Exacerbate Meaning and Usage

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Exacerbate Meaning:

- to aggravate,  to make worse

- to irritate, to vex

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Usage examples:

- reservation policies exacerbate existing inequalities

- exacerbate existing mental health problems

- a speech that exacerbated racial tensions

- a heavy rainfall that exacerbated the flood problems.

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Use exacerbate in a sentence:

1.      You will only exacerbate the situation if you try to call her.

3.      It is unwise to take aspirin to try to relieve heartburn; instead of providing relief, the drug will only exacerbate the problem.

4.      Putting weight on your twisted ankle will exacerbate your discomfort.

6.      You may want to keep a food log for a week or two to see whether any particular foods exacerbate the symptoms.

7.      The proposed factory shutdown would only exacerbate our unemployment problems.

8.      Changes in the tax law will only exacerbate problems in capital investment.

    The coming elections will likely exacerbate the conflicts within Congress.

9.      Higher pollen counts will exacerbate breathing difficulty for those with allergies.

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Exacerbate Synonyms:

aggravate, annoy, egg on, embitter, enrage, envenom, intensify, irritate, provoke, vex, worsen

Exacerbate Antonyms:  

relieve, soothe, alleviate, ameliorate, aid, calm,comfort, help

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Related forms:

exacerbatingly : adverb

exacerbation    : noun

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Usages from some Books:

As a final blow in this horrible period of her life, Marie suffered a breakdown in her health, “a severe and complicated kidney ailment,” Quinn writes, “undoubtedly exacerbated by the pain of the scandal. She was unable to work.” 

“Great Physicists” - William H. Cropper

It was plain that the Hufflepuffs felt that Harry had stolen their champion's glory; a feeling exacerbated, perhaps, by the fact that Hufflepuff House very rarely got any glory, and that Cedric was one of the few who had ever given them any, having beaten Gryffindor once at Quidditch.

“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” – J.K. Rowling

The explanation of the photoelectric effect won Einstein the Nobel Prize in 1921. Great experiments such as Lenard’s win Nobel Prizes, but great explanations such as Einstein’s not only win Nobel Prizes but also make history. Perhaps unhappy at being upstaged by Einstein, possibly exacerbated by his inability to find the explanation for the photoelectric effect he had discovered (and on which he could have cornered both the experimental and theoretical markets), Lenard disparaged Einstein’s theory of relativity as “Jewish science” and became an ardent supporter of the Nazis.

“How math explains the world” - James D. Stein.

Nash and Alicia were living together once more, but not especially happily. The turbulence of the two previous years had produced an accumulation of hurts and resentments, and the resulting coldness lingered and was exacerbated by new conflicts over money, childrearing, and other issues of daily living.

“A Beautiful mind” – Sylvia Nasar

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Frivolous Meaning and Usage

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Frivolous Meaning:

- Of little weight or importance; not worth notice; slight.

- Given to trifling; marked with unbecoming levity; silly; interested especially in trifling matters.

- Unworthy of serious attention; trivial.

- characterized by lack of seriousness or sense.

- self-indulgently carefree; unconcerned about or lacking any serious purpose.

- of little or no weight, worth, or importance; not worthy of serious notice.

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Usage Examples:

a frivolous remark

frivolous details

a frivolous novel

a frivolous purchase

a frivolous argument

the frivolity of his behavior

frivolous conduct

a frivolous suggestion

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Use Frivolous in a sentence:

1. He wasted his time on frivolous pleasures.

2. I have no time for frivolities.

3. She thinks window shopping is a frivolous activity.

4. She knew that people might think her frivolous, Kitty said, to talk to some saint when she had a cooking disaster, but that was what she really believed the saints were there for.

5. The group says it wants politicians to stop wasting public money on what it believes are frivolous projects.

6. I just decided I was a bit too frivolous to be a doctor.

7. While this may seem a slightly frivolous idea, it is far from it.

8. The poker player was frivolous with his money and gambled it all away.

9. Why would I occupy my time with such a frivolous idea.

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Related forms:

Frivolously - adverb

Frivolousness- noun

Frivolity - noun

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Frivolous Synonyms:

childish, dizzy, extravagant, fiddling, flighty, foolish, idle, impractical, incidental, inconsequential, inconsiderable, insignificant, juvenile, light, little, minor, minute, negligible, niggling, nugatory, paltry, peripheral, petty, pointless, puerile, shallow, silly, slight, superficial, trifling, trivial, unimportant, flippant.

