Terminology Thursday #3

AD INFINITUM

Meaning

ADVERB

1. to infinity
2. endlessly
3. without limit

Origin and History

Ad infinitum comes directly from the Latin word of the same spelling which meant literally "to infinity."

Synonyms

No synonyms.

Antonyms

No antonyms

Examples

1. As for the nuclear whistle-blower who assists her, we first saw him, decades before, in bed with the young musician. And so on, ad infinitum —or ad nauseam, if, like the publisher, you have no taste for “tricksy gimmicks.”
2. And so on and so on, not ad infinitum but for a period at least--the ten years in which he managed to live and work.

Terminology Thursday #2

BEDASH

Meaning

VERB

1. To dash or spatter something all over
2. To dash or strike against
3. To demolish or ruin

Origin and History

Bedash entered English in the mid-1500s. It is a combination of the prefix be- , which was used in Old English in the formation of verbs, and the root dash , meaning "to apply roughly."

Synonyms

No synonyms.

Antonyms

No antonyms

Examples:

1. To bedash a salad with pepper
2. Windows bedashed with rain
3. His dreams of glory were quickly bedashed

Terminology Thursday #1

AWKWARD

Meaning:

ADJECTIVE

1. Lacking skill or dexterity.
2. Lacking grace or ease in movement.
3. Lacking social graces or manners
4. Not well planned or designed for easy or effective use
5. Requiring caution; somewhat hazardous.

Origin and History

The word 'awkward' comes from 'awk' in Middle English (mid 14th century), meaning backward or perverse. This was followed by the adverbial suffix '-ward'. Awkward was first recorded in the 1520s, meaning clumsy.  

Synonyms

clumsy, inept, unskillful, unhandy, inexpert, uncoordinated, graceless, ungainly, gawky, maladroit, clumsy, gauche, unpolished, unrefined, blundering, oafish, ill-mannered, unmannerly, ill-bred, unwieldy, cumbersome, unmanageable, inconvenient, difficult, troublesome, dangerous, risky,unsafe, chancy, perilous, precarious, treacherous.

Antonyms

deft, adroit, skillful, dexterous, handy, graceful, gracious; polite, well-mannered, well-bred; smooth, polished, refined.

Examples

1. an awkward gesture
2. an awkward dancer
3. a simple, awkward frontiersman.
4. an awkward instrument
5. an awkward method.
6. an awkward turn in the road.