To declare innocent, exonerate, absolve, exculpate, free from blame, release from accusation, pronounce not guilty. ACQUIT and the corresponding nouns ACQUITTAL and QUITTANCE are from the Latin AD, to, and QUIETARE, to quiet. To ACQUIT by derivation means to quiet, set at rest. The word is used today only in the limited sense of quieting an accusation. In the test phrase: "He was ACQUITTED," the word is thought by 29% of elementary school students to mean FOUND GUILTY, an exact opposite of the correct meaning. This may be a confusion of ACQUIT, declare innocent, with ACCUSE, charge with guilt. It is almost certain that a proportion of jurors, in voting to ACQUIT an accused person, believe that they are finding him guilty.

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A temple, place of worship, religious edifice, house of God, especially a place for a large congregation. In the test phrase: "He went to the TABERNACLE," the most frequent misconception yet found is MUSEUM. This comes from the Greek MOUSA, a muse. In Greek mythology, the MUSES were at first goddesses of memory; later, of song; and finally, goddesses of the arts and sciences. Of the nine described by later writers, three were: CALLIOPE, goddess of poetic inspiration; TERPSICHORE, goddess of song and dance; and MELPOMENE, goddess of tragedy. A MUSEUM is by derivation a temple of the muses, a place for worshiping the arts and sciences. Today a MUSEUM is a building that contains collections of any sort. There are art museums, natural history museums, and science museums. The word TABERNACLE comes from the Latin TABERNACULUM, a tent, a combination of TABERNA, a hut built of boards, shed constructed of planks, and the diminutive ending -ACULUM. TABERNACLE, originally a tent, pavilion, any temporary shelter, any place to stop, came to signify a number of specific resting places. In the Bible the word designates the human body as the temporary resting place of the soul. In Roman Catholic churches, the TABERNACLE is a recess, cupboard, receptacle, containing the eucharist, and built as part of the church. In Jewish history, the TABERNACLE was an oblong tent, forty-five by fifteen feet, divided into two parts, used for religious worship during the wandering of the Jews before their settlement in Jerusalem. From this, the word TABERNACLE came to mean not only any Jewish temple, but any house of worship.

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To talk idly, babble, chatter, prattle, be foolishly loquacious, speak to little purpose. To 10% of college seniors PRATE incorrectly means to ARGUE, debate, discuss, dispute. The verb to ARGUE is sometimes defined as reason, but this gives it too much credit. To ARGUE is to present reasons, and is more dignified, more formal, than to DISPUTE or to BICKER. To BICKER once meant exchange blows, and now means quarrel in words. PRATE has no suggestion of wrangling. PRATE and PRATTLE, both from the same Dutch source, mean to talk without knowledge and to little purpose. Children PRATTLE; elders PRATE.

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Literally, existing before the flood. ANTEDILUVIAN is also used figuratively to mean very old, ancient, primitive. ANTEDILUVIAN comes from the Latin ANTE, before, and DILUVIUM, flood. This Latin word DILUVIUM is the direct source of the English DILUVIUM, flood, deluge, inundation, overflow; ABLUTION, a cleansing; and DILUTE, to thin with liquid; through the French comes DELUGE, flood. ANTEDILUVIAN means literally before the flood; specifically, before the Noachian deluge, the flood in Noah's time, described in the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis. ANTEDILUVIAN is also used to mean before any great flood, deluge; and figuratively, very old, ancient, of ancient times.

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Long-headed, narrow-headed, having a CEPHALIC INDEX of 75 or less. DOLICHOCEPHALIC comes from the two Greek words DOLICHOS, long, and CEPHALE, head. DOLICHOCEPHALIC is an ethnological term denoting skulls the transverse diameter of which is 75% or less of the length from front to back. This ratio, called the CEPHALIC INDEX, is found by dividing the width of the head from side to side by the distance from the front to the back. When this quotient is 0.75 or less, often written as merely 75, the head is said to be long and narrow or DOLICHOCEPHALIC. When the quotient is larger than 0.75, the head is said to be broad or BRACHYCEPHALIC. A third term MESOCEPHALIC is occasionally used when the CEPHALIC INDEX is between 75 and 80. DOLICHOCEPHALIC is thought by 30 percent of adult readers to mean SHORT-HEADED, clearly a confusion with BRACHYCEPHALIC, applied to heads which are comparatively wide from side to side. Early prehistoric man seems to have been DOLICHOCEPHALIC, long-headed. Extinct human types were almost entirely DOLICHOCEPHALIC, long-headed. In America, DOLICHOCEPHALIC or long-headed people seem to have preceded the BRACHYCEPHALIC, or broad-headed Indians. DOLICHOCEPHALY, long-headedness, still predominates in Africa and Australia. The West African negroes, Eskimos, Bushmen, and native Australians are predominantly DOLICHOCEPHALIC.