Frivolous Antonyms:

important, serious, vital, earnest, responsible, practical, mature, sensible, solemn, big, consequential, eventful, major, material, meaningful, momentous, significant, substantial, weighty

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Some more examples:

1. Smithson went to court on a frivolous lawsuit. The judge admonished him for bringing up such a silly matter before the court and wasting its time.

2. While some meaningful psychological information can be extracted from dream reports, we also should recognize that some aspects of dream content may turn out to be nothing more than frivolous products of the freewheeling improvisation the brain undergoes when input from the external world is shut off while the forebrain is activated.

3. Then, suddenly altering his tone, ‘Excuse this frivolous family badinage, Mr. Malone. I called you back for some more serious purpose than to mix you up with our little domestic pleasantries.’

4. After a frivolous youth devoted mainly to gambling, Peter began his university studies at Lawrence and completed them in 1625 with a doctorate in medicine.

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Harbinger Meaning and Usage

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Harbinger Meaning:

noun
- one that indicates or foreshadows what is to come; a forerunner.

verb
- foreshadow or presage
- to act as harbinger to; herald the coming of.

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Usage examples:

frost is a harbinger of winter.
harbinger of doom.
harbinger of a new dawn.

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Use Harbinger in a sentence:

1. "And while lower prices could mean an opportunity for investors and some savings for American consumers, such reductions could also be a harbinger of deflation."

2. J P Morgan has posted modest profits for the quarter. This seems to be a harbinger for far better things to come.

3. This book may well be considered the harbinger of the next generation of community studies.

4. The damage the initial wind gusts did to the seaside cafe's table umbrellas was a harbinger of the hurricane damage to follow.

5. This misfortune might prove a harbinger of worse things to come.

6. Indeed, the international financial market is portraying China's perceived recovery as a harbinger for global recovery.

7. Thick fur on a wooly worm is a harbinger of a cold winter.


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Harbinger Synonyms:

Noun.
forerunner, predecessor, precursor, indicant, indication, sign, messenger, omen, portent, foretoken, augury.

Verb.
annunciate, foretell, herald, announce, tell.

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Harbinger Antonyms:

Noun.
follower, supporter, successor, disciple, descendant.

Verb.
hide, withhold.

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Some more examples:

1. The ominous clouds were harbingers of the tornado.

2. The bright glow on the Western horizon might not be the harbinger of a new dawn; it might very well be the red flames of a huge funeral pyre…!!!

3. To make matters worse, a terrifying figure now emerges from the sea like a harbinger of doom.

With Birds as harbingers….!!!

4. The albatross following the ship was feared by the superstitious sailors as a harbinger of doom.

5. The crowing cock is the harbinger of dawn.

6. The geese flying south is a harbinger of the weather’s turning cold.

7. The robin is a harbinger of spring.

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Word Origin & History:

From herbengar, "one sent ahead to arrange lodgings" (for a monarch, an army, etc.), which inturn comes from Medieval English. herberger which is to "provider of shelter, innkeeper"

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Resilience Meaning and Usage

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Resilience meaning:

noun

- the ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancy.
- the property of a material that enables it to resume its original shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed; elasticity.

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Usage examples:

"some resilient plastic material"
"I'm a resilient kind of person"
"the resilience of human beings"

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Forms:

resilient - adjective
resiliency - noun
resiliently - adverb

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Use Resilience in a sentence:

1. In spite of the violence in Northern Ireland, industry there has shown a remarkable resilience.

2. The earthquake destroyed thousands of people's lives but I was struck by the incredible resilience of the survivors I met.

3. Do not stretch your face into funny positions because it may not be resilient.

4. The athlete proved himself to be very resilient after his ankle injury.

5. Foam rubber is a very resilient material, and cushions made from it retain their shape after being sat on hundreds of times.

6. Gwen showed that she was resilient by joking with the paramedics only moments after they pulled her from the rubble of the collapsed building.


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Resilience Synonyms:

bounce, buoyancy, elasticity, ductility, flexibility, malleability, pliability, pliancy, suppleness, strength, toughness, adaptability, hardiness

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Resilience Antonyms:

fragility, inflexibility, rigidity, vulnerability, weakness

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Some more examples:

1. There is a need for more resilient bumpers on cars that can withstand minor accidents.

2. She knew him well enough to be sure that, sooner or later, the resiliency of his nature would assert itself.

3. Early next morning, before the other two were awake, Harry left the tent to search the woods around them for the oldest, most gnarled, and resilient—looking tree he could find.

