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Each vocabulary word includes a short blurb that is easy to understand and fun to read. We provide usage examples from real life, so you can see how words are used in context.
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Wordsmiths sometimes dislike numbers, or at least have a hard time grasping them. These words offer us an opportunity to better understand numbers and use their terms more precisely in writing and speaking. Continue reading...
Something contemptible is worthy of scorn, like the contemptible jerk who’s mean to your sister; but contemptuous is full of it, like the contemptuous look you give that guy as he speeds away in his gas guzzler. Continue reading...
Turbid can refer to something thick with suspended matter, while turgid means swollen or bombastic. Continue reading...
If you're using indite to talk about people being formally accused of lawbreaking, you're using the wrong word: it's indict. Continue reading...
If you feel pity, you feel sympathy for someone else's suffering. A documentary on prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted might make you feel pity for them.
Use pity as a noun or a verb. You feel pity for the really bad singer so you try to look attentive, but then you pity yourself for having to suffer through his terrible rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." We also say something is a pity if it's something to be sad about. It's a pity that your computer crashed right after you finished your paper.
