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What's a word you always hear but don't actually know the meaning of?

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    #62
    Rodney Bathgate
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,445 ✭✭✭Rodney Bathgate


    I don’t know the meaning of the word quit.


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    #63
    It BeeMee
    Registered Users Posts: 748 ✭✭✭It BeeMee


    Ubiquitous

    Turns out, it's very common


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    #64
    Deja Boo
    Registered Users Posts: 13,470 ✭✭✭✭Deja Boo


    preponderance... pre+ponder+ance = condition of thinking first ...nope!


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    #65
    764dak
    Registered Users Posts: 1,847 ✭✭✭764dak


    Deja Boo wrote: »
    nonflammable I get, flammable sure - inflammable, no idea
    Widdershins wrote: »
    Used to confuse me too. I think of it like this, the item is easily inflamed. That makes me think of a rash, so its not that helpful really.
    Same meaning as flammable, not sure why they're used interchangeably.
    You're supposed to think of it like this:
    inflame (verb) +able (suffix).

    inflame: "Light up with or as if with flames."
    https://www.lexico.com/definition/inflame

    inflame: "To set on fire; kindle." "To catch fire."
    https://www.thefreedictionary.com/inflame

    Flammable is a word that people created because too many thought inflammable meant nonflammable.


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    #66
    764dak
    Registered Users Posts: 1,847 ✭✭✭764dak


    Deja Boo wrote: »
    preponderance... pre+ponder+ance = condition of thinking first ...nope!

    Preponderance came from the adjective preponderant. Preponderant came from the verb preponderate.

    This is the etymology of preponderate:

    "Early 17th century (in the sense ‘weigh more, have greater intellectual weight’): from Latin praeponderat- ‘of greater weight’, from the verb praeponderare, from prae ‘before’ + ponderare ‘weigh, consider’."

    https://www.lexico.com/definition/preponderate


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    #67
    JeffreyEpspeen
    Registered Users Posts: 555 ✭✭✭JeffreyEpspeen


    Until recently I thought lugubrious meant happy.


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    #68
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Quanta and Qualia. No matter how many times I read a definition or have someone explain them to me - I have never come away really feeling I know the words well or how to use them or understand them completely. My sense of their meanings is vague at best.


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    #69
    Tacitus Kilgore
    Registered Users Posts: 2,128 ✭✭✭Tacitus Kilgore


    Hyper bowl


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    #70
    gimli2112
    Registered Users Posts: 13,407 ✭✭✭✭gimli2112


    I was just going to say hyperbole. Cool word that I never had any use for until I started reading the football threads here, now I use it all the time. I still wasn't sure how to pronounce it so haven't been able to bring it up in conversation.


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    #71
    Tacitus Kilgore
    Registered Users Posts: 2,128 ✭✭✭Tacitus Kilgore


    gimli2112 wrote: »
    I was just going to say hyperbole. Cool word that I never had any use for until I started reading the football threads here, now I use it all the time. I still wasn't sure how to pronounce it so haven't been able to bring it up in conversation.

    High-per-bolly


    I think.. better used as a written word I reckon :pac:


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    #72
    JeffreyEpspeen
    Registered Users Posts: 555 ✭✭✭JeffreyEpspeen


    It's High-per-bill-eh


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