Anytime I hear or read a word that I feel like I should know I make it a point to look it up. Sometimes these words are common knowledge and I feel stupid for not knowing them and sometimes they are uncommon words that I've never heard before. In some cases I will hear a word and am familiar enough to know what the person means and I could even use the word myself but I couldn't give a true definition for it.
So without further delay, here are some words I have looked up in the last week or so. If you know these words already then good for you. If you haven't then maybe you can try to use them in the next few days.
Dogmatic - Root word dogma - 1. A doctrine or a corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a church.
2. An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true.
3. A principle or belief or a group of them
2. An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true.
3. A principle or belief or a group of them
Psychosis - 1. a mental disorder characterized by symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations, that indicate impaired contact with reality.
2. any severe form of mental disorder, as schizophrenia or paranoia.
2. any severe form of mental disorder, as schizophrenia or paranoia.
Anorexia (I saw this one in a medical dictionary and it occured to me I had never thought of it independent of anorexia nervosa) - 1. loss of appetite and inability to eat.
Allay - 1. to put (fear, doubt, suspicion, anger, etc.) to rest; calm; quiet.
2. to lessen or relieve; mitigate; alleviate: to allay pain.
2. to lessen or relieve; mitigate; alleviate: to allay pain.
Dissemble - 1. to give a false or misleading appearance to; conceal the truth or real nature of: to dissemble one's incompetence in business.
2. to put on the appearance of; feign: to dissemble innocence.
3. Obsolete. to let pass unnoticed; ignore.
2. to put on the appearance of; feign: to dissemble innocence.
3. Obsolete. to let pass unnoticed; ignore.
Somewhat common words but I couldn't have defined them for you. Hopefully one or two of them are new to you, I'll be sure to give you more as I hear or read them in the future.
2 comments:
Good one Mr. Miller! Here is my favorite tricky word. Most people think that peruse means to glance over something quickly (flip through) when in reality it is the exact opposite!
pe·ruse
1.
to read through with thoroughness or care: to peruse a report.
2.
to read.
3.
to survey or examine in detail.
I have to confess I'm pretty sure I've used the word "Peruse" incorrectly.
I think instances like this are evidence of how easy miscommunications can occur. If Amy asked me if I read over those IRS papers we got in the mail and I said "I perused them" we might have a serious problem. She might think I read them thoroughly and examined them in great detail when I really meant I glanced at that to get a brief idea of what they were.
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