1000 Words to Expand Your Vocabulary

Joseph Piercy

• Publisher: Michael O'Mara
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781782438915
• eBook ISBN: 9781782438991
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Linguistics

The Oxford English Dictionary contains 175, 000 words in common usage and yet linguists estimate that a vocabulary of 3, 000 is sufficient to cover ninety-five per cent of common usage in speech and print. Where have all those other words gone? The English language is a giant sponge, absorbing words from a multitude of different languages and cultures and yet it seems speakers of English are indolent at accessing the rich resources at our disposal. 1000 Words to Expand Your Vocabulary aims to ameliorate this issue by providing a fascinating lexicography to boost your word power. Alongside the elegant and archaic words are discussions of malapropisms and solecisms, words for which meaning has changed over time and words that have meanings often contrary to their common usage (and abusage). Each entry contains outlines of word origins, examples in context and a wealth of word related trivia. 1000 Words to Expand Your Vocabulary will help word lovers flaunt their prolixity without flouting the rules that govern correct meaning.

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Aberrant: If something is aberrant it is deviating in some fashion or manner from the norm. Aberrant is a direct borrow from the Latin word aberrāns, meaning to go astray. A secondary meaning relates to behaviour, specifically bad behaviour or behaviour considered out of character or abnormal.

Such aberrant behaviour will not be tolerated.

Abet: To encourage or assist another in the fulfilment of an action or (often illegal) activity.

She was charged by the police with aiding and abetting a bank robbery.

Abeyance: In English the word abeyance can be used in technical legal language and in a more generalized manner. Disputes over the contents of a will, for example, may cause a property or title to be placed in abeyance, meaning waiting to be claimed by a rightful heir or owner. Future plans can also be in abeyance if they are dependent upon the outcome of a change in future circumstances.

We had to put our plans for a camping trip in abeyance due to a sudden change in the weather forecast.

Abjure: To abjure is to reject, renounce or forswear a belief, practice or opinion. The word shares the same Latin root jurare, meaning to swear an oath, as perjury and jury and hence has its groundings in law. It is possible of course to casually abjure any formerly held belief or opinion, but in the Middle Ages if the Spanish Inquisition demanded someone abjure from ungodly practices or beliefs it usually meant being tortured or burned at the stake. Not to be confused with adjure (see below).

He abjured his devotion to soccer when it became so expensive to attend matches.

Abnegate: A verb that shares its Latin roots with several other words, all of them in denial. Negare means to deny or refute and the word abnegation began to appear in English as early as the fourteenth century. It was, however, several hundred years before abnegate appeared as a verb. This is an example of retroactive word formation, as it is natural to assume that the act of denying occurred before anyone was accused of being in denial. Abnegate can also be used in a formal sense to refer to the relinquishing of power or responsibility.

President Obama rushed several bills through Congress before protocol decreed he abnegate his presidential powers.

Abrogate: A potential malapropism with the previous entry, as in some senses abnegate and abrogate are very similar. To abrogate is to take authoritative action to abolish or annul something, whereas to abnegate is to give away authoritative power. Where it all gets a bit murky is when it comes to abnegating or abrogating moral responsibility for actions, but that is a matter for subjective judgement.

The incursions by rebel forces had forced the government to abrogate the fragile peace treaty.

Abscond: A borrowing from the Latin word abscondere, meaning to conceal or hide. People usually abscond in a hurry; typically to avoid detection of or an arrest for an unlawful action such as theft.

They absconded with the weekly bar takings and fled to Spain.

Abstemious: The words abstemious and abstain are often thought to be synonymous but in fact they derive from different Latin roots. To be abstemious is to deny oneself the joys of intoxicating drinks as the Latin root noun temetum means, basically, booze. The Middle English/Anglo-French word abstinēre, however, means to hold back from or refrain. One can abstain from anything but only an abstemious person refuses a drink.

Many people like to play at being abstemious, especially in January after weeks of self-indulgence.

Acarpous: An Anglicization of the Greek word karpós, meaning fruit. Karpós is steeped in Greek mythology. In English, the addition of the prefix a as a negation gives us a word meaning simply, without fruit or barren. The word can also be used as a synonym for sterile or unfruitful in a figurative sense.

After four hours the board meeting was becoming distinctly acarpous as not a single decision could be agreed upon.

Accoutrement: Often used in plural form, accoutrements are extra or additional items used for some purpose (not always strictly necessary). Derived from Old French, the word originally referred to personal items soldiers carried with them. In modern parlance, accoutrements are often regarded as fashionable items – accessories such as hats, gloves, handbags and jewellery. Quite where the connection between the military and high fashion was formed is anybody’s guess, except perhaps for the fact that French soldiers were generally well dressed and conscious of their appearance.

The major wore all the accoutrements of his rank: sash, medals, ceremonial sword and, frankly, a quite silly hat.

Accumbent: To be in an accumbent position is to be lying backwards and reclining. The word derives from the Latin accumbere, meaning to lie down or lean back. Historically the term is the name given to the habit of eating while lying horizontally, as depicted in classical art and sculpture. It is questionable if the habit of the ancients adopting the posture while feasting was due to some misplaced medical ideas about digestion or was merely (and more probably) just an affectation of wealth and decadence.

The frieze depicts the Emperor Nero, in accumbent posture, being tended to by a gaggle of concubines.

Acedia: Derived from the Greek word kēdos, meaning care or grief, with the negative prefix a it translates as lack of caring. The word acedia in English was originally closely related to the sin of sloth and, as such, became synonymo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• By the same author
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Introduction
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z