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 […]

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 […]