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meeralee has added 284 words, 15 lists, 29 comments, and 0 tags.

Words I Always Think I Understand and Discover I Don't

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Words 1 through 15 of 15
tenebrous   has been listed 48 times with 2 comments
pernicious   has been listed 96 times with 4 comments
impecunious   has been listed 50 times with 0 comments
ineluctable   has been listed 62 times with 1 comment
stevedore   has been listed 28 times with 5 comments
untrammeled   has been listed 7 times with 1 comment
abrogate   has been listed 37 times with 0 comments
supernumerary   has been listed 23 times with 0 comments
sempiternal   has been listed 31 times with 4 comments
adumbrate   has been listed 65 times with 1 comment
impecunious   has been listed 50 times with 0 comments
surcease   has been listed 21 times with 3 comments
noisome   has been listed 44 times with 1 comment
fulsome   has been listed 43 times with 2 comments
trenchant   has been listed 55 times with 4 comments
Words 1 through 15 of 15
comments for this list
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about 1 year ago slumry said:

Nice to *see* you, Meeralee. I learned tenebrous from you today. When I saw the word, I immediately thought of Christian Holy Week Tenebrae services. I had never known where the wordTenebrae came from. Reading the definition of tenebrous, it now makes sense.

I keep meaning to make a list for the words that I just don't seem to "get," no matter how many times I look them up.

about 1 year ago reesetee said:

Agree on all three, sionnach!

about 1 year ago sionnach said:

bimonthly, biennial, next weekend; each of these gives rise to hilarious misunderstandings on occasion, in my neck of the woods.

about 1 year ago uselessness said:

pwned!!

about 1 year ago meeralee said:

Well, it might be a candidate for someone else's list of the same name...

:-)

about 1 year ago sionnach said:

decimate might be a candidate for this list. I think I understand it correctly myself, but it seems to cause a fair amount of confusion.

about 1 year ago meeralee said: Sempiternal is a great one for this list!

I think of it the same way you do.

about 1 year ago reesetee said:

Oh, I was okay with nonplussed until aforementioned friend confused me. ;-)

Meeralee, how about sempiternal? It always makes me think "semi-eternal," which is nonsensical anyway!

about 1 year ago sionnach said:

Whenever I hear nonplussed I think of the classic Tom Swifty: "That just doesn't add up", said Tom, nonplussed. (sorry!)

about 1 year ago meeralee said:

reestee, that's funny -- nonplussed sounds exactly like its meaning to me. ;-)

sionnach, enervating is definitely an odd one. It helps me that I kind of sigh when I say it.

I'm adding some of these to the list!

about 1 year ago sionnach said:

I get into a loop about the word enervating. I'm always inclined to think it means something along the lines of energizing or invigorating, but its actual meaning is closer to debilitating, weakening or unsettling.

I have figured out, though, that fulsome and noisome don't mean what they suggest.

about 1 year ago reesetee said:

I agree, meeralee. It does "sound" like a stubborn word.

I have a friend who always uses the word nonplussed as exactly the opposite of what it actually means. Now *I* get confused when I use it. :-)

about 1 year ago meeralee said: It Means Sharp, Vigorous, Caustic, Incisive, Brutally Effective

...I always think it means "stubborn." Not only that, but I think it _should_ mean "stubborn."

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