CCC Synonyms-2009 Apr-Jun

CLOSE SYNONYMS OF THE WEEK

2009

April-June
(most recent first)

JUNE 29, 2009

SUSPICIOUSNESS / SUSPICION

SUSPICIOUSNESS (noun)—a quality leading one to believe (with or without evidence) that something (especially something wrong) is true [noun form of the adjective SUSPICIOUS]

SUSPICION (noun)—the belief (with or without evidence) that something (especially something wrong) is true; the condition of being thought to have done something (especially something wrong)

Note that it is a difference in suffix that alters the meaning.

For related information and other forms, see also—

http://www.crossculturecom.com/Synonyms_2008_4th_Q.htm
(scroll down to 08-12-01 and 08-12-08)

SAMPLE SENTENCES:

Her suspicion was justified when she came across documents indicating that her financial advisor had been cheating her.

This professional was already under suspicion, and so the suspiciousness of her own situation had urged her to investigate.

JUNE 22, 2009

TWILIGHT

For a bit of a departure from the usual, in honor of Summer Solstice—the longest day of the year—which occurred this year on June 20, this edition focuses on the definition of TWILIGHT*.

TWILIGHT (noun)—the period of time when the sun is below the horizon but its light is visible, a phenomenon occurring between sunset and dusk, as well as between dawn and sunrise. Note, however, that in common usage, TWILIGHT typically refers only to evening time. Note too that TWILIGHT is often used figuratively (see below).

SAMPLE SENTENCES:

“In the twilight of the morning light seems active, darkness passive; in the twilight of evening it is the darkness which is active and crescent, and the light which is the drowsy reverse.” [from Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy]

“As an historical document, this movie (The Typewriter, The Rifle, and the Movie Camera—1996) is invaluable, offering a great filmmaker in the twilight of his life (Samuel Fuller died in 1997) an opportunity to reflect on his life and films.” [from a review by Peter Tonguette]

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight

JUNE 15, 2009

STARTUP / UPSTART

This edition focuses on some CLOSE HOMONYMS: words that are the same or similar in sound but not necessarily the same in meaning.

STARTUP (noun)—a business enterprise or other project in the early stages of development

UPSTART (noun)—a person or entity in sudden possession of power, wealth or importance considered by others to be undeserved

Note that STARTUP as a noun can also take a hyphen (START-UP), unlike UPSTART which is always one word; noting too that START UP as a verb is two separate words (no hyphen).

SAMPLE SENTENCES:

I said the company was a startup, in operation for less than a year.

And my colleague said you could also say it’s an upstart—because the company is getting arrogant, now that commentators are predicting it will dominate the sector.

JUNE 8, 2009

ACCUSATORY / ACCUSATIVE

ACCUSATORY (adj)—expressing blame

ACCUSATIVE (adj)—designating a specialized grammatical term (the accusative case); sometimes used with the same meaning as ACCUSATORY

Note that it is a change in suffix that alters the meaning. Note too that since ACCUSATIVE has this grammatical application, it may be preferable (when expressing blame) to use ACCUSATORY which has only this meaning.

Some related forms:

ACCUSATION (noun)
ACCUSE (verb)
ACCUSATORILY (adv)

SAMPLE SENTENCES:

She spoke in an accusatory voice, charging him with using bad grammar.

He replied that she was mistaken to accuse him of bad grammar because it was correct in this instance to use the accusative case.

JUNE 1, 2009

CAPITULATE / RECAPITULATE

This edition focuses on some CLOSE HOMONYMS: words that are the same or similar in sound but not necessarily the same in meaning.

CAPITULATE (verb)—give in, surrender
CAPITULATION—noun; CAPITULATORY—adj

RECAPITULATE (verb)—review, summarize
RECAPITULATION—noun; RECAP—short form of noun and verb; RECAPITULATORY—adj

Note that it is the addition of a prefix that alters the meaning—but not in the usual way. RECAPITULATE does not mean to ‘CAPITULATE again’ (as might customarily be suggested by the prefix RE-).

