although I didn't really feel like cleaning my room, I decided to acquiesce because I knew my Mom wouldn't stop complaining until I did.

4. He didn't want to give in to the bank robbers’ demands, but in the end he decided to acquiesce so that no one got hurt.

5. The government acquiesced to the terrorists’ demands and released 2 prisoners who were the prime suspects of the serial bomb blasts.

6. “If he did not acquiesce, he was to be imprisoned.”

7. Anna had a short way with people. In matters concerning her own wishes, she took their acquiescence for granted.

8. Gwen acquiesced in the policy of secrecy, hoping that it would not last long.

9. He had seemed to take her acquiescence for granted. And yet there had been nothing flat or disappointing about the proceedings. She had been thrilled throughout.

10. He looked up when addressed and uttered a sound which might have been taken for an expression of polite acquiescence.

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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Facetious Meaning and Usage


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Facetious Meaning


Adjective

- given to wit and good humor; merry; sportive; jocular; amusing; humorous.
- joking in an awkward or improper manner; entertaining amusing
- not meant to be taken seriously or literally:
- treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor.


Facetious Usage

facetious remarks.
a facetious companion.
a facetious remark.
a facetious person.
a facetious story

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Derivatives:

facetiously - adverb
facetiousness - noun

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Use facetious in a sentence:

1. "Silence! If you want to be facetious, young man, there are times and places more fitting. This is a serious business."

2. Jack’s facetious reply angered his teacher but made his classmates laugh.

3. On returning back, John was in a more facetious temper than was unusual with him.

4. The professor was being facetious when she asked the students to ignore her lecture while taking the exam.

5. His facetious sarcasm was inappropriate during his first staff meeting.

6. This may seem a facetious point but that is far from my intention.

7. Whilst some of the options seemed rather facetious I was impressed that the most likely outcome was displayed.

8. Jane was being facetious when she used the word "classy" to describe John’s brightly colored necktie.

9. His attempt to make fun of the situation was considered to be in bad taste and facetious in the extreme.

10. The woman said, "I don't seriously mean that you are an idiot; I was being facetious."


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Facetious Synonyms:
amusing, bantering, comic, comical, droll, frivolous, funny, gay, humorous, jocose, jocular, jolly, laughable, light, ludicrous, merry, pleasant, smart, sprightly, waggish, whimsical, witty,

Facetious Antonyms:
formal, grave, serious

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Facetious Mnemonic:

A facetious person could be someone who makes funny faces..!!!

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Some more examples:

1. “I take back all those nasty facetious remarks I have ever made about you.”

2. After a comment that did not go over well, the professor apologized for being facetious.

3. “Don’t think I’m being facetious when I tell you you’re my best friend.”


4. Mark had also a considerable facetiousness, which he exercised impartially on the patients and on the students. He took a great pleasure in making his dressers look foolish.

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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Imbroglio Meaning and Usage


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Meaning:

- a difficult or intricate situation; an entanglement.
- a confused or complicated disagreement.
- a confused heap; a tangle.
- an intricately woven plot or set of circumstances; an embroilment.
- a very embarrassing misunderstanding

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Synonyms:

altercation, argument, bickering, brawl, broil, complexity, complication, dispute, embarrassment, embroilment, entanglement, flack, involvement, miff, misinterpretation, mistaking, misunderstanding, quandary, quarrel, row, run-in, spat, squabble.


Antonyms:

agreement, peacemaking

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Use Imbroglio in a sentence:

1. The small town was caught up in an imbroglio over missing funds.

2. There seems to be no solution to the imbroglio in the region; both sides are adamant on their stands.

3. "Verna's room was a symphony of disarray that reached a crescendo in an imbroglio of dirty clothes at the end of her bed."

4. Both Nixon's and Clinton's presidencies were marred by imbroglios: Nixon's was in campaign financing and Clinton's involved a Whitehouse intern.

5. Dan had no idea how he ended up in this imbroglio but knew it would take a great deal of explaining to get out of it.

6. In Shakespeare’s comedies, there is often an imbroglio caused by a case of mistaken identity.

7. The Earl had been sleeping a sound and peaceful sleep when the imbroglio began downstairs.

8. A huge imbroglio — involving the mayor, the sanitation department, the owner of a bar, and the congregation of a church — started over the placement of a curbside garbage can.

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Did you know?

"Imbroglio" and "embroilment" are more than just synonyms; they're also linked through etymology. Both descend from the Middle French verb "embrouiller" (same meaning as "embroil"), from the prefix "em-," meaning "thoroughly," plus "brouiller," meaning "to mix" or "to confuse."

