My Science School

(pronounced duhm.fawnd.uhd

Meaning: The word dumbfounded is used to denote a sense of great astonishment or amazement.

Origin: The word has been in use from the 1680s and is the past participle adjective from dumbfound. The word dumbfound is arrived at by combining dumb with the ending from confound.

The word has steadily increased in usage in the last few decades and is enjoying its best popularity in the last 200 years.

Usage: The demonstration of the new gadget was so good that it left the gathered audience dumbfounded.

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(Pronounced ka luh koh)

Meaning: The noun refers to a plain woven cotton cloth printed with a figured pattern, usually on one side.

Origin: In use since the 16th Century, the word is derived from an alternative form of Calicut (modern Kozhikode), the name of the seaport on the Malabar coast of India where Europeans first obtained the fabric. In the U.S., the use extended to animal colourings suggestive of printed calicos in 1807, originally of horses, and of cats from 1882.

Usage: My grandma's tiny wooden box was wrapped in printed calico.

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(pronounced as buh.reft)

Meaning: The word bereft is used to imply being deprived of or lacking something. When used with a person, it corresponds to being sad and lonely, especially because of someone's death or departure.

Origin: The word has been around since late in the 14th Century. A past-participle adjective, bereft is derived from the verb bereave. Now slightly different in meaning, the past tense forms of bereave- bereaved and bereft - have co-existed since 14th Century.

After sliding down out of favour for over 100 years from around 1800, the word's usage has increased steadily from around 1950s.

Usage: Some desert landscapes are bereft of any human presence.

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(Pronounced hold.aut)

Meaning: A noun, holdout refers to a person, organisation, or country that continues to do something despite others trying to force them not to. It is used to describe someone who refuses to reach an agreement with others in a particular situation. In other words, it is an act of resisting something or refusing to give consent to an agreement.

Origin: The term "holdout" is said to have been attested from 1907 in the sense "keep back, withhold". It's a combination of the verb hold and the adverb out. Meanwhile, the phrase "hold out" meaning "resist pressure" has been in use since the late 16th Century.

Usage: It's time to shame holdouts who resist proposals to limit global warming.

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(Pronounced pre-co-cious)

Meaning: Precocious means having or showing mature qualities at an unusually early age. It can also mean exceptionally early in development or occurrence.

Origin: This word comes from combining the Latin prefix prae-, meaning ‘ahead of’ with the verb coquere, meaning to cook or to ripen. Together, they formed the adjective praecox, which meant early ripening. By the mid-1600s, English speakers had turned praecox into precocious and were using it especially to describe plants that produced blossoms before their leaves came out.

Usage:  She was a precocious child who could read before she started school.

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Meaning: A verb, portend means to give an omen or anticipatory sign of something.

Origin: The word is derived from the Latin word portendere which means to indicate, point out or foretell. The word was first used in the 15th century.

Usage: The gypsy was always welcome in the king's court, because her visions would portend the fate of his kingdom, and more so now than ever, when he was in his darkest hour.

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(Pronounced sa tiate)

Meaning: This is a formal word that means to satisfy a need or a desire.

Origin: Both satiate and sad are related to the Latin adjective satis, meaning enough. When we say our desire, thirst, curiosity, etc. has been satiated, we mean it has been fully satisfied or in other words 'have had enough’.

Usage: She finished the meal and sat back with a satiated sigh.

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(pronounced as in truh kuht)

Meaning: The word intricate is used as an adjective to describe the nature of being very complicated or detailed.

Origin:  The word has been around since early 15th Century. It is derived from Latin intricatus meaning entangled past participle of intricare to entangle perplex embarrass."

The usage of the word has been fairly even over the last 200 years or so, with minor ups and downs.

Usage: Human history is intricately woven with our views of the starry skies.

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Pronounced as: Ggruh-vay-men

 Meaning: A noun, "gravamen" means the significant part of a grievance or complaint.

Origin: The word traces its origin to the Latin word "gravare” meaning “to burden". Its first known use was in 1602. The word is generally used in legal contexts:

Usage: The gravamen of the complaint was that the malpractices by the minister's aides had pushed the kingdom and its residents into a state of deprivation of resources.

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It is pronounced law-znj.

Meaning: This noun refers to a small, flat sweet that you suck to make a cough or sore throat feel better. It also refers to a figure (such as diamond) with four equal sides and two acute and two obtuse angles.

Origin: This Middle English word is from the Old French losenge, probably derived from the base of Spanish losa, and Portuguese lousa, meaning 'slab’. This, in turn, is from the late Latin word lausiae, meaning ‘stone slabs’.

Usage: She popped an orange-coloured lozenge into her mouth.

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(Pronounced deh. luh.tech.ree.us)

Meaning: An adjective, "deleterious means harmful or damaging, often in an unexpected way.

Origin: The term originated from the Greek deleterios meaning "noxious or destructive” via Medieval Latin deleterius. It is derived from deleter meaning "destroyer." It began to be used in English in the mid-17th Century.

Usage: Carbon emissions have a deleterious impact on our planet.

 It's important to sleep well as the lack of sleep can have a deleterious effect on the body.

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(Pronounced as: foy-bl)

Meaning: A noun, "foible" means a minor flaw or shortcoming in character or behaviour.

Origin: The word traces its origin to the French word "faible" meaning week and is borrowed from the Old French word "feble". Its first known use was in 1648.

Usage: As the day of coronation drew closer, she hoped that the crown would be hers for the taking, praying her father would care little for her foibles.

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(Pronounced maw kuhsh)

Meaning: This adjective means showing emotion or love in an awkward or silly way.

Origin: The word originates from the Middle English mawke, meaning "maggot”. Its earliest sense, used in the late 17th century but now obsolete, was synonymous with squeamish, but not long after that, mawkish was used to describe an unpleasant, nauseating, often sickeningly sweet flavour. The figurative sense of mawkish, used to describe things that are full of "sickly sweet" sentimentality, arose almost concurrently.

Usage: The actor's mawkish poem was boring and insincere.

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(Pronounced im por tune)

Meaning: This verb means to make repeated, forceful requests for something, usually in a way that is annoying.

Origin: Importune is derived from the Old French verb “importuner”, which came from the Latin words “importunus" and "importare" meaning to cause inconvenience.

Usage: The students importuned the professor to extend the deadline of the assignment.

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(pronounced duh leh muh)

Meaning: The word dilemma is used to refer to a situation in which a tough choice has to be made between two or more alteratives. It is especially used when the choices confronted with are equally undesirable.

Origin

The word has been around 1520s in rhetoric, from Late Latin dilemma from Greek dilemma meaning "a double proposition." It is arrived at by combing di (two) with lemma (premise, anything received or taken).

The meaning "choice between two undesirable alternatives" has been around since the 1580s.

After steady usage in the 19th Century, the word saw a spike in usage in the hundred or so years that followed and is currently enjoying a high with respect to the last 200 years.

Usage: The student faced an agonising dilemma and it seems like there is no correct choice.

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