by Dwane | May 11, 2023 | Education, English, Vocabulary
Ignite: to start a fire, to light up. In a Latin class today, we learned the Latin word for fire, ignis. From ignis, English derives the words ignite (to start a fire), ignition (this is why some grandpa’s ‘fire’ up the truck), igneous (rock formed via intense, fiery...
by Dwane | May 9, 2023 | English, Vocabulary
Nebulous: indistinct, hazy, confused, or cloudy; lacking definition. She didn’t come to the party and she gave nebulous reasons for skipping. Synonyms: vague, indefinite, or uncertain Nebulous comes from Latin nebulosus meaning misty, foggy, or obscure...
by Dwane | May 8, 2023 | English, Vocabulary
Spurious: counterfeit; false; bogus; not proceeding from a true source. Spurious writings are not composed by the authors to whom they are ascribed. With new technologies, it is sometimes difficult to determine authentic writings from spurious writings. Politicians...
by Dwane | Mar 27, 2023 | Education, Vocabulary
Voilà came up in class this morning as we were reading through Le Français par la Métode Nature. Voilà is a French expression meaning “Here it is”, “See there” or “Look there”. Ultimately, voilà derives from Latin videre (to see)...
by Dwane | Jan 21, 2023 | English, Vocabulary
Destinesia: to reach your destination only to forget why you were going there in the first place. Destinesia is a portmanteau word. It is a combination of destination and amnesia. Amnesia, in case you have forgotten, is a word meaning forgetfulness. I’ve been...
by Dwane | Jan 20, 2023 | English, Vocabulary
Webinar Webinar is a portmanteau word I hear every weekday morning. Every time I turn on GoToWebinar, I hear, “Welcome to the Webinar.” A webinar is an online presentation. The word is a combination of “World Wide Web” and “seminar.” Web is from the Old English...
