Erasable means simply “able to be erased”—literally or metaphorically; it is often used in reference to mistakes: We must be careful because the hurtful words we say to others are not erasable.Irascible is related to the words ire (anger) and irate (angry); it means “easily angered” (able to be angered easily). However, it is not usually […]

These two nouns have related meanings.  Eruption, as we know from the e- prefix, refers to the coming out of something. Most typically, it describes lava coming out of a volcano, or something similar, but it can be used in other ways as well: When school ended, there was an eruption of students from the […]

These two verbs can be used interchangeably, although there are slight differences in connotations for some people. Both mean “to ask for or seek information either by questioning or investigation”: We inquired/enquired at the information booth for a map of the city. The main differences are that enquire is more unusual in the US, but […]

These two word are both comparative quantifiers (words which describe quantities), and less can also act as a comparative degree adverb (a word which describes the degree of an adjective, adverb, or verb). Fewer can only modify nouns, and only nouns which are countable, while less only modifies non-countable nouns (as well as adjectives, adverbs, […]

These adjectives are related but have almost opposite meanings. Exceptionable means “able to be excepted” and “excepted” means “taken out”; so exceptionable literally means “likely to be taken out” or “likely to be objected to,” or “able to be censored”: Please remove any exceptionable language from your speech. Exceptionable is related to the phrase “to take […]