Instead of advertising that “children are welcome,” the restaurant describes itself as “family friendly” because of the phrase’s warm connotation. Sometimes, words have different connotations across dialects. For example, “trousers” has a different connotation in the United States than it does...
One word that is the opposite of theist without negative connotations is "humanist." Humanism describes a human-centered philosophy in the same way that theism describes a God-centered philosophy. (See the American Humanist Association's webpage "Are You Humanist?") "Humanism" usually means "sec...
English has very few word pairs that are exact synonyms because connotations develop and then push the words’ primary meanings—their denotations—apart. Hundreds of years ago,andcould both be used for any kind of residence. But eventuallytook on the connotation of “big and fancy house” (we...
Dominant is an adjective, which describes the sort of person she is. "She is a very dominant person" The connotations of one being a state and the other being a behaviour, is that one that emphasises the permanence of the condition. "Dominant" probably is telling us more about long-ter...
杀鸡用牛刀 (shājīyòngniúdāo) means using an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken, i.e. breaking a butterfly on the wheel.对牛弹琴 (duìniútánqín) literally means to play the lute to a cow. This idiom describes the situation in which one has choosen the wrong audience....
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More than a simple adjective, epithets attribute a specific quality or characteristic to what is being described. For example, one of the most common epithets describes a dog as man’s best friend. This instantly suggests that a dog embodies all of the qualities of a best friend: loyalty,...
Using words with the correct connotations John isthorough. (Isthoroughthe right word? Perhapsmeticulous, which has a more positive connotation would be more accurate. What aboutnitpicking, which has a negative connotation?) Janet ispersistent. ...
What does scheming mean in a person? Scheming is an adjective that describessomeone who is always doing sneaky things to make things happen, like your scheming friend who invites you to a family party because she secretly wants you to meet her adorable cousin. A scheme is a plan of action...
which states "Pride goes before a fall." The story of the fall of the Devil, Lucifer, perhaps exemplifies this best, but many other tales from scripture also get the idea across. One of the most well-known describes how King David, taking advantage of his political power, sent the husban...