HULLO!
LOVELY RED POPPIES!
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Source: Pixabay, Public Domain
MALICIOUS
Adjective –
Unkind and with a strong intent to hurt someone
They were spreading malicious gossip on the Internet
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MEAGER
Adjective – Smaller or less than you want or need
The food supply was meager
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MYRMIDON
Noun (Countable, formal) – A faithful follower who
carries out orders without question
His myrmidons helped him win the elections
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MANUMIT
Verb (Transitive) -
To free from slavery or bondage, to liberate
The students manumitted their slaves on graduating
from their studies (ancient civilizations).
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MY COMMENTS ON THESE WORDS
Another fantastic group of English words! Don’t they
sound impressive?
The words “Malicious” and “Meager” are relatively common;
I’ve seen them used in various kinds of written work – news reports, novels,
academic reports and the like.
“Myrmidon” and “Manumit” pose a different problem
“Myrmidon” is definitely an infrequently used
expression, reserved mostly for descriptions of historic events. I think that
at present it is not a really “politically correct” expression. It seems to
imply that the people that are being referred to as “myrmidons” have no will of
their own and just follow the leader blindly. I would certainly not accept
being talked about as a member of a group of myrmidons!
And as for “Manumit”, who would we “manumit” in the
present day world? Again, the word could appear in a historical account of
happenings in some bygone era. (At least, I hope
this would describe a bygone era!)
Still, the list of words suggested for the graduate
entry tests definitely include these words, so we had better know them!
The good news for Spanish speakers is related to “malicioso” and “magro”. They sound similar to the English words and also mean the
same.
So study these words, and I’ll see you on the next
post!
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© 2013
joanveronica (Joan Robertson)
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