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A slightly raised platform, stage, high table, part of the floor lifted above the rest. In the test phrase: "On the DAIS," the word is thought by 8 percent of adult readers to mean EXACT TIME. This is no doubt a confusion of DAIS with DIAL, which probably contributes to the frequent mispronunciation of DAIS. A DIAL is an instrument that indicates the time. A SUNDIAL shows the time by the shadow of a style or gnomon. From this the word DIAL has come to be used for the face of a watch or clock. A DAIS is a raised platform. In medieval English castles the DAIS was a part of the floor raised above the rest. It often ran across the south end of the banqueting hall or great hall, the central living portion of the castle. The table at which the master and his friends ate was placed on the DAIS, while the retainers ate on the lower level. The DAIS was at the opposite end of the hall from the entrance door. This gave onto a sort of lobby cut off from the hall by a paneled partition called the SCREENS. Adjoining the SCREENS was the service portion of the castle. Adjoining the DAIS were the rooms reserved for the master of the castle and his family. In France, the same word DAIS has come to mean canopy, perhaps because of the frequent use of a canopy over a throne set on a DAIS.

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An accusation especially by a legal process, formal complaint, grand jury charge. INDICTMENT comes from the Latin DICERE, to say, the source of the English word DICTIONARY. The two nouns INDICTMENT and IMPEACHMENT are specific; ACCUSATION and CHARGE are more general. Legally, the House of Representatives in the United States and the House of Commons in Great Britain make an IMPEACHMENT; a grand jury may make an INDICTMENT, formal complaint, legal accusation.

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Tibetan monk, Buddhist celibate, priest, pontiff of Lamaism. The Grand LAMA, called the DALAI, is the head of the hierarchy. In the test phrase: "A famous LAMA," the word is thought by 11% of adult readers to mean MOUNTAIN PASS, a path or narrow road made through a valley or over the lowest part of a mountain range, the easiest way over a mountain barrier. LAMAS live in mountain retreats, where they meditate apart from the bustle of the commercial world. By another 6 percent LAMA, priest, is thought to mean DIRGE. This is probably a confusion of LAMA, priest, with LAMENT, a weeping, wailing, elegy, dirge. LAMAISM is a religion, a branch of Buddhism, practiced in Tibet, just north of India, where Buddhism started, and in Mongolia, further north. A LAMA is a priest of LAMAISM, a monk noted for learning and sanctity.

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Political agitator, one who panders to the multitude, popular orator who tries to capitalize on social discontent. A DEMAGOGUE is thought by 29% of adult readers to be a DEIFIED MORTAL. To DEIFY, from the Latin DEUS, god, and FACERE, to make, is to make a god of, exalt to the rank of a deity. This is probably a confusion of DEMAGOGUE, political agitator, with DEMIGOD. DEMI, half, used frequently as a prefix, goes back to the Latin DIMIDIUS, half. A DEMIGOD is by derivation a half-god. In mythology, a DEMIGOD was a minor deity, the offspring of a GOD and a mortal. DEMAGOGUE goes back through the French to the Greek DEMAGOGOS, a leader of the people, a combination of DEMOS, the people, populace, the source of the English word DEMOCRACY, and AGEIN, to lead, the source of the English word AGENT. Originally a DEMAGOGUE was a leader of the people. Today the word is used for an unprincipled leader, a popular orator who seeks to inflame social discontent for his own personal benefit.

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Reciprocal, joint, shared alike, given and received, pertaining alike to both sides, interchanged, common to several. COMMON, in the COMMONWEAL, means shared by all, and so MUTUAL. MUTUAL comes from the Latin MUTUUS, reciprocal, exchanged, interchanged, a word that in turn comes from MUTARE, to change, exchange, the frequentative of MOVERE, to move. In the test phrase: "The friendship is MUTUAL," the word is thought by 6 percent of adult readers to mean UNDERSTOOD. The noun an UNDERSTANDING means a harmony of minds, MUTUAL agreement. The participial adjective UNDERSTOOD means either comprehended, apprehended, correctly interpreted, or assumed, implied, unspoken. Purists regard Charles Dickens's title: "Our MUTUAL Friend" as improper usage. This implies a third person, a friend in common between the first two. A MUTUAL friendship between two persons is shared by both, each holding the other in equal regard. MUTUAL friendship or feelings may exist among any number; but COMMON is the word that correctly applies to an outsider known jointly by others.