This word means not only a story that is tricky to follow, but also one with covert motivations, secrets and manipulation.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Sacrilege Meaning and Usage


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Sacrilege Meaning:

noun

- desecration, profanation, misuse, or theft of something sacred.
- disrespect for a person who is widely admired or a belief that is widely accepted
“it is a sacrilege to offend democracy”

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Derivatives:
sacrilegist - noun
sacrilegious - adjective
sacrilegiously - adverb
sacrilegiousness – noun

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Use sacrilege in a sentence:

1. Neither saint nor sanctuary was to be safe from the sacrilegious hands of the heathen from across the North Sea.

2. Such was its reputation that it seemed sacrilege to dare to improve on it.

3. I am still, to this day, apologizing to my dear friend Pierre for dragging him out to witness such sacrilege.

4. When you have been given something in a moment of grace, it is sacrilegious to be greedy

5. For your age, is it not shameful on your part to indulge in such a sacrilegious act of stretching your legs toward God?

6. Many of his actions, contrary to all tradition, seemed sacrilegious to the people.

7. In the center of the rich red carpet was a black and gold Louis Quinze table, a lovely antique, now sacrilegiously desecrated with marks of glasses and the scars of cigar-stumps.

8. “I have felt it to be a sacrilege to divert a brain which is capable of the highest original research to any lesser object.”

9. Gabriel started tossing one arm in frantic gestures, hurling forth prophecies of speedy doom to the sacrilegious assailants of his divinity.

10. The inscription contains a curse on any who perpetrate any sacrilegious act against the remains of the pharaoh.

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Sacrilege Synonyms:
abomination, abuse, atrocity, befouling, befoulment, blasphemy, contamination, crime, debasement, defilement, desecration, disgrace, dishonouring, disrespect, fouling, heresy, ignominy, impiety, impiousness, infamy, irreverence, maltreatment, misuse, mockery, offense, outrage, perversion, profanation, profaneness, profanity, shame, sin, violation, vitiation.

Sacrilege Antonyms:
piety, respect, respectfulness, reverence

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Know more…

Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object. In a less proper sense, any transgression against the virtue of religion would be a sacrilege. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy.

Sacrilegious, the adjective form of sacrilege is often misspelled through confusion with religious. The origins of these words are different; they are in no way related.

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Sacrilege Origin:

The term originates from the Latin (The term was initially used in reference to temple robbing)

sacer sacred + legere to gather, pick up, steal
to gather or pick up, sacred things; robbing sacred things,

Thereby the robber has desecrated the holy place; has gone against the God.

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Some more example sentences:

1. Elizabeth was sad and desponding; she no longer took delight in her ordinary occupations; all pleasure seemed to her sacrilege toward the dead; eternal woe and tears she then thought was the just tribute she should pay to innocence so blasted and destroyed

2. Quite a broad tract of land near the temple, extending from the sea to the mountain top, was sacred to the god Lono in olden times--so sacred that if a common native set his sacrilegious foot upon it it was judicious for him to make his will, because his time had come.

3. Jane always wore her amethyst brooch to church. She would have thought it rather sacrilegious to leave it off— as bad as forgetting her Bible or her collection dime. That amethyst brooch was Jane’s most treasured possession.

4. "Do you realize, your Highness, that an attack on the Foundation is nothing short of sacrilege of the highest order?"

5. It was an unscrupulous sacrilege to appropriate to own use, the offerings to the gods.

6. “Anyone finding gold and precious stones must bring them to the monastery; to keep them for themselves would be sacrilege. “

7. He was amazed and amused to discover how guilty that last thought made him feel-almost as if he had committed an act of sacrilege. But that didn't make the thought any less true.

8. Discipline is discipline, and rules are rules … These are like commandments in the Holy Scriptures of the Trader. Not observing them is sacrilege, a blasphemy.

9. The horrendous county office building is an example of architectural sacrilege.

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Read it somewhere….

"Every connection," said Pointdexter. "To construct a time machine is itself a challenge to fate. You make it worse by your flat confidence. How can you be sure that your time-travel machine will operate through all of time without the possibility of paradox?"

Barron said, "I didn’t know you were superstitious. The simple fact is that a time machine is a machine like any other machine, no more and no less sacrilegious. Mathematically, it is analogous to an elevator moving up and down its shaft. What danger of retribution lies in that?"

Pointdexter said energetically, "An elevator doesn’t involve paradoxes. You can’t move from the fifth floor to the fourth and kill your grandfather as a child."

