Calvary is the English name of the hill on which Jesus was crucified. Cavalry, usually the cavalry, is the part of an army that fights on horseback. Since this part of the army is usually more dangerous than soldiers on foot, the cavalry also means “anyone or anything that comes to help you when you are losing”: […]

These are only spelling variants. Adapter is the more common spelling, and therefore likely to cause less distraction for readers than adaptor. In fact, many spell checkers will mark adaptor as incorrect! An adapter is a device or person that adapts—that changes itself or something else in order to function in a certain context, such as a power […]

These two adjectives are related but have different meanings. Odious means offensive or worse than offensive—hateful and morally wrong: Human trafficking is among the most odious of crimes. Odorous describes strong smells—i.e., strong odors. It can refer to both good and bad smells: The skunk’s odorous spray is a mixture of sulfur-containing compounds. Odious in a Sentence Rita had […]

Both of these words can each appear as either noun or verb. The noun rein is almost always plural. Reins are a pair of straps used to control horses pulling a horse vehicle, such as a carriage or wagon. One end of each rein connects to the metal bit in the horse’s mouth, and the other end […]

Lay and Lie are among the most commonly confused verbs in English—at least when it comes to their shared meaning of “put or rest in a place.” Both words also have other meanings, which I’ll cover below. Lay is a transitive verb, and lie is an intransitive verb (transitive verbs have an object; intransitive verbs do not have objects)—but […]