Tag: use of words

Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly challenge created by Heena Rathore P. It’s a fun way to improve vocabulary by learning new words every week.

To participate, simply do a post with your word and leave the link as a comment on Heena’s WOW post for this week (above link).

I’m up to the letter W this week so I’ll be looking for a good word beginning with X

So, here is my WOW for this week:

 Word: 

Whirligig

Pronunciation

whirl·i·gig

[hwur-li-gig]

Audio Link: 

Whirligig

Part of Speech: 

Noun

Related Forms:

Verb: whirligig

 Meaning:

1. Any spinning toy, such as a top

2. A carousel; a merry-go-round

3. Something that continuously whirls, spins or moves in a circular or giddy way (e.g. the whirligig of social life or a windmill)

4. A whirligig beetle (a small, black, predatory beetle which swims rapidly in circles on the surface of still or slow-moving water and dives when alarmed).

Synonyms:

1. spinning top, humming top, whipping top, peg top,teetotum, plaything

2. merry-go-round, roundabout, fairground ride

3. (As a verb): spin, spin around, gyrate, reel, whirl, pirouette, spiral, rotate, roll, circle

4. beetle, water beetle, insect, bug

Antonyms: 

None

Word Origin:

Mid-15c: a child’s toy, from whirl (v) + gig (n). Meaning (‘anything in constant motion’ from the 1580s; ‘fickle flighty person’ is from 1600; a type of water beetle from 1713.

Use in a Sentence:

1. ‘Look at that whirligig up there in the sky!’ Susan said to her six year old son.

2. Doing the firm’s financial accounts left Marcia’s mind a complete whirligig.

3. It has often been said that Time is a whirligig and that all things come round again at some point, including fashions.

If you’d like to see more interesting words visit Heena’s page:

Word Treasure

Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly challenge created by Heena Rathore P. It’s a fun way to improve vocabulary by learning new words every week.

To participate, simply do a post with your word and leave the link as a comment on Heena’s WOW post for this week (above link).

I’m up to the letter V this week so I’ll be looking for a good word beginning with W

So, here is my WOW for this week:

 Word: 

Vacuous

Pronunciation

vac·u·ous  (vak-yoo-uh s)

Audio Link: 

Vacuous

Part of Speech: 

Adjective

Related Forms:

Adverb: vacuously

Noun: vacuousness

 Meaning:

1. Lacking intelligence; stupid or empty-headed.

2. Devoid of expression; vacant: a vacuous stare.

3. Lacking substance or meaning; vapid or inane e.g. a vacuous comment.

4. Lacking serious purpose or occupation; idle: e.g. After a night almost devoid of sleep, John had a vacuous day at the office:

5. Devoid of matter; empty: e.g. a vacuous space.

Synonyms:

Vapid, stupid, inane, asinine, blank, mindless, meaningless, fatuous, vacant, empty, unintelligent, incommunicative, uncommunicative.

Antonym: 

Full

Word Origin:

1640s: empty, from Latin vacuus – empty, void, free (as in vacuum). The figurative sense of ‘empty of ideas’ is from 1848.

Use in a Sentence:

1. John worried that after a few too many cocktails, Erica’s mind would become vacuous:

 2. The demonstrators were chanting particularly vacuous slogans:

3. (Adverb use). At weekends, Kathy gossiped vacuously for hours with her friends:

If you’d like to see more interesting words visit Heena’s page:

Word Treasure

Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly challenge created by Heena Rathore P. It’s a fun way to improve vocabulary by learning new words every week.

To participate, simply do a post with your word and leave the link as a comment on Heena’s WOW post for this week (above link). It’s a nice post to do and will give you some practise with a dictionary, of which there are several online. Illustrations are up to you.

