Every weekday we feature two words: Word of the Day and Academic Vocabulary of the Day. The rationale and target audience for each is different. Academic Vocabulary of the Day is aimed at…
Category: Vocabulary
averse vs. adverse
It’s not a shocker that these two adjectives are frequently confused. They differ in spelling only by a letter, and they both mean, broadly speaking, “opposed to.” Digging deeper into their etymology…
Neologisms: what makes a new word sticky?
What does it take to invent a word that takes root in the American English language–at least for a while? Ralph Keyes suggests that necessity (new things demand new names) and, on…