Accede:  to agree to a request or to give consent Concede: to admit or relinquish hesitantly   Exceed: to go beyond a limit; to be greater than The root word cede that we see in all of the above words (with different spelling in exceed) means “go,” which also appears in words such as precede and recede. The […]

Abstruse means difficult to understand; obscure.  Obtuse refers to an angle exceeding 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees. It also can refer to someone who is slow to understand, lacking sharpness or quickness of intellect.   These words can be easy to confuse, since abstruse means “difficult to understand” and obtuse can mean “stupid” among other […]

Abstemious means not self-indulgent, especially when eating and drinking. Abstinent means not doing or having something, often referring to sex or alcohol. (i.e, self-restraint or self-denial).    He hopes that an abstemious lifestyle will improve his health and wellbeing. I have abstained from drinking alcohol for over ten years.  These words are both adjectives and both begin with […]

Apart means “separated.” Please take this car apart and put it back together. I want to move the fighters apart into separate corners. A part means “a portion of something.” That is only a part of the story. The movie has a part where the little boy makes friends with Godzilla.Apart is an adverb and can only be used in adverb position. In contrast, a […]

Awhile is an adverb meaning “for a while.” A while is a noun phrase meaning  “a period of time.” The major difference is in function. Awhile acts like an adverb, describing an action. For example: I talked awhile.  We drove awhile. A while, on the other hand, acts like a noun.  For example:  It has been a while since we’ve spoken. […]