Category Words dictionary

(Pronounced vi-cin-i-ty)

Meaning: This word is often used as a synonym of neighbourhood meaning the area around or near a particular place. It can also mean the quality or state of being near or an approximate amount, extent, or degree.

Origin: Vicinity first appeared in English in the 16th Century. It comes from Latin vicus, meaning "row of houses" or “village,” by way of Latin vicinus, meaning neighbouring.

Usage: She lives in Los Angeles, or somewhere in that vicinity.

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(Pronounced as: o-ra-kyoo-ler)

Meaning: An adjective, "oracular” means resembling an oracle or of, relating to, or being an oracle.

Origin: The word is borrowed from the Latin word "oraculum" meaning a divine announcement or a prophetic declaration. Its first known use was in 1631.

Usage: The return of the gypsy to the king's court brought much cheer because if anything could save the king and the kingdom then it was the oracular pronouncements the gypsy would make.

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(pronounced duhm.fawnd.uhd

Meaning: The word dumbfounded is used to denote a sense of great astonishment or amazement.

Origin: The word has been in use from the 1680s and is the past participle adjective from dumbfound. The word dumbfound is arrived at by combining dumb with the ending from confound.

The word has steadily increased in usage in the last few decades and is enjoying its best popularity in the last 200 years.

Usage: The demonstration of the new gadget was so good that it left the gathered audience dumbfounded.

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(Pronounced ka luh koh)

Meaning: The noun refers to a plain woven cotton cloth printed with a figured pattern, usually on one side.

Origin: In use since the 16th Century, the word is derived from an alternative form of Calicut (modern Kozhikode), the name of the seaport on the Malabar coast of India where Europeans first obtained the fabric. In the U.S., the use extended to animal colourings suggestive of printed calicos in 1807, originally of horses, and of cats from 1882.

Usage: My grandma's tiny wooden box was wrapped in printed calico.

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(pronounced as buh.reft)

Meaning: The word bereft is used to imply being deprived of or lacking something. When used with a person, it corresponds to being sad and lonely, especially because of someone's death or departure.

Origin: The word has been around since late in the 14th Century. A past-participle adjective, bereft is derived from the verb bereave. Now slightly different in meaning, the past tense forms of bereave- bereaved and bereft – have co-existed since 14th Century.

After sliding down out of favour for over 100 years from around 1800, the word's usage has increased steadily from around 1950s.

Usage: Some desert landscapes are bereft of any human presence.

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(Pronounced hold.aut)

Meaning: A noun, holdout refers to a person, organisation, or country that continues to do something despite others trying to force them not to. It is used to describe someone who refuses to reach an agreement with others in a particular situation. In other words, it is an act of resisting something or refusing to give consent to an agreement.

Origin: The term "holdout" is said to have been attested from 1907 in the sense "keep back, withhold". It's a combination of the verb hold and the adverb out. Meanwhile, the phrase "hold out" meaning "resist pressure" has been in use since the late 16th Century.

Usage: It's time to shame holdouts who resist proposals to limit global warming.

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