I’m up to the letter U this week so I’ll be looking for a good word beginning with V

So, here is my WOW for this week:

 Word: 

Ubiquitous

Pronunciation

u·biq·ui·tous  [juːˈbɪkwɪtəs]

Audio Link: 

Ubiquitous

Part of Speech: 

Adjective

Related Forms:

Adverb: ubiquitously 

Noun: ubiquitousness; ubiquity

 Meaning:

Existing or being everywhere, especially at the same time; omnipresent: ubiquitous fog

Synonyms:

omnipresent, ever present, pervasive, all-over, everywhere, universal, common or garden (chiefly British) commonplace, everyday, familiar, frequent, ordinary, quotidian, routine, usual , widespread, generalised, scattered

Antonyms: 

extraordinary, infrequent, rare, seldom, uncommon, unfamiliar, unusual

Word Origin:

“Turning up everywhere,” 1837, from  ubiquity + ous. The earlier word was ubiquitary (1580s), from Modern Latin uubiquitarious from ubique

Use in a Sentence:

1. The police presence was ubiquitous in Edinburgh during the protests at the start of the G8 summit.

2. (Adverb use) Denim is used ubiquitously in the clothes industry:

3. McDonald’s has a ubiquitous presence in the world.

If you’d like to see more interesting words visit Heena’s page:

Word Treasure

Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly challenge created by Heena Rathore P. It’s a fun way to improve vocabulary by learning new words every week.

To participate, simply do a post with your word and leave the link as a comment on Heena’s WOW post for this week (above link). It’s a nice post to do and will give you some practise with a dictionary, of which there are several online. Illustrations are by no means necessary, but it’s up to you.

I’m up to the letter T this week so I’ll be looking for a good word beginning with U

So, here is my WOW for this week:

 Word: 

Tenacious

Pronunciation

te•na•cious [tuh–ney-shuh s]

Audio Link: tenacious  (Not much difference between the UK and US pronunciation with this word)

Part of Speech: 

Adjective

Related Forms:

Adverb: te·na·cious·ly

Noun: te·na·cious·ness

Noun: tenacity

Noun: tenacity: the quality of being tenacious

 Meaning:

1. Holding fast, or keeping a firm hold, often followed by of, e.g. a tenacious grip on my arm

2. Highly retentive, e.g. a tenacious memory.

3. Persistent, stubborn, or obstinate.

4.  Adhesive or sticky; viscous or glutinous.

5. Holding together; cohesive; not easily pulled apart; tough.

1. Stubborn, dogged, determined, persistent, sure, firm, adamant, staunch, resolute, inflexible, strong-willed, steadfast, unyielding, obstinate, intransigent, immovable, unswerving, obdurate, stiff-necked, pertinacious, tight, forceful, unshakable

2. Synonyms for adhesive meaning (4): clinging, sticky, glutinous, gluey, mucilaginous (e.g. tenacious catarrh in the nasal passage and lungs).

Antonyms:  

Wavering, changeable, vacillating, yielding, flexible, irresolute

Word Origin

Early 17th century: from Latin tenax, tenac- (from tenere ‘to hold’) + ious

Use in a Sentence:

1. It was sad that a man with such a tenacious memory as Albert should succumb to acute dementia so early in life:

2. (Adverb use) King Alfred’s men fought tenaciously against the Danes to save their kingdom:

3. (Noun use) David Beckham’s tenaciousness and commitment to soccer makes him one of the truly great players:

4. A ladybird goes after its garden prey in a tenacious manner:

If you’d like to see more interesting words, visit Heena’s page:

Word Treasure

Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly challenge created by Heena Rathore P. It’s a fun way to improve vocabulary by learning new words every week.

To participate, simply do a post with your word and leave the link as a comment on Heena’s WOW post for this week (above link). It’s a nice post to do and will give you some practise with a dictionary, of which there are several online. Illustrations are by no means necessary, but it’s up to you.

I’m up to the letter S this week, so I’ll be looking for a word beginning with  T next week.

So, here is my WOW for this week:

 Word: 

Somnolent

Pronunciation:  

som·no·lent  [som-nuh-luh nt]

Audio:  HERE

Part of Speech:

Adjective

Noun: somnolence; somnolency

Adverb: somnolently

 Meaning:

1. Drowsy; sleepy (e.g a somnolent river, or a somnolent person)

2. Inducing or tending to induce sleep or sedation; soporific (e.g. a somnolent lesson)

Synonyms:

sleepy, drowsy, tired, languid, languorous, heavy-eyed, dozy, noddding, half-asleep, asleep on one’s feet, yawning, lethargic, sluggish,  inactive, enervated, torpid, comatose, slumberous (or slumbrous) soporific.  Informal: snoozy, dopey, yawny

Antonyms:

alert, awake,conscious, wakeful, wide-eyed

Word Origin:

1425-75; late Middle English sompnolent < Old French < Latin somnolentus, derivative of somnus (sleep).

