These adjectives have opposite meanings.  Esoteric means “not public or common knowledge” while exoteric refers to “knowledge or practices commonly taught or shared.” For example, mystical, magical, or occult practices are typically described as esoteric, while everything taught in public school is exoteric!  Both words often describe knowledge, beliefs, or practices of a religion or […]

These two words are unrelated, despite the root du- meaning “two.”Dual is an adjective that means “having two parts or versions.” You can compare it with other English words for things that come in twos, such as duo and duet: The party served a dual purpose—birthday and graduation. Duel is a noun referring to a […]

These two adjectives are closely related.  Distinct means “clearly different, distinguishable” (in fact, note that distinguish has the same root as distinct)—not simply different, but able to be told apart. There are many distinct meanings to the word play in English.  Distinctive means “uniquely different” or “different in a way which uniquely identifies itself”: His […]

Although these two words seem the same, they are not.  Unsatisfied means “not satisfied” or “not entirely fulfilled,” while dissatisfied means “anti-satisfied,” i.e., far from satisfied, unhappy: Although I am impressed with the work so far, I am still unsatisfied. This means that I have a positive feeling about the work, but I still want […]

Everyday is an adjective, while every day is a noun phrase which acts as an adverbial; it modifies verb phrases: This is not an everyday event; they visit rarely.I do not eat lunch every day. Also, everyday can mean “normal” or “usual”: That was not an everyday performance; it was amazing. Every day, however, just […]