ADJ
of or relating to teaching:
they show great pedagogic skills.
rare of or characteristic of a pedagogue.
DERIVATIVES
pedagogical, pedagogically.
SYNONYMS
educational, educative, instructional.
Posts tagged word of the day.
THE RIGHT WORD
You might try to pacify a crying baby, to appease a demanding boss, to mollify a friend whose feelings have been hurt, and to placate an angry crowd. While all of these verbs have something to do with quieting people who are upset, excited, or disturbed, each involves taking a slightly different approach.
Pacify suggests soothing or calming (the mother made soft cooing noises in an attempt to pacify her child).
Appease implies that you’ve given in to someone’s demands or made concessions in order to please (she said she would visit his mother just to appease him), while mollify stresses minimizing anger or hurt feelings by taking positive action (her flattery failed to mollify him).
Placate suggests changing a hostile or angry attitude to a friendly or favorable one, usually with a more complete or long-lasting effect than appease (they were able to placate their enemies by offering to support them).
You can propitiate a superior or someone who has the power to injure you by allaying or forestalling their anger (they were able to propitiate the trustees by holding a dinner party in their honor).
Conciliate implies the use of arbitration or compromise to settle a dispute or to win someone over (the company made every effort to conciliate its angry competitor).
VERB
make (someone) less angry or hostile:
they attempted to placate the students with promises.
DERIVATIVES
placater, placatingly, placation, placatory.
SYNONYMS
pacify, calm, appease, mollify.
SEE ALSO
ADJ
(esp. of a principle, place, or routine) regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with:
the individual’s right to work has been upheld as sacrosanct.
DERIVATIVES
sacrosanctity.
SYNONYMS
sacred, hallowed, inviolate.
NOUN
a remark or statement, esp. one with a moral content, that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful:
she began uttering liberal platitudes.
the quality of being dull, ordinary, or trite:
educators willing to violate the bounds of platitude.
DERIVATIVES
platitudinize, platitudinous.
ORIGIN
early 19th century: from French, from plat (flat).
SYNONYMS
cliché, truism, banality, old chestnut.
via lusciouschaos
NOUN
a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well:
she was able to establish a good rapport with the children.
there was little rapport between them.
SYNONYMS
affinity, close relationship, understanding, bond.
ADJ
providing necessary support to the primary activities or operation of an organization, institution, industry, or system:
the development of ancillary services to support its products.
additional; subsidiary:
paragraph 19 was merely ancillary to paragraph 16.
NOUN (pl. ancillaries)
a person whose work provides necessary support to the primary activities of an organization, institution, or industry:
the employment of specialist teachers and ancillaries.
something that functions in a supplementary or supporting role:
undergraduate courses of three main subjects with related ancillaries.
ORIGIN
mid 17th century: from Latin ancillaris, from ancilla (maidservant).
SYNONYMS
additional, auxiliary, supplemental.
via lusciouschaos
NOUN
a person who gains sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity:
the neighbors accused him of being a voyeur.
a person who enjoys seeing the pain or distress of others.
DERIVATIVES
voyeurism, voyeuristic, voyeuristically.
ORIGIN
early 20th century: from French, from voir (see).
SYNONYMS
peeping Tom, pervert, watcher.
NOUN
the action of saying farewell:
he spread his palm in valediction.
a statement or address made at or as a farewell:
her official memorial valediction.
ORIGIN
mid 17th century: based on Latin vale (goodbye) + dicere (to say), on the pattern of benediction.
SYNONYMS
farewell, goodbye, adieu, leave-taking; parting words.
ADJ
(of a person or their manner) childishly sulky or bad-tempered:
he was moody and petulant.
a petulant shake of the head.
DERIVATIVES
petulance, petulantly.
SYNONYMS
peevish, querulous, pettish, cross.
ADJ
(of a word or expression) coined for or used on one occasion:
a nonce usage.
PHRASES
for the nonce for the present; temporarily:
the room had been converted for the nonce into a nursery.
SYNONYMS
for the time being, temporarily, pro tem, for now.
NOUN
conformity to facts, accuracy:
officials expressed doubts concerning the veracity of the story.
habitual truthfulness:
voters should be concerned about his veracity and character.
SYNONYMS
truthfulness, correctness, fidelity.
NOUN
a state of perplexity or uncertainty over what to do in a difficult situation:
Kate is in a quandary.
a difficult situation; a practical dilemma:
a legal quandary.
ORIGIN
late 16th century: perhaps partly from Latin quando (when).
SYNONYMS
predicament, dilemma, awkward situation.
via lusciouschaos
THE RIGHT WORD
Brusque, which comes from an Italian word meaning rude, describes an abruptness of speech or manner that is not necessarily meant to be rude (a brusque handshake; a brusque reply).
Curt is more deliberately unfriendly, suggesting brevity and coldness of manner (a curt dismissal).
There’s nothing wrong with being blunt, although it implies an honesty and directness that can border on tactlessness (a blunt reply to his question about where the money went).
Someone who is bluff is usually more likeable, possessing a frank, hearty manner that may be a little too outspoken but is seldom offensive (a bluff man who rarely minced words).
Exhibiting gruff or surly behavior will not win friends, since both words suggest bad temper if not rudeness. But gruff is used to describe a rough or grouchy disposition and, like bluff, is applied more often to a man.
Anyone who has had to deal with an overworked store clerk while shopping during the holidays knows the meaning of surly, which is worse than gruff. It describes not only a sour disposition but an outright hostility toward people, and it can apply to someone of either sex (that surly woman at the customer service desk).
ADJ
abrupt or offhand in speech or manner:
she could be brusque and impatient.
DERIVATIVES
brusquely, brusqueness, brusquerie.
ORIGIN
mid 17th century: from French, ‘lively, fierce,’ from Italian brusco (sour).
LUSCIOUS CHAOS
I'm beginning to think peace is something
we made up to keep us from being satisfied
with all this luscious chaos
I'm a 22-year-old college dropout. My partner & I just moved to Portland from Illinois.
Life so far is a terrible wonderful adventure.
gpoy | alter ego | epiphanies | words