SAMPLE SENTENCES:

The retirees have little power within their union and had no choice but to capitulate on the contract negotiations, forced to accept unfavorable terms.

According to certain esoteric teachings, if a person can recapitulate his entire life, summarize it honestly from the beginning of memory to the present, he may be able thereby to free himself of binding karma.

MAY 25, 2009

THE ART OF WAR

For a bit of a departure from the usual, in honor of Memorial Day remembrance of Americans who died in the service of their country’s military engagements, this edition focuses on the strategy manuals known as The Art of War—of which the following three classics are best known.

Sun zi (Chinese, assumed birth-date c. 544 BCE)*

Sun bin (Chinese, assumed birth-date c. 380 BCE)**

Niccolo Machiavelli (Italian, 1469-1527)***

In regard to military action, or personal self-defense, one of the most popular lines from Sun zi’s treatise is the following (noting that transliterations of names and translations of text vary):

“It is best to win without fighting.” ****

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Bin_Bing_Fa

*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War_(Machiavelli)

**** http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu

MAY 18, 2009

CRONE / CRONY

This edition focuses on some CLOSE HOMONYMS: words that are the same or similar in sound but not necessarily the same in meaning.

CRONE (noun)—an elderly, customarily weathered or unsightly, woman (Note that, in recent years, the negative cast to CRONE [from ‘carrion’—dead flesh] has been in the process of being redeemed by more positive feminist connotations of experienced and wise.)

CRONY (noun)—a close, typically longtime, friend or associate (neutral connotation unless negative in context)
CRONYISM—noun (typically negative connotation)

Note that it is a slight change in spelling that alters the meaning. Note too that CRONE consists of one syllable, while CRONY consists of two.

SAMPLE SENTENCES:

Depicting women accused of (and executed for) being witches as crones—that is, as old, ugly and malevolent—is now regarded as a sexist distortion of history.

Now that the inner workings of global economics are beginning to be revealed, the term ‘crony capitalism’ is finally coming to public attention.

MAY 11, 2009

TRANSLATE / TRANSLITERATE

TRANSLATE (verb)—to render the meaning of words from one language into another language
TRANSLATION—noun

TRANSLITERATE (verb)—to render words written in one writing system into another writing system
TRANSLITERATION—noun

Note that the above definitions are simplified for the sake of comparison.

SAMPLE SENTENCES:

I’ve just spent hours looking through various library books trying to decide which I like best among the different English translations of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, originally written in French.

Years ago, when I first started studying Mandarin, I was confronted with three different systems—Wade-Giles, Yale and pinyin—for transliterating Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet (in which English is written).

MAY 4, 2009

SPANGLISH

For a bit of a departure from the usual, in honor of tomorrow’s Cinco de Mayo* (in some respects more of a holiday in Hispanic communities in the US than in Mexico where it originated), this edition focuses on the newly developing language of Spanglish. (Note that the name itself is a combination of the words SPANISH and ENGLISH.)

Spanglish—a mixture of Spanish words, English words, hybrid words and hybrid grammatical patterns—is a language that has been developing among Spanish-speakers living in the United States and in Spanish-speaking countries where English is prevalent. Its use, though increasingly widespread, is controversial—as many Spanish speakers fear it is contributing to the degeneration of standard Spanish.

Spanglish is more of an Anglicized Spanish than a Hispanicized English. It originated predominantly among the lower classes but has been expanding into the general population—with generational, regional, and/or sub-ethnic variants; some of which are not necessarily intelligible to all Latinos within or outside the US. Originally exclusively an oral language, in recent years Spanglish has been appearing in print (though standardization in spelling, syntax and usage is still evolving).

