Word Workout: Building a Muscular Vocabulary in 10 Easy Steps

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Another definition of “work out” is: for things to be figured out, solved, developing, or resolved. Haphazard means selected or assembled at random or by chance, without any thought for arrangement. Diverse and miscellaneous both mean of mixed character, composed of different kinds of things, and usually do not imply judgment or taste in selection. Eclectic should always imply judgment and taste in selection, especially choosing the best from a variety of sources. An eclectic approach to philosophy or religion selects from them those ideas that seem best, while an eclectic diner will go to various restaurants, sampling a bit here and a bit there, looking for the best fare to be had. Let's review the ten keywords you've just learned. Consider the following questions and decide whether the correct answer is yes or no. Answers appear here. Since the early 17th century qualm has also been used specifically of a sudden, disturbing feeling of guilt or doubt concerning the rightness of one’s behavior. To have a qualm about something is to feel a twinge of conscience or a pang of guilt about it. In this sense the word is now usually used in the plural, to have qualms, and often in negative constructions, as to have no qualms about spending more money or she had no qualms about what she had said.

Synonyms of presumptuous include arrogant, impertinent (word 20 of Level 1), impudent, insolent (word 5 of Level 2), shameless, overweening (word 46 of Level 6), and brazen. Synonyms of the adjective impertinent include disrespectful, presumptuous (word 2 of this level), arrogant, uncivil, saucy, impudent, insolent (word 5 of Level 2), brazen, officious, and malapert (MAL-uh-purt). Antonyms of impertinent include respectful, courteous, civil, mannerly, gracious, and deferential. Charlie has also been talking about language on the radio since 1985. He has been interviewed on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered and been a guest on hundreds of radio shows around the country. For five and a half years he cohosted a weekly public radio talk show on language called A Way with Words. You can highlight the terms by the frequency with which they occur in the written English language using the menu below. The frequency data is extracted from the English Wikipedia corpus, and updated regularly. If you just care about the words' direct semantic similarity to fitness, then there's probably no need for this. Whilst we will do everything we can to meet the delivery times above, there may be factors outside of our control and we cannot guarantee delivery within this time frame.

Word Out

To grovel (GRAH-vul or GRUH-vul), from Middle English and Old Norse words meaning facedown, prone, is to lie or crawl with one’s face down. Because, in days of yore, this position was assumed to show humility and obedience before a noble person or one’s superiors, grovel came to be used figuratively to mean to humble oneself out of loyalty, remorse, or fear.

The morning glory is a common plant known for its ability to support itself by twining around anything its vigorous tendrils can grasp. Like the morning glory, which twists and coils itself around things, that which is convoluted is so intricate and complex, so folded in upon itself, that it is difficult and sometimes impossible to unravel. A long, complex argument—or even a complicated sentence—is often described as convoluted. Mathematical equations and philosophical reasoning can be convoluted, and the regulations of the federal tax code are notoriously convoluted. The human body also has its well-known convolutions: the brain is a convoluted mass of gray and white matter, and if you were to unravel the convolutions of the small intestine it would stretch to more than twenty feet. Varied or diverse in an interesting way; selecting, or consisting of selections, from a variety of sources, especially the best of those sources. Not confined to any one model or system, says The Century Dictionary, but selecting and appropriating whatever is considered best in all.The first meaning of “work out” is: to DO a workout or exercise! (Notice how “work out” is an action word verb, while “workout” is a noun — thing — talking about the actual exercise session.) Moving to the other side of “work out or workout,” the phrase “work out” has several meanings, and is a phrasal verb of the word “work.” Here is each definition of “work out,” paired with example sentences to show correct usage. One of the meanings of the verb to presume is to take undue liberties, or, to take upon oneself without permission or authority. For example, you can presume to know what’s good for someone else, presume you can do something better than someone else, or presume to speak when you ought to be silent. Free play and exploration are crucial for learners’ cognitive development, cultivating curiosity and a desire to learn. In Word Tag ®, players work at their own pace to complete word collections full of rich vocabulary. They get to choose how long and how often they want to play (and learn)! Unfortunately, eclectic is often used as a showy substitute for diverse by writers who are not sensitive to the subtle distinction between these words. For example, the phrase China's eclectic cuisine is poor usage because the Chinese invented their own diverse cuisine; they did not select it with care from other great cuisines of the world. And the phrase an eclectic mix of people milled in front of the building is also poor usage because the mix is random, not intentionally arranged. Only if people have been chosen to create an especially interesting mix can a group be called eclectic.

Emaciated applies only to people and animals; it is not used of plants or inanimate objects. Thus, you could use emaciated of a starving person or an abnormally thin model, but you would say a withered or shriveled flower and a deteriorated or dilapidated house.

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Garish suggests excessive showiness or unpleasant brightness, and is used of that which tries to attract attention in a loud and tasteless way: garish neon lights; New York City’s garish Times Square; garish modern architecture that confuses ornamentation with style. Excessively showy or bright; harshly or crudely colorful; attracting attention in a loud and tasteless way. Although stratagem comes ultimately from ancient Greek, English acquired the word in the 15th century from the Old French stratageme, which is why we spell it with an a in the second syllable and not with an e, as in strategy. Take care to spell it stratagem, not strategem.