Tag: Transitive

Here’s one of those basic verbs we all know, one that could be put to good use more often. “Fabric” and “fabricate” trace back to a Latin word meaning “artisan: person who creates things out of materials.” To fabricate things Read More …

Verb – Excoriate This word has Latin roots that mean “to strip off the hide or skin.” To excoriate people and things literally is to strip off their skin. And to excoriate people and things figuratively is to talk so Read More …

Verb – Instigate To instigate something–usually something bad–is to cause it or to stir it up, often by persuading people or by firing up their emotions. Pronunciation: IN stih gate Part of speech: Verb, the transitive kind: people and their Read More …

This word means “to say against.” To gainsay things or people is to speak against them, to disagree with them, to say that they’re wrong. Pronunciation: GAIN say That’s the accepted pronunciation, but long ago, it was a matter of Read More …

This word might have come from an Old English one meaning “to drive away.” When something fazes you, it bothers you and makes you visibly worried, scared, confused, or embarrassed. Pronunciation: FAZE (rhymes with “daze” and “ways”) Part of speech: Read More …

With Greek roots that mean “without feeling” or “without sensation,” the word “anesthesia” means “a loss of the ability to feel.” Often this is literal: before you get surgery, you get either general anaesthesia, so that you’re asleep and you Read More …