The following are some designated variants of Spanglish within the United States**:

Chicano
Cuban-American
Dominican-American
East Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Massachusetts
New Mexico
New York
Puerto Rico
Southwest
Texas

*See Wikipedia entry— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinco_de_Mayo

**See Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language by Ilan Stavans (on which much of the above information is based).

http://www.amazon.com/Spanglish-Making-New-American-Language/dp/0060087765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240929865&sr=1-1

APRIL 27, 2009

STIMULUS / STIMULANT / STIMULATION

STIMULUS (noun)—something that encourages something to begin, increase or develop; something that provokes an incentive; a drug or electrical impulse that causes a physical response in an organism

STIMULANT (noun)—something that encourages something to begin, increase or develop; something that provokes an incentive; a particular food, beverage or drug that heightens or diminishes physical sensation and/or metabolism

STIMULATION (noun)—the arousal, excitation or invigoration of something

Note that it is a change in suffix that alters the meaning. Note too that various dictionaries provide rather arbitrary, and often overlapping, definitions for the first two of the above words—and that it can be context more than definition that determines which to use.

Some related forms:

STIMULATE (verb)
STIMULATIVE or STIMULATORY (adj)

SAMPLE SENTENCES:

I was at the gas station buying coffee because I needed some stimulation (to overcome fatigue from driving), and the clerk gave me a card for a free cup after purchasing five. He said: "This is your stimulus package . . . ." (referring to the bonus coffees). Adding wryly: "Actually this is your stimulant package . . . ." (referring to the caffeine).

APRIL 20, 2009

EARTHLY / EARTHY

For a bit of a departure from the usual, in honor of Earth Day on April 22, this edition focuses on two close homonyms (words that are the same or similar in sound but not necessarily the same in meaning) relating to Earth/earth.

EARTHLY (proper adj)—pertaining to planet Earth [capital ‘E’]

EARTHY (adj)—of the soil, soulful, crude [small ‘e’]

Note that it is a change in suffix that alters the meaning.

Some related forms:

EARTH (proper noun / noun)
EARTHLING (noun)
UNEARTH (verb)
EARTHEN/WARE (adj/noun)
EARTHQUAKE (noun)
EARTHSHAKING (adj)

SAMPLE SENTENCES:

Some people say this or that beautiful place is an Earthly paradise, but I believe Earth itself is a paradise unrecognized by those who are despoiling it.

The legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday was known for her earthy voice—so evocative, gritty and soulful.

APRIL 13, 2009

A SENSE OF SMELL

In something of a departure from the usual format, below is an annotated list of words (all nouns; some additionally functioning as verbs) pertaining to smell, in approximate order of most pleasant first.

PERFUME (can pertain to any very pleasant smell)
FRAGRANCE (typically pertains to perfume, flowers and the like)
BOUQUET (pertains to wine and tobacco; also perfume, flowers and the like)
SCENT (fairly generic for pleasant smells)
AROMA (applicable to food and cooking, tobacco, etc.)
NOSE (characteristic smell of something, particularly wine and tobacco)
SMELL (most generic)
ODOR (technically neutral in connotation, but can be negative depending on context)

TANG (suggests a sharp, pungent or biting quality)
STINK (strong and unpleasant)
STENCH (strong and very unpleasant)
REEK (strong and very unpleasant)

Some related terms:

OLFACTORY (adj)—pertaining to the sense of smell
OLFACTION (noun)
DEODORANT (noun)
DEODORIZE (verb)

APRIL 6, 2009

LIQUOR / LIQUEUR

LIQUOR (noun)—an alcoholic beverage typically produced through distillation (rather than fermentation)

LIQUEUR (noun)—an alcoholic beverage, sweet or otherwise strongly flavored, typically served after dinner in small amounts [spelled and pronounced as in French]

Note that it is a slight change in spelling that alters the meaning. Note too that in LIQUOR, syllable stress is on the first syllable; whereas in LIQUEUR, the stress is on the second syllable.

SAMPLE SENTENCES:

Making liqueur generally requires more time and care than making ordinary liquor, which contributes to its typically higher cost.

Both liquor and liqueur can be pleasantly intoxicating when consumed in moderation, or can be harmfully toxic if consumed in excess.