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jim_1

Words for the week

jim_1 (Zone 5B)
2 years ago

Unusual words

Ten somewhat out-of-the-ordinary words that have been chosen because they lie just on the outer fringes of the average vocabulary, representative of words you would like to have in your working vocabulary but may not quite have mastered. Here are the ten words:

Ameliorate – to make better, to improve. This comes direct from the Latin ad (to) and melior(better).

Culpable – Blameworthy, deserving of censure. Again, this come from the Latin: culpa (blame).

Equivocate – To hedge; to use double-talk in an effort to mislead or deceive. Again from the Latin, this word literally means to speak with two voices: aequi (equal) and vocare(to call). So you see, our idea of “double-talk” is anything but new.

Esoteric – Intended for a chose few, the insiders. This come from the Greek esoteros (inner).

Extirpate – To root out, destroy completely, from the Latin ex (out) and stirps(root).

Incipient – Just beginning to exist, from the Latin in (in, on) and capere (take).

InveterateFirmly established, deep rooted. Again this is from Latin: in (in) and vetus (old).

Jocose – Humorous, facetious, from the Latin jocus (a joke).

Mitigate – Make less severe, from the Latin mitis(mild) and agere (do).

Reprehensible – Deserving to be censured or rebuked. Again the source is Latin: re (back) and prehendere (take).

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