4. The resilience of youth is astonishing, and Bill was soon on his feet again.

5. Tony showed that he was resilient by hitting a home run after striking out three consecutive times.
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Cantankerous Meaning and Usage

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Cantankerous Meaning:

adjective.

- ill-tempered and quarrelsome; disagreeable.
- difficult to handle

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Usage examples:

“a cantankerous old man”
“a cantankerous, argumentative man”
"a cantankerous and venomous-tongued old lady"
"had to use liquid helium, which is supercold, costly and cantankerous"
“disliked her cantankerous landlord”

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Forms:

cantankerously - adverb
cantankerousness - noun

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Use cantankerous in a sentence:

1. The bear was always a little cantankerous in the mornings.

2. It is hard not to sympathize with his desire to knock off manager Mark, a hammy, cantankerous old man.

3. Philip’s few friends would describe him as cantankerous, tight-fisted, mean-spirited and misanthropic.

4. The cantankerous behavior that the students exhibited during the demonstration agitated the principal.

5. "Greg is so cantankerous, he complains about his birthday gifts."

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Cantankerous Synonyms:

bad-tempered, crabbed, cranky, cross, disagreeable, fretful, grouchy, grumpy, ill-tempered, irascible, irritable, nasty, peevish, petulant, querulous, snappish, snappy, surly, testy, ugly, waspish, ornery, crotchety.

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Cantankerous Antonyms:

easy, good-natured, happy, nice, pleasant

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Some more examples:

1. The cantankerous customer continued to insist on a refund in his loud, irritating voice.

2. The doctor told the young man to go out and find the ugliest, most cantankerous woman he could find and marry her!!!

3. Tom was always cantankerous in the morning, given to snapping and snarling until he'd had his first cup of coffee and a soothing hot shower.

4. That day, this normally upbeat guy was uncharacteristically irritable and cantankerous.

5. Charlie used to be so friendly, but he's become a cantankerous old codger.

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Esoteric Meaning and Usage

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Esoteric Meaning:

adjective

- beyond the understanding of an average mind, tough to understand.
- intended for or understood by only a particular group.
- of or relating to that which is known by a restricted number of people, not publicly disclosed; confidential.

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Esoteric Usage:

"an esoteric statement"
"an esoteric cult"
"esoteric interests"
"esoteric aims"
"esoteric philosophical theories"
"esoteric terminology"
"esoteric subjects"
"engaging in esoteric pursuits"
"an esoteric purpose"
"esoteric building materials"
"an esoteric plan"

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Esoteric Forms:

esoterically – adverb
esotericism - noun

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Use Esoteric in a sentence:

1. Professor Hawking’s book is a massive hit and has made his name around the world. Somehow he has managed to circumvent prejudice and to communicate his esoteric theories directly to the lay reader.

2. Even as acupuncture has grown in popularity, though, it has never been able to shake suspicions that it is merely an esoteric sham treatment.

3. His sensible and simple-to-follow approach to yoga gained many adherents and made what had seemed an esoteric Eastern approach accessible.

4. Computer programming was once an esoteric subject, but beginner courses and how-to books have made it easier to grasp.

5. Merely having Hawking’s name associated with the exhibition and having him open it guaranteed its success, attracting the interest of the media and a public who would normally not be drawn to so esoteric an exhibition.

6. You may as well focus on important matters that are well known, rather than try to understand the more esoteric finer points.

7. Many students complained the SATs were esoteric because their school didn’t teach them half the material on the tests.

8. Only a handful of experts are knowledgeable about the esoteric world of particle physics.

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Esoteric Synonyms:

abstruse, deep, profound, recondite, mysterious, obscure, private, secret, hidden, inner, mysterious, mystical, mystic, occult, arcane, cryptic, inscrutable, cabbalistic.

Esoteric Antonyms:

common, familiar, known, obvious, public.

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Some more examples:

1. The esoteric disciples were the small inner group to whom the master divulged his deeper meanings.

2. The English teachers were having an esoteric discussion about the correct usage of some obscure word.

3. Since philosophy professors are not expected to connect their esoteric discourse with practical affairs, it is more difficult to convict them of speaking nonsense.

4. She has published several books on relativity and other esoteric theories.

5. His esoteric ideas sometimes alienated him from others.

6. The esoteric language was only known by a select group.

7. The large novel had many esoteric allusions.

8. His life work has been conducting research in a somewhat esoteric branch of business.

9. “No matter what seemingly esoteric interest you have, be assured there is probably a publication out there clambering for your expertise.”

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