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Eclectic Meaning and Usage


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Eclectic Meaning:

adjective.

- picking from various possibilities; made up of material from various sources; diverse; heterogeneous

- selecting elements from a wide range of styles, ideas, or sources


Usage:

"an eclectic taste in music"

"an eclectic approach to managing the economy"
"an eclectic collection of artists"
"an eclectic approach that takes the best from all schools of psychology"
"an eclectic method"
"an eclectic magazine"
"an eclectic philosopher"

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Derivatives:

eclectically - adverb

eclecticist – noun
eclecticism - noun

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Use eclectic in a sentence:

1. Even though, he had put eclectic collection of furniture in the shop, it did not attract enough customers.

2. The eclectic wine list includes bottles from all round the world

3. Kate’s guests were quite impressed by her eclectic collection of musical recordings.

4. The book club attracted people of eclectic interests.

5. You’re sure to meet someone interesting at the party—Jane always invites an eclectic group of people to her gatherings.

6. His eclectic collection of action figures from different eras impressed everything at the convention.

7. It should come as no surprise that Leonardo da Vinci, the eclectic master of many disciplines, would have thoroughly studied and concocted an independent proof of the Pythagorean Theorem.

8. A good historian gathers his or her information from eclectic sources rather than just one.

9. Budapest's architecture is an eclectic mix of eastern and western styles.

10. Indonesia has an eclectic range of Japanese restaurants as Japan has long been the biggest investor in the country

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Eclectic synonyms:
all-embracing, assorted, broad, comprehensive, dilettantish, discriminating, diverse, diversified, extensive, general, heterogeneous, inclusive, liberal, manifold, many-sided, mingled, mixed, multifarious, multiform, selective, universal, varied, wide-ranging.

Eclectic Antonyms:
incomprehensive, narrow, particular, specific, unvaried

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Eclectic Mnemonics:
Relate it to elect, which means to choose the best from many sources.

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Some more examples of Eclectic in a sentence:

1. The band was formed from an eclectic group.

2. His eclectic tastes range from Bach to the Beatles.

3. While teaching a new language to a learner, an eclectic approach produces better results than a single, fixed method.

4. Kreps is a delightful book and an excellent eclectic introduction to game theory’s strengths and problems.

5. I consider Robert a freestyle manager, and he calls himself an eclectic value manager.

6. The song displays an eclectic mix of influences.

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Monday, August 17, 2009

Specious Meaning and Usage


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Specious Meaning:

adjective

- having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious

- plausible, but deceptive; apparently, but not actually true;
- superficially attractive, deceptively attractive.

“a specious claim” “a specious argument” “specious statistics”

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Derivatives:

speciously - adverb
speciosity - noun
speciousness - noun

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Use specious in a sentence:

1. The internet is full of websites claiming speciously about making “easy” money online.

2. They realized that the sales pitch was specious when the company suddenly went out of business.

3. The jury saw through the defense lawyer's specious argument and convicted the murderer on the weight of the evidence.

4. The priest tried to convince me that evolution was false, but his arguments were specious.

5. The candidate affected a specious show of liberality merely to attract votes.

6. Jane tried to talk her way out of the ticket, but the cop told her that her argument was specious.

7. From the get-go Jane felt that Mark's claim was specious, but he insisted he was telling the truth and she couldn't at first prove otherwise.

8. As he took yet another deep breath of that speciously sweet cinnamon smell, it seemed to him that he had never wanted anything so badly in his whole life.

9. It was her neglecting to account for the difference in time zones that made Goody’s calculated arrival time specious.

10. The student's specious excuse for being late sounded legitimate, but was proved otherwise when his teacher called his home.

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Specious Synonyms:
alleged, apparent, apparently right, beguiling, casuistic, colorable, conceivable, counterfactual, credible, deceptive, fallacious, false, gilded, hypocritical, illogical, insincere, invalid, meretricious, misleading, ostensible, plausible, possible, presumable, presumed, presumptive, probable, purported, seeming, seemingly just, sophistic, sophistical, spurious, superficial, supposed, truthless, unsound, untrue, untruthful, wrong.

Specious Antonyms:
real, true, valid

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Specious Mnemonic:
This word is actually close to a similar sounding word: “suspicious”

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Some more sentences:

1. There was a specious attractiveness about Mark which might conceivably win a girl's heart for a time; he wrote poetry, talked well, and had a nice singing voice; but, as a partner for life ... well, he simply wouldn't do.

