Grammar Clinic

Meaning: Noisy, energetic, and cheerful. Synonyms: Lively, active, animated, exuberant, spirited. Example: The group is full of boisterous young people.

Meaning: A meeting at an agreed time and place. Synonymy: Meeting, appointment, engagement, date. Example: I have a rendezvous with a friend in three weeks.

Meaning: Resembling or having the properties of oil. Synonyms: Oily, fat, fatty, greasy, sebaceous. Example: I had to wrap my pizza because it is so oleaginous.

  Meaning: Clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others. Synonyms: Contrivance, craft, trick, fraud, cheat, wile. Example: The story was just an artifice to win our sympathy.

Meaning: To examine by touch especially medically. Synonyms: abut, adjoin, border, brush, caress. Example: The nurse palpated the patient’s stomach.

Meaning: To speak or express opinions in a pompous or dogmatic way. Synonyms: Declaim, hold-forth, dogmatic, expound. Example: Experts are pontificating on the matter from both points of view.

Meaning: Someone or something in a neat and clean condition; well cared for. Synonyms: Neat, tidy, groomed, orderly, uncluttered. Example: The young man is looking nice with his well-kempt beard.

Meaning: To promise to marry. Synonyms: Betrothed, espoused, engaged, promised. Example: Jude was affianced to the minister’s daughter.

Meaning: Someone or something that is forceful, penetrating or clear-cut. Sharp, pointed and articulate. Synonyms: Clear-cut, distinct, incisive, acute, keen. Example: She was shattered and bewildered by the manager’s trenchant criticism  

Meaning: Clearly expressed in a short way without unnecessary words. Synonyms: Terse, blunt, concise, compact, compendious, condensed, laconic. Example: Her speech was succinct and straight to the point.