Use in a Sentence:

1. After feeding him, Katherine laid her somnolent baby in his cradle:

2. Once we’d crossed to the island, we passed through a number of somnolent villages:

3. (Noun  use) The warmth of the summer’s afternoon, combined with the good food and wine, induced a degree of somnolence in us:

4. (Adverb use) The waves lapped somnolently against the shore as we took our evening stroll.

If you’d like to see more interesting words, visit Heena’s page:

Word Treasure

Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly challenge created by Heena Rathore P. It’s a fun way to improve vocabulary by learning new words every week.

To participate, simply do a post with your word and leave the link as a comment on Heena’s WOW post for this week (above link). Illustrations are by no means necessary, but it’s up to you.

I’m up to the letter R this week. I started off by just choosing a word at random (perspicacious). Since then, I’ve been working through the alphabet, so I’ll be looking for a good word beginning with S next week.

So, here is my WOW for this week:

 Word: 

Redolent

Pronunciation:

red·o·lent  (rɛdəʊlənt)

Audio link: Click here

Part of Speech:

Adjective

[Noun: red·o·lence, red·o·len·cy.  Adverb: red·o·lent·ly]

 Meaning:

1.Having a pleasant smell; fragrant e.g. a  deep, rich, redolent wine 

2. Odorous or smelling (usually followed by of) e.g. a room, redolent of furniture polish

3. Suggestive; reminiscent (usually followed by of or with) e.g. a portrait redolent of the nineteenth century 

Synonyms:

1. odorous, aromatic, odoriferous, ambrosial, aromatic, perfumed, fragrant, savoury (savory) scented, sweet, pleasant -smelling

2. (serving to bring to mind): evocative, remindful, reminiscent, resonant

Antonyms:

fetid, foul, malodorous, noisome, putrid, rancid, rank, reek, reeking, skunky, smelly, stenchful, stinking, stinky, strong

Word Origin

C14: from Latin redolens smelling (of), from redolēre to give off an odour, from red- re + olēre to smell

Use in a Sentence:

1. The chapter Margaret was reading was a sad one, redolent of regret and lost causes.

2. The forest path was redolent with the scent of pine needles.

3. (Noun use): The farmhouse kitchen was filled with the redolence of freshly baked bread.

If you’d like to see more interesting words, visit Heena’s page:

Word Treasure

Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly challenge created by Heena Rathore P. It’s a fun way to improve vocabulary by learning new words every week.

To participate, simply do a post with your word and leave the link as a comment on Heena’s WOW post for this week (above link). It’s a nice post to do and will give you some practise with a dictionary, of which there are several online. Illustrations are by no means necessary, but it’s up to you.

I’m up to the letter Q this week. I started off by just choosing a word at random (perspicacious). Since then, I’ve been working through the alphabet, so I’ll be looking for a good word beginning with  R next week.

*Note to exiledprospero, who kindly suggested a good word for me to do when I reached Q:

I was going to do Qixotic this week, Prospero, as you kindly suggested, but I discovered that Heena, who runs this challenge, had beaten me to it.  So, if you’d like to see what Heena has to say about that excellent word, follow the link in her name above.

So, here is my WOW for this week:

Word: Quagmire

Pronunciation:  [kwag-mahyuh r, kwog-]  (ˈkwæɡˌmaɪə; ˈkwɒɡ-)

Audio link to British and U.S. pronunciation here

Part of Speech:  Noun

Adjective:  Quagmiry (quag·mir·y)

 Meaning:

1. A soft wet area of land that gives way underfoot.

2. A difficult  or precarious situation; a predicament.

3. Anything soft or flabby.

Synonyms:

predicament, difficulty, quandary, pass, dilemma, pinch, plight, muddle, impasse, entanglement, imbroglio. Informal usage: fix, jam, scrape, pickle, rabbit-hole, rattrap. sticky wicket.

Word Origin and History (Dictionary.com)

1570s, “bog, marsh,” from obsolete quaq “bog, marsh” + mire. Early spellings include quamyre (1550s), quabmire (1590s), quadmire (1600). The extended sense of “difficult situation, inescapable bad position” is recorded by 1766, but this seems to have been not in common use in much before the 19th century.

Use in a Sentence:

1. Martin had no problems on his bike ride until he reached the track through the woods where the slush and rain had turned it into a quagmire.

