Words I’ve been learning
I’m not ashamed to admit there are many words I don’t l know. Part of being such a ridiculous reader (3 books a week has often rasied eyebrows) means that I come across a wide variety of words I’m unfamiliar with. In the flow of the sentences they seem understandable, but can I use them in a conversation? Um, probably not. So I’ve taken to writing them down and looking them up, and have decided that Encarta Dictionary is better than Dictionary.com and Wikipedia for a definition (and briefer).
Here are the words I’m learning at the moment- and don’t laugh, as I know you have your own moments of mental blankness as well.
-Polemic
1. Passionate argument: a passionate, strongly worded, and often controversial argument against or, less often, in favor of somebody or something
2. Passionate critic: somebody who engages in a passionate dispute about or argues passionately against somebody or something
-Propinquity
Definition: nearness,: nearness in space, time or relationship
-Demarcation
1.setting of borders: the process of deciding on and setting the boundaries of a piece of land identifiable separation of things:
2.the division of something so that its divided parts are separate and identifiable
-Confluence
1.stream: a stream formed by others combining
2.meeting of two or more things: a meeting or joining of two or more things, or the place where two or more things meet or join
3.meeting of streams: a flowing together of two or more streams, or a point at which streams combine.
-Cadre
1.core group: a controlling or representative group at the center.
2.core of activists: a core group of political activists or revolutionaries
3.military unit: a group of experienced professionals at the core of a military organization who are able to train new recruits and expand the operations of the unit
So that’s it for today, but I ask you did you know them all? Really? Well kudos to you.