My Science School

Piecemeal

Piecemeal means one piece at a time of in a fragmented manner. It usually refers to something done haphazardly and without keeping the big picture in mind.

Origin

It can be traced back to 13th Centuryword "pecemele". "Pece" means piece and the suffix "mele" is a Germanic word meaning "measure" and "at a time."

Examples

1. Piecemeal reforms will not help in reviving the economy.

2. Her friends grew impatient as Shreya narrated the story piecemeal.

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Galvanise

Meaning:

Galvanise means to excite or jolt someone into taking sudden action as if stimulated by an electric shock.

Origin:

 The word comes from the French galvanisme or Italian galvanismo. It was coined to honour the 18th-Century scientist Luigi Galvani, who discovered that an electrical spark could make the muscles of a dead frog's legs move. It entered English in the early 19th Century.

Example sentences:

Radhika shouted at her husband to galvanise him into taking action.

The angry tone of the coach's voice during timeout galvanised the team into scoring two consecutive goals.

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Anodyne

As a noun anodyne refers to something that brings down pain. As an adjective, it is used when something that intends to avoid being offensive and thus ends up being dull and boring.

Origin:

 The word anodyne comes from Latin anodynum meaning "something allaying pain", and originally borrowed from the Greek word anodynon, which meant "freedom from pain".

Example:

It was such an anodyne review for an awful concert.

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Revelation

Revelation is the act of disclosing something, often a surprising piece of information, to people. Revelation is a noun which also means something that is revealed by god to humans.

Origin

The word comes from the 13th Century Old French 'revelacion' or directly from Latin 'revelationem' which means "disclosure of information to man by a divine or supernatural agency. “The general meaning "disclosure of facts" is attested from the 14th Century.

Usage

The former cricket player has made a shocking revelation about the spot-fixing scandal in his memoir.

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Plaudits

Plaudits (plural for plaudit)are expressions of praise, admiration or approval. A person or a thing may receive plaudits from agroup of people.

Origin

If you think that the word plaudit sounds similar to applause, you are right. The two words are closely related. Plaudit is derived from the Latin word plaudite. In ancient Rome, actors would exclaim "Plaudite!" at the end of a play. It was a cue for the audience to applaud.

Examples

1. Over the years, Cheteshwar Pujara has earned plaudits for his batting in Test cricket.

2. Frontline workers in the COVID19 pandemic received plaudits on Republic Day.

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Frenetic

The word frenetic is an adjective that is used to denote things happening in a fast and energetic way, especially in a rather wild and uncontrolled manner. It also corresponds to involving a lot of excited movement or activity.

Origin

The word has been in use since late in the 14th Century. The word is derived from frenetik meaning "temporarily deranged, delirious, crazed", which is from Old French frenetike, meaning "mad, crazy". These are from Latin phreneticus

meaning "delirious", which is an alteration of Greek phrenitikos, from phrenitis meaning "frenzy, mental disease, insanity".

Usage

After a frenetic few weeks of activity, the students were able to turn in all their projects.

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Gaze

Meaning:

Used as a noun and verb, gaze means a long look or looking intently at someone or something with curiosity, wonder or interest.

Origin:

First recorded in the late 14th Century in Middle English, gasen or gazen means "to stare, look steadily and intently." It was probably of Scandinavian origin, Swedish dialect gasa meaning "to gape".

Example sentences:

He gazed admiringly at her when she spoke.

As I looked out of the car, my gaze fell on a child selling books at the traffic junction.

She stood gazing at herself in the mirror.

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Sanguine

This adjective refers to anyone whose personality is marked by eager hopefulness, optimism, cheerfulness etc. It can also refer to something related to blood or the colour of blood.

Origin:

During the Middle Ages, one's health and temperament were associated with bodily fluids such as blood. It was believed that people governed by blood were strong and confident. Over time, the physiological association faded and sanguine came to define people with a cheery and positive disposition. The word sanguine comes from Latin sanguis meaning "of blood", which gave birth to the French sanguine meaning "blood red".

Example:

She usually held a sanguine view of minor everyday problems.

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Tout

Tout can be used as a verb and a noun. As a verb, to tout is to advertise or praise something, often to encourage its use. If someone touts something, they try to sell it or convince people, that it is good. As a noun, tout means a ticket tout who buys several tickets for an event that are difficult to get in order to sell them at a much higher price. Tout also means a person who sells information obtained by spying.

Origin

The word has been used since 1700, to mean "to act as a lookout, spy on," from Middle English tuten to peep, peer." In 1731, it developed to mean "look out for jobs, votes, customers, etc., to try to get them." Since 1920, it has also meant "praise highly in an attempt to sell."

Usage

• The school is touted as the best in the city.
• Much to my dismay, my friends approached a tout to get tickets to the concert.

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