2. Continuous rain for days on end had turned the former battlefield into a quagmire.

3. The dilemma sucked Angela deeper and deeper into a quagmire of indecision.

4. The family was enguilfed in a legal quagmire and was concerned that they may not be able to afford lawyer’s hefty fees.

*

If you’d like to see more interesting words, visit Heena’s page:

Word Treasure

Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly challenge created by Heena Rathore P. It’s a fun way to improve vocabulary by learning new words every week.

To participate, simply do a post with your word and leave the link as a comment on Heena’s WOW post for this week (above link). It’s a nice post to do and will give you some practice with a dictionary, of which there are several online. Illustrations are by not necessary, but it’s up to you.

I’m up to the letter P this week. I started off by just choosing a word at random (perspicacious). Since then, I’ve been working through the alphabet, so I’ll be looking for a good word beginning with Q next week

So, here is my WOW for this week:

Word: Popinjay

Pronunciation:   Pop·in·jay  [pop-in-jey]  (popinˌdzei)

Audio Link: popinjay

Part of Speech:  Noun

Adjective: Popinjay (when used to describe colours, e.g. popinjay blue; popinjay green).

 Meaning:

1.  A conceited, vain,  foppish, or excessively talkative person.

2.  British Dialect. a woodpecker, especially the green woodpecker.

3.  An archaic word for parrot.

4. Archaic: the figure of a parrot usually fixed on a pole and used as a target in archery and gun shooting.

Here is a good summary of the word’s meaning that I found at Dictionary Definition: Vocabulary.com

A popinjay is a person who is both talkative and cocky, who struts around chattering like a parrot. Fittingly, it’s also an old-fashioned word meaning parrot, and the name of a sport also known as pole archery, in which players shoot at wooden bird shapes with either rifles or crossbows. The origin of popinjay is unknown, but one guess is that its roots are imitative, meant to sound like the cry of a bird.

Synonyms:

fop, swell, buck, peacock, dandy, jackanapes, coxcomb, egoist, egotist, beau, blade, clothes-horse, dude, macaroni, Beau Brummel, blabbermouth, chatterbox.

Word Origin:

1275-1325; Middle English papejay, popingay, papinjai < Middle French papegai, papingay parrot < Spanish papagayo < Arabic babaghā

Use in a Sentence:

1.  The party host was a strutting, supercilious dandy; a real popinjay.

2. Maria sighed when she realised that her blind date was another Beau Brummel, who cared too much about his own appearance to appreciate the efforts she had made with hers.

3. The men congregated around the pole, some taking aim at the wooden popinjay fixed securely to the top.

4. (Adjective use). Carol’s new dress was a bright, popinjay blue.

4.  Her constant bragging gave her the air of being an irritating popinjay

*

If you’d like to see more interesting words, visit Heena’s page:

Word Treasure

Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly challenge created by Heena Rathore P. It’s a fun way to improve vocabulary by learning new words every week. To participate, simply do a post with your word and leave the link as a comment on Heena’s WOW post for this week (above link). It’s a nice post to do and will give you some practice with a dictionary, of which there are several online. Illustrations are not necessary, but it’s up to you.

Next week I’ll be looking for a word beginning with o.

Here is my WOW for this week:

 Word: Nefarious

Pronunciation:  ne·far·i·ous  [ni-fair-ee-uh s] (nə-fâr′ē-əs)

Audio link for pronunciation:  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/nefarious

Part of Speech: Adjective Adverb: nefariously Noun: nefariousness  

Meaning: extremely wicked or villainous; iniquitous  Synonyms:

flagitious, heinous, infamous, vile, atrocious, execrable, sinful, base, shameful, depraved, unethical, impious

Antonyms: good, honest, just, noble, upright, honourable, decent, ethical, virtuous

Word Origin: C 17 from Latin nefarious from nefās unlawful deed, from nē not + fās divine law

Use in a Sentence:

1. Martha scrutinised her husband’s new colleague, convinced there was something nefarious about him.

2. Police had been alerted to the fact that the nefarious casino boss had been recently released from prison and had returned to the town.

3. It is a great pity that such a wonderful tool as the Internet can be used for so many nefarious purposes.

If you’d like to check out more interesting words then visit Heena’s page:

Word Treasure