METEORIC WORDS (WORDS # 4)

HULLO!

 

MAELSTROM

(Noun)  (countable)  - A confusing. Frightening situation in which there is a lot of activity and strong emotions

Ships of all kinds were flung about in the maelstrom of the stormy waters

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MARAUDER

(Noun)  (countable)  A person who goes form place to place in order to find people to attack or things to steal or destroy

The marauder smashed the fence and the livestock scattered

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MEDLEY

(Noun) (countable)  (1) A piece of music made up of a collection of tunes or songs that someone plays or sings one after another

                               (2)  A mixture of things such as different types of food, etc

There was a medley of tunes conveying different moods

A medley of winter vegetables

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MENDACIOUS

(Adjective)  (very formal)  When a person is deliberately making false statements, or behaving dishonestly

His success was achieved by methods that were often mendacious

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MY COMMENTS ON THESE WORDS

After looking over this short list of four words that are considered important to know if you want to get a good score on the GRE, I have to say that they are all familiar to me. But that doesn’t mean that I would think of using them in the natural flow of writing or speaking in English.

The only one that I have really used is “Medley” and that is probably because I play an instrument and have been in contact with musical activities all my life.

“Maelstrom” is a good descriptive word, I can relate it immediately to something chaotic, and writers use it sometimes to describe feelings that are in chaos. They will write that the hero or heroine was in the midst of a “maelstrom of emotions”

“Marauder” brings to mind the recent explorations of Mars; I seem to remember that one of the special robots that cruised the surface of the planet was given that name.

I know the meaning of the term “Mendacious”, that is not a new word for me, but I don’t think I have ever used it personally. I  have read it in publications and news reports.

My last comment refers to the possibility of connecting these words to Spanish. Unfortunately that won’t work here, except perhaps for “Marauder” There is a Spanish verb, the word “merodear” that has a similar meaning.

So there is nothing for it but to study these words and to try to practice them!

I hope to see you in my next post!

© 2013  joanveronica  (Joan Robertson)

I will be very happy to receive your comments! Just click the word “comments” lower down.

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