2. The title had seemed so promising overnight--so full of strenuous possibilities. It was still speciously attractive; but now that the moment had arrived for writing the story, its flaws became manifest.

3. “The chauffeur continued his specious examination of the sky”

4. The "do nothing, yet earn millions" claim made by some of the online businesses are specious in nature.

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Evanescent Meaning and Usage


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Meaning:

Adjective.

- vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor.
- quickly fading away; ephemeral or transitory
- tending to become imperceptible; scarcely perceptible.
"evanescent beauty"

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Derivatives:

evanescently - adverb
evanescence - noun

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Synonyms:
impermanent, temporary, ephemeral, fleeting, fugacious, momentary, passing, short-lived, temporal, transient, transitory.

Antonyms:
permanent, unlimited, abundant

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Use evanescent in a sentence:

1. The evanescent mirage could only be seen at a certain angle.

2. "Money leads such an evanescent existence in my pocket, I shall never be wealthy."

3. "The sight of Anna’s evanescent breath in the chilly air made Mike’s heart race a little faster yet."

4. You don't realize how evanescent youth really is until you are older.

5. There is nothing more glorious than the evanescent beauty of a sunset.

6. “All was unstable; quivering as leaves, evanescent as lightning.”

7. There was something evanescent about Sam, she thought, something shifting and false.

8. An evanescent ring surrounded the moon as it rose. It was there for a moment, and then it disappeared.

9. As a valetudinarian, James spent a lot of time supine on the couch when he could have been enjoying the evanescent pleasures of life while they lasted.

10. A face floated into his mind…into his memory. A face he had not seen since his last year at Hogwarts…a face that disappeared from his life…a face that haunted him in his dreams and memories. She was an evanescent memory, but he could still see and hear her like it was only yesterday.

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Do you know?

"Evanescent" derives from the Latin verb "evanescere," which means "to evaporate" or "to vanish."

English has several other words that mean lasting or staying only a short time.

"Ephemeral" and "transitory" apply to what is bound to pass ("superstardom is transitory"); "ephemeral," especially, implies striking brevity of duration ("fads, by their very nature, are ephemeral").

"Fugitive" and "fleeting" imply passing so quickly as to make apprehending difficult ("a fugitive smile flitted across his face"; "caught a fleeting glimpse").

"Fugacious," is used of all things fleeting and transitory; it's also the least common of these synonyms.

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Some more examples:

1. The evanescent mist soon began to dissipate from the heat of the sun.

2. The evanescent smoke from the cannon’s muzzle vanished within minutes.

3. The subject of the poem is the evanescent nature of young love.

4. He had thought he loved her to distraction; he had regarded his passion as adoration; and behold it was only a poor little evanescent partiality.

5. Every tornado is a little different, and they are all capricious, evanescent and hard to get a fix on.

6. The accidentally famous. . . may write books, appear on talk shows, and, in so doing, attract even greater public attention. This type of celebrity status, of course, is brittle and evanescent.

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Mnemonic:

Evanescent sounds like "Vanishing Scent"; the scent that would vanish, that wouldn't stay for long.
So evanescent means vanishing..

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Saturday, August 15, 2009

Prosaic Meaning and Usage


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Meaning:

adjective


- consisting or characteristic of prose.
- matter-of-fact; straightforward
- lacking in imagination and spirit; dull.

“prosaic details of everyday life”


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Derivatives:

prosaically - adverb
prosaicness – noun

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Use prosaic in a sentence:

1. The Board needs to focus less on lofty ideas and more on the prosaic operations and management-related issues that drive this company

2. Instead, the evidence is beginning to point to a less prosaic possible explanation.

3. “You can go through your whole life telling yourself that life is logical, life is prosaic, life is sane”

4. He wanted to do something new; he was tired of the prosaic activities his parents suggested each day.

5. Anna came in a prosaic gray suit to help convince voters of her political savvy and gravitas.

6. The only entertainment would be a prosaic game of cards.

7. His instructor offered a more prosaic explanation for the surge in interest

8. I applied my attention prosaically to my routine

9. Most students would find all of this rather prosaic not to say archaic.

10. Life in a small industrial town seems very prosaic to the sons and daughters who have been away to college

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Synonyms:

arid, aseptic, banal, boring, colorless, common, commonplace, drab, dry, dull, earthbound, everyday, flat, flavorless, hackneyed, hardheaded, humdrum, lackluster, lifeless, lusterless, matter-of-fact, mundane, objective, ordinary, pedestrian, practical, pragmatic, prosy, realistic, regular, routine, sober, spiritless, stale, sterile, stodgy, tame, tedious, tiresome, trite, unexciting, unglamourous, unimaginative, uninspiring, uninteresting, unrhetorical, unromantic, vapid, workaday.


