These two verbs have almost opposite meanings, although they are often confused; you may see them both used to mean “excite or energize”—but this is wrong.Enervate means “make (someone) weak or tired.” Note that it begins with e- which means “out of” and here that means “take the energy out of”: Working on the project […]

These are the same word in different grammatical forms.  Envelop is the verb and envelope, the noun. They are pronounced differently: envelop as ‘en-VEL-up’ and envelope as ‘ON-vel-ope.’As you may know, one kind of envelope is the paper container that you use to send small things by “snail mail” (physical mail). However, any (relatively) thin […]

These nouns all describe short pieces of language—single words, phrases, statements, or a few lines of poetry, which comment on a person or topic. The prefix epi- means “on” or “about.”An epigram is a short, witty statement—or short poem—on any topic. Epigrams are “pointed”; they only say one thing, and they are memorable, clever, and […]

These two adjectives both describe things that are “equal” in some sense.Equable means “relatively the same everywhere, without extremes” and therefore implies gentle, mild, and even. The medierranean area is known for its equable climate. Equitable means “fair” in the sense of “treating all people equally”: I will take the job if they offer me […]

These two verbs both describe ways of speaking. To prevaricate means “to lie” with words—not in any other way. Equivocate means something quite different, but is also associated with deception.Equivocate means “to voice things equally”—to speak in a way that treats two different things as if they were the same thing, or to speak in a way […]