Grammar Clinic

Meaning: Travelling from place to place, especially working or based in various places for relatively short periods. Synonyms: Itinerant, nomadic, travelling. Example: The military maintained a peripatetic lifestyle.

Meaning: Foretell or prophesy a future event Synonyms: Adumbrate,prophesy, forecast. Example: How strange it is that our dreams often prognosticate coming events.    

Meaning: Suggesting the horror of death and decay, morbid or disgusting. Synonyms: Macabre, ghastly, morbid, gruesome. Example: The appearance of the whole thing was ghoulish.      

Meaning: Think deeply about something.  Synonyms: Brood, meditate, ponder, cogitate.  Example: The more you ruminate over your poor grade, the worse it will make you feel.

Meaning: A person who acts obsequiously towards someone important in order to gain advantage/win favour. Synonyms: Toady, fawner, flatterer. Example: Josh is a sycophant who laughs at every thing said by his boss.    

Meaning: A subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression or sound. Synonyms: Gradation, nicety, subtlety, shade. Example: He was familiar with the nuances of the local dialect.

Meaning: (of a convicted criminal) reoffend, go back to bad or criminal behaviour, Synonyms: Retrograde, return, revert. Example: Offenders involved with drugs were more likely to recidivate.

Meaning: A monarch or ruler, one who has the power and position to rule over others, especially an autocratic one. Synonyms: Sovereign, king, ruler, monarch. Example: The king of Bussa was another powerful potentate.  

Meaning: Recently coming into existence and beginning to show signs of future potential. Synonyms: Budding, developing, incipient, emergent. Example: The business remains nascent but very promising.

Meaning: Kept secret, particularly because it would not be approved of. Synonyms: Secretive, stealthy, clandestine, furtive. Example: His surreptitious drug habit could land him in jail.