Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Wealth of Words Wednesday #1


Recently I've come upon a plentiful supply (wealth) of new-to-me words. Some of these words I may have encountered before, but I seem to forget the meaning of them as soon as I move on to new books. To counteract this, I decided to come up with a new post series that will put my fluency to the test... along with yours. The frequency of this feature will depend on how many new words I come across, as well as how long my backlog of them lasts. I will give the word, the sentence in which I first discovered it, and three different possibilities as to definition, only one of which is correct.


The first word is: ameliorate

The sentence in which I found it:

And yet, when I endeavored to ameliorate my condition, the cry has been so fearful against me as to cause me to forget my own identity, and suppose I had plundered the nation, indeed, and committed murder.

From Behind the Scenes by Elizabeth Keckley, as written in a letter to her by Mary Lincoln

a. become more like Amelia Earhart

b. calm something, or tame it

c. make better, or improve


The second word is: aplomb

Because the sentence in which I found it also gives the definition, I'll make up a sentence for it.

The veteran teacher handled his students' questions with great aplomb.

a. confident composure or self-assurance

b. deficiency or limitation

c. emotiveness or passion


The third word is: pecuniary

The sentence in which I found it:

I received numerous orders, and was relieved from all pecuniary embarrassments.

From Behind the Scenes by Elizabeth Keckley

a. relating to the prison system or imprisonment

b. of or relating to money

c. not known about; obscure


Correct Answers (Highlight to View):

1. (ameliorate) c. make better, or improve 2. (aplomb) a. confident composure of self-assurance 3. (pecuniary) b. of or relating to money

Have you encountered any of these words before? Which new words have you come across recently?

7 comments:

  1. I don't think I have seen ameliorate before, and by gawd I am surprised it is in the Kindle spell check because some more common words aren't. Ha ha. Thanks to your three choices I guessed it was improve because I took Latin and ameliorare is "to improve". I knew the last two, but I am old and my grandmother used those words. XD Ebullient was the last unknown word I came across. This is a great feature. :)

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    1. Yes- the Kindle vocab is such a hassle. I've had to add a lot of plural and possessive versions of common words to its system. I know some Greek and Latin roots, but not straight up Latin! I've heard of aplomb before, but I had to look it up again, so it counted for me. ;)
      For some reason, ebullient always equals bubbly for me. After I Googled the definition, it kind of makes sense- but I wonder where I picked up that word from?
      Thanks for stopping by and testing your vocabulary, La La!
      ~Litha Nelle

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  2. What a fun feature! I love the word ameliorate- I don't know why, I just like saying it. some words are just like that lol.

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    1. For some reason, ameliorate reminds me of anemone when I say it aloud. Maybe because I stumble over both of them. ;)
      Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Greg!
      ~Litha Nelle

      And thanks for stopping by and waving at Greg, La La! :P

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  3. I got two out of three right! :) I missed "pecuniary", which now makes me wish I had bothered to look the word up in the dictionary instead of assuming I knew what it meant whenever I had come across it.

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    1. I tend to do that too- I did that with aplomb so many times I decided to put it here in hopes of getting the correct definition attached to it. One thing I love about the Kindle Fire is that you can highlight a word and look it up in the dictionary, or on Wikipedia, or get the translation for it (which occasionally leads to spoilers).
      Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Rachelle!
      ~Litha Nelle

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