Editorial »

Recently Added Articles Page #119

Our vibrant community of passionate editors is making sure we're up to date with the latest and greatest grammar tips, articles and tutorials.

Font size:

dilettante - vocabulary

dilettante - noun One who engages in art or other subject for amusement, usually in a desultory or superficial way; a dabbler. Also used to refer to a lover of the fine arts. The second reason for his delay was a personal one. He had dawdled over his...

added by edgood
8 years ago

diminution - vocabulary

diminution - noun The process, act, or fact of lessening or diminishing; reduction.Note: The adjective form diminutive often refers to people or things that are small or short. In grammar, a diminutive formation denotes smallness, familiarity, or tri...

added by edgood
8 years ago

discomfit - vocabulary

discomfit - verb Discomfit, to confuse, disconcert; to thwart, to frustrate the plans of, to foil. Whether the issue is birth control or global warming or clean air, this administration has already acquired a special place in regulatory history for t...

added by edgood
8 years ago

disenfranchise - vocabulary

disenfranchise - verb To deprive of any right privilege or power; to deprive of voting rights. From the early indications, Americans are feeling enthusiastic about their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. The Supreme Court should encourage, n...

added by edgood
8 years ago

disingenuous - vocabulary

disingenuous See the discussion of ingenuousNote: You may download the Grammar eBook Build Your Vocabulary and get all 406 vocabulary words. Next Word: disjunctive Previous Word: disenfranchise....

added by edgood
8 years ago

disjunctive - vocabulary

disjunctive - adjective Helping or serving to disconnect or separate; dividing; distinguishing.Note: In grammar, disjunctive describes the process of syntactically setting two or more elements in opposition to each other, as in poor but happy, or exp...

added by edgood
8 years ago

disparage - vocabulary

disparage - verb To regard or speak of slightingly; to belittle; to bring reproach or discredit on. People disparage knowing and the intellectual life, and urge doing. I am content with knowing, if only I could know.—Ralph Waldo Emerson “Experien...

added by edgood
8 years ago

dissemble - vocabulary

dissemble - verb To give a misleading or false appearance, to conceal the truth; to feign.Note: Do not confuse dissemble (to hide the truth) with disassemble (to take something apart). Consider this note from Washington State University’s website: ...

added by edgood
8 years ago

disseminate - vocabulary

disseminate - verb To spread or scatter widely, as seed is sown; to distribute, broadcast, disperse, as in disseminate information. "Nations, like individuals, wish to enjoy a fair reputation. It is therefore desirable for us that the slanders on our...

added by edgood
8 years ago

dogma, dogmatic, dogmatize - vocabulary

dogma, dogmatic, dogmatize - noun, adjective, verb  nounDogma: a systems of tenets or principles, often from a church; prescribed doctrine, as in political dogma; a settled or established belief or opinion.adjectiveDogmatic: often used to descri...

added by edgood
8 years ago

duplicity - vocabulary

duplicity - noun Deceitfulness in conduct or speech; speaking and acting in two different, opposing ways; a twofold or double quality or state.Note: The adjective duplicitous describes someone who is given to deceitful conduct or speech; a person who...

added by edgood
8 years ago

ebullient - vocabulary

ebullient - adjective Showing enthusiasm or exhilaration of feeling; excited; high-spirited. The world was kept informed of Pavarotti's joie de vivre, his ebullient flirtations and his halfhearted struggle with his weight, which fluctuated between 25...

added by edgood
8 years ago

eccentric - vocabulary

eccentric - noun One who goes his own way and cares little about the norm.adjectiveDeviating from customary or recognized character; erratic; odd; peculiar. An insight into the eccentric life of Albert Einstein has been provided in a letter written b...

added by edgood
8 years ago

efface - vocabulary

efface - verb To wipe out, do away with, obliterate, expunge, as in She effaced her most dreadful memories.Note: The related terms self-effacement and self-effacing mean to keep oneself in the background, to exhibit humility. If we work upon marble, ...

added by edgood
8 years ago

effete - vocabulary

effete - adjective Lacking in wholesome vigor, degenerate, decadent; exhausted of energy or support, worn out. A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.—Fo...

added by edgood
8 years ago

efficacious - vocabulary

efficacious - adjective Capable of having the desired result; effective as a method, means, or remedy.Note: The noun form efficacy means effectiveness. For example, to gain FDA approval, a drug company must show the efficacy of the drug. The efficacy...

added by edgood
8 years ago

effrontery - vocabulary

effrontery - noun Unblushing impudence or boldness; barefaced audacity; “nerve.”Note: Do not confuse the noun effrontery with the verb and noun affront. The verb affront means “to insult, to offend deliberately”; the noun means “insult” a...

added by edgood
8 years ago

egoism, egotism - vocabulary

egoism, egotism - noun Egoism: a philosophical doctrine that morality has its foundations in self-interest.Egotism: an excessive preoccupation with self. Note: Egotism, egoism refer to preoccupation with one's ego or self. Egotism is the common word ...

added by edgood
8 years ago

egregious - vocabulary

egregious - adjective Extraordinary in a bad way, glaring, flagrant, as in an egregious violation of the law. On Jan. 31, 1996, the city ordered the tenants of a Harlem brownstone to move out, saying that a series of code violations had made the buil...

added by edgood
8 years ago

elicit, illicit - vocabulary

Elicit: verb, to draw out, to bring forth, to call forth or provoke.Illicit: adjective, not legally permitted or authorized, disapproved of, as in an illicit affair or illicit drug traffic. It is the story-teller’s task to elicit sympathy and a mea...

added by edgood
8 years ago

elucidate - vocabulary

verbTo bring out more clearly the facts concerning; to make lucid or clear. The chief element in the art of statesmanship under modern conditions is the ability to elucidate the confused and clamorous interests which converge upon the seat of governm...

added by edgood
8 years ago

elude, allude - vocabulary

verbElude: to evade the search or pursuit of by dexterity or artifice; to escape capture. Also, to escape the understanding of, as in The answer eluded me.Allude: to refer to casually or indirectly. If you want something, it will elude you. If you do...

added by edgood
8 years ago

emaciate - vocabulary

verbTo waste away in flesh, to make abnormally lean. Often used as a verbal adjective, as in After his diet, he looked emaciated. It never entered his head to analyse the details of the sick man’s situation, to consider how that body was lying unde...

added by edgood
8 years ago

emanate - vocabulary

verbTo flow out of, to proceed, as from a source, as in The light emanated from the lamp. As the struggle proceeded for making the ruling power emanate from the periodical choice of the ruled, some persons began to think that too much importance had ...

added by edgood
8 years ago

emigrate, immigrate - vocabulary

verbEmigrate: to move out of a country.Immigrate: to come into a country.nounEmigration: the process of leaving a country.Emigrant: the person who leaves.Immigration: process of coming into a country.Immigrant: the person who comes in.Note: Use this ...

added by edgood
8 years ago

Discuss these recent grammar articles with the community:

0 Comments

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest grammar knowledge base and articles collection on the web!


    Improve your writing now:

    Download Grammar eBooks

    It’s now more important than ever to develop a powerful writing style. After all, most communication takes place in reports, emails, and instant messages.



    Quiz

    Are you a grammar master?

    »
    Choose the sentence with correct use of the modal verb "can":
    A She cans swim very well.
    B I can speak three languages.
    C He can goes there by himself.
    D They can to solve the problem.