Furtive (fûr’tìv) is an adjective used to express caution or secrecy. Synonyms include stealthy and surreptitious. It comes from the Latim furtum (theft). Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge … Read more
Afshan Khan asks, “What is the difference between a dictionary and a thesaurus?” A dictionary is a book containing the individual words of a language (usually organized alphabetically). The purpose of the dictionary is to set forth the orthography, pronunciation and signification of those words. The thesaurus, on the other hand, is a specific dictionary … Read more
My high school English teacher banned the use of the word nice. She said it was a lazy adjective. Although she was a bit harsh, there was some truth in what she said.