Saturday, April 20, 2013

MYSTERIOUS WORDS (WORDS # 17)




HULLO!


LOVELY RED POPPIES!




Click to enlarge!


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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