Nigh

Word: Nigh

Part of Speech: Adjective (and adverb).

Definition: Near, almost, or direct.

Synonyms: Close.

Antonyms: Far.

Sentences:

• The end is nigh.
• It had been nigh onto forty minutes before the girl finally appeared on the path. Clearly she had not taken the nighest route to her grandmother's house.
• “By these and many histories more, it is most evident, that the more nigh salvation and deliverance approach, the more vehement is temptation and trouble.”

Adulation

Word: Adulation

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: Excessive devotion to someone or obsequious flattery

Synonyms: Fawning

Antonyms: Criticism, debasement

Warning: People tend to confuse “adulation” for “adoration”, and erroneously use the two interchangeably. Note that “adulation” carries a negative connotation even though some sources will define it as “extreme admiration”, for it either refers to someone who is unreasonable or servile. Consider these three quotations:

• “If you're a movie star, there's a cycle you go through: adoration, adulation, you're used, and then you're discarded. And it happens again and again, always in that sequence.”
• “A passion for politics stems usually from an insatiable need, either for power, or for friendship and adulation, or a combination of both.”
• “I savour (sic) the adulation and love I have been getting from my fans and the blessings of elders in my family. Fourteen years have given me a lot and I can't thank God and the industry enough.”

Can you identify the improper usage?

Dour

Word: Dour

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Gloomy or severe.

Synonyms: Morose.

Antonyms: Cheery.

Helpful hints to remember: Dour looks like sour but rhymes with sore. See the sentence below.

Sentences:

• The sore whore's dour roar kept them coming back for more.
• Poor Isabelle could only endure so much dour criticism before bursting into tears.
• The wicked witch thought her dour home was perfect for all her evil doings. 

Ingrate

Word: Ingrate

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: Someone who is ungrateful

Helpful hints to remember: “Ingrate” sounds like “ungrateful”.

Sentences:

• “You ingrate! How could you forget to say thank you to your grandmother?”
• Despite their begging, the man was reluctant to give them the much desired water, as he knew the ingrates would scatter the second they felt quenched.

Abase

Word: Abase

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: To degrade or demote; generally means “to lower in value”.

Synonyms: Disgrace, shame

Antonyms: Boost, support, promote

Helpful hints to remember: Literally once meant “to lower”, which is why in old English texts you'll see phrases like “the jouster abased his lance”. This word is extremely similar to “debase”.

Sentences:

• The soccer players felt abased after the humbling loss.
• Though they had been friends since the fourth grade, the soldier knew that his comrade's attempt to expose his extramarital affair was an attempt to abase him.
• “The social principles of Christianity preach cowardice, self-contempt, abasement, submission, humility, in a word all the qualities of the canaille.”

Assay

Word: Assay

Part of Speech: Verb

Definition: To analyze or test.

Synonyms: Analysis or appraisal.

Antonyms: N/a.

Helpful hints to remember: See below.

Sentences:

• “It's a failure of national vision when you regard children as weapons, and talents as materials you can mine, assay, and fabricate for profit and defense.”
• The ELISA, or Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, is the most common form of HIV testing used today.
• While most politicians were nervous, Adam was overjoyed since he knew the assay results would redeem him.
• Question: Can you identify which definition of “assay” is used in each of the above sentences?

Epicure

Word: Epicure

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: A person who ''cultivates a refined taste''.

Synonyms: Connoisseur

Antonyms: Puritan

Helpful hints to remember: The magazine “Epicurious” has a title which is a portmanteau of “epicure” and “curious”.

Sentences:

• “Serenely full, the epicure would say, Fate cannot harm me,—I have dined to-day.”
• The rich, slim epicures thought nothing of spending small fortunes in order to taste every corner of the earth. 

Lachrymose

Word: Lachrymose

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Tearful, mournful, or close to tears; note it is used to describe tone, speech, atmosphere, or disposition, but not the inciting event.

Synonyms: Weepy

Antonyms: Joyful

Helpful hints to remember: Lacrimal glands are the glands that produce tears.

Sentences:

• Octavian hated working at the amphitheater on lachrymose tragedy night, as all the weeping women would annoy him to no end.
• The father must have had a heart of coal in order to walk away from his lachrymose children like that.
• Peter decided that the lachrymose atmosphere of the active cemetery was the perfect place to write a horror novel.