UNKNOWN WORDS (WORDS # 21)

HULLO! 

FABULOUS DAHLIAS!

Click to enlarge

Source: Pixabay, Public Domain

ULTERIOR

Noun (Countable) – An ulterior motive for doing something means that you think you will get some advantage from doing it

Politicians very often have ulterior motives when they make their followers an offer about some issue.

♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣

UNASSAILABLE

Adjective (Formal) – Impossible to defeat, criticize or argue with

The army very quickly established an unassailable lead

♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣

UNDULATE

Verb (Intransitive) – To move gently up and down in the shape of waves on the ocean

The colored streamers were undulating in the wind

♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣

UNILATERAL

Adjective – Done or decided by one country, group or person without considering others

Such unilateral action violates international trade rules.

There was a unilateral cease fire.

♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣

MY COMMENTS ON THESE WORDS

Another interesting set of words taken from the lists that are suggested for the various graduate entry tests.

It seems to me that the only one that would have a more frequent use is “Unilateral”. The other three do not appear very often in written English and they are certainly not common in spoken English.

“Ulterior” presents a difficulty, it does not seem to exist on its own, and the dictionaries tend to add the word “motive”, forming the expression “ulterior motive”.

My personal interpretation would be that to act with an “ulterior motive” would simply mean that the actions are rather sneaky. This does not make me very happy! What do you think?

“Unassailable” is not very common either. I think this word could have both a positive value and a negative one. To my mind, any argument in favor of maintaining the ecological balance on our planet is definitely “unassailable”!

On the other hand, any group that is acting from a position of absolute power would probably consider that their orders were “unassailable”, and I’m sure I would not agree! I’m all for reaching a consensus!

Now “Undulate” is certainly simple, you just need to think of waves. Yes, but then a lethal snake will also “undulate” as it creeps near its victim. No thank you!

“Unilateral” is by far the easiest of these words! After some thought, I would say the resulting action could sometimes be of value, but then it could also be very negative. When Nazi Germany invaded Poland and set off World War 2, this was definitely unilateral, and just look at the results, right up to the atom bombs!

The news for Spanish speakers isn’t very good on this occasion.

The words ondular and unilateral do exist, sound the same and mean the same, but only unilateral is really clear.

These words could probably pull down your score on any graduate entry test, so study them up and you will surely avoid making mistakes!

See you on the next post!

♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣♣

 2013  joanveronica  (Joan Robertson)

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