Antonyms:

creative, imaginative, inspired, interesting, thinking, exciting


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Mnemonic:

Mosaic is beautiful artistic work with full of vibrant colours.
Prosaic is opposite of that - dull, boring, very common.

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Some more examples:

1. I've always loved the sight of windfarms, yet to be honest being up this close it seems more prosaic.

2. The reality, however, is probably more prosaic.

3. After jumping naked into the fountain downtown in an attempt to escape his prosaic life, Mark found himself living an even more prosaic life in prison.

4. John was tired of his prosaic job as a clothes salesman.

5. “I confess I never was able to dislodge from my memory the ever so prosaic sentence found in his letter”

6. He walked straight over to the administrative buildings, where, in the most prosaic way possible, he asked for the information about the course.

7. For students, one of the more challenging and useful steps in the revision stage of the writing process surfaces in the removal of prosaic sentence formations that include clichés, simple narration, and vague expressions.

8. The prosaic fact of the universe’s existence single-handedly defeats the pragmatist and the cynic.

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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Internecine Meaning and Usage


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Meaning:

adjective

- of or relating to struggle within a nation, organization, or group.
- mutually destructive; ruinous or fatal to both sides.
- characterized by bloodshed or carnage.

"an internecine feud among proxy holders"
"internecine war"
“internecine feuds between aspirants to the throne”

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Use internecine in a sentence:

1. The new Department of Homeland Security was created, among other reasons, to reduce the internecine competition between the various security agencies of the federal government.

2. The internecine strife between Lewis aficionados about the order of the Narnia books shows no signs of abating.

3. When the three brothers took over the family business together, it didn't take long for the internecine feuding to begin.

4. Their family was a victim of an internecine political struggle.

5. History demonstrates that brutal dictatorships and savage tribes engaged in internecine warfare are not transformed by handouts. After all, billions of dollars have already been poured into the country. What it needs is freedom, not welfare.

6. When high party officials are executed for corruption, it’s tough to find out whether it is a genuine case or a ploy in the internecine power struggles.

7. The Mongol people were plagued by internecine conflicts until Genghis Khan unified them and focused their aggression outwards on other peoples.

8. Invasions from southern India, combined with internecine strife, pushed Sinhalese kingdoms southward.

9. Although the Irish were subsequently free from foreign invasion for 150 years, internecine clan warfare continued to drain their energies and resources.

10. Internecine strife in Gaza claimed its most senior victim yesterday when militants assassinated one of the most hated security chiefs there

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Synonyms:
exterminating, sanguinary, internal, domestic, baneful, brutal, calamitous, cataclysmal, cataclysmic, catastrophic, consuming, consumptive, deadly, deathful, deathly, demolishing, demolitionary, depredatory, desolating, destroying, destructive, devastating, disastrous, doomful, fatal, fateful, feral, fratricidal, killing, lethal, malign, malignant, mortal, nihilist, nihilistic, pernicious, ravaging, ruining, ruinous, savage, self-destructive, subversionary, subversive, suicidal, vandalic, vandalish, vandalistic, virulent, wasteful, wasting, withering

Antonyms:
bloodless, constructive, lively, immortal, external

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WORD HISTORY:
When is a mistake not a mistake? In language at least, the answer to this question is “When everyone adopts it,” and on rare occasions, “When it's in the dictionary.” The word internecine presents a case in point.

Today, it usually has the meaning “relating to internal struggle,” but in its first recorded use in English, in 1663, it meant “fought to the death.” How it got from one sense to another is an interesting story in the history of English.

The Latin source of the word, spelled both internecīnus and internecīvus, meant “fought to the death, murderous.” It is a derivative of the verb necāre, “to kill.” The prefix inter– was here used not in the usual sense “between, mutual” but rather as an intensifier meaning “all the way, to the death.”

This piece of knowledge was unknown to Samuel Johnson, however, when he was working on his great dictionary in the 18th century. He included internecine in his dictionary but misunderstood the prefix and defined the word as “endeavoring mutual destruction.” Johnson was not taken to task for this error. On the contrary, his dictionary was so popular and considered so authoritative that this error became widely adopted as correct usage. The error was further compounded when internecine acquired the sense “relating to internal struggle.”

This story thus illustrates how dictionaries are often viewed as providing norms and how the ultimate arbiter in language, even for the dictionary itself, is popular usage.


internecine. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 13, 2009, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/internecine


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