Bell refers to an object shaped like an upside-down cup, that makes a musical sound and is often found in church towers—or an electronic device, such as a doorbell, which makes a similar ringing sound: I rang her doorbell just as the church bells began to ring and for a second I thought she had a […]

Behest means a formal request, order, or command.  Request means to ask for something. As you can see, these two words are almost synonymous. Both mean “asking for something (i.e., some object or action)”— except that behest is only a noun, and has somewhat formal connotations. Whereas request is both a noun and a verb: We do […]

These two words are completely different. Bazaar refers to an open-air marketplace with many different vendors, especially in the Middle-East or North Africa—although not necessarily. The word may sometimes be used nowadays for a single store or part of a store that sells many different kinds of things: We walked around the bazaar for hours, […]

These two nouns are rarely used outside of educated discussions about literature and drama. However, pathos is commonly understood, whereas bathos is talked about less often. Let’s start with bathos. Bathos, which means “depth” in Greek, sort-of means the opposite in English today. Originally, it meant the technique, or mistake, in literature, when a lofty atmosphere or topic, such as in The Bible, […]

Both of these nouns refer to people, as indicated by -yst and -ist , usually, professionals. An analyst is someone who analyzes things, such as a political analyst, or a systems analyst: I always thought I should be an analyst because I love taking things apart.An annalist, in contrast, is someone who records events, in chronological […]