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Fictitious, false, spurious, of doubtful authenticity. APOCRYPHAL comes from the Greek APO, away, and CRYPTEIN, to hide. It is from the same source as the English word CRYPT, an underground vault. The word is thought by 26% of high school juniors to mean MYSTERIOUS, secret, occult, obscure, enigmatical. This is no doubt a confusion of APOCRYPHAL, spurious, with CRYPTIC, a word from the same Greek source, which has kept the original meaning hidden, secret. APOCRYPHAL is an adjective from the noun APOCRYPHA. An APOCRYPHA is any writing of doubtful authenticity. Spelled with a capital, APOCRYPHA refers to fourteen books of the Bible which do not appear in the Hebrew Bible but which occurred in the SEPTUAGINT and VULGATE versions of the Old Testament. They are now usually omitted. APOCRYPHAL means of doubtful authenticity.

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Medieval chemistry, hermetics, chemics, doctrines and processes of chemistry of the Middle Ages, early chemistry, art of the alchemist. ALCHEMY is thought by 11% of adult readers to mean BASE METAL. This is probably a confusion of ALCHEMY with ALLOY. Today the word ALLOY is used most frequently to mean the union of two or more metals to achieve some desired result; but the same word may also mean an inferior metal added to a more valuable one. The ALCHEMISTS' aim was to manufacture gold and silver from less valuable base metals. To another 8% of adult readers ALCHEMY means SORCERY. SORCERY comes from the Latin SORS, SORTIS, a lot. SORCERY is strictly foretelling the future by the casting of lots; more loosely, it is divination through the conjuration of evil spirits, witchcraft, the black art. ALCHEMY is often defined as the black art, and after the 16th century those who are today called ALCHEMISTS, as distinguished from the early CHEMISTS, pretended greater knowledge than they possessed and resorted to tricks, magic. During the genesis of modern science from the 16th to the 18th centuries, ALCHEMY gradually deteriorated and became more and more a pretense of knowledge. But early ALCHEMY, prior to the 16th century, was the first groping step toward the science of modern chemistry. Even the modern word CHEMIST is the early ALCHEMIST shortened by apheresis, the dropping of the first syllable. The logical name of the science, CHEMY, did not apparently sound imposing enough; and so, by analogy with PALMISTRY, the science of the PALMIST; HERALDRY, the duty of the HERALD; BAKERY, the place of business of the BAKER; and DRAPERY, the business and materials of the DRAPER; the science of the CHEMIST became CHEMISTRY. ALCHEMY goes back, through numerous changes of spelling, apparently to the Arabic ALKIMIA. This starts with the Arabic article AL, the, which appears also in ALCOHOL, ALCOVE, and ALGEBRA. The early history of the second part of the word is still in dispute. It may come from the Greek CHYMOS, juice. With this explanation, ALCHEMY started as the science of extracting plant juices for medicine. The transmutation of chemical elements, for which the ALCHEMISTS were held in contempt, is today in part an accomplished fact.

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Flat slab, panel usually of stone or bronze and bearing an inscription. TABLET is from the Latin TABULA, a board, tablet, painting. A TABLET and a PLAQUE are both flat slabs. A PLAQUE is decorated, ordinarily by sculpture in low relief. A TABLET bears an inscription, a written record. The word TABLET is also used today to refer to a pad of paper used for inscriptions, as: "A writing TABLET."

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A three-hundredth anniversary, celebration in memory of an event three hundred years before. CENTENARY comes from CENTENARIUS, consisting of one hundred, a Latin adjective derived from CENTUM, a hundred. From this comes the English CENT, the hundredth part of a dollar. The English PERCENT comes directly from the Latin PER CENTUM, and means literally by the hundred, out of one hundred. CENTENARY means a hundred of anything, but the word looks so much like CENTENNIAL that by mistake it has come to mean not merely a hundred, but specifically a hundred years. The first section of TERCENTENARY, TER, comes from the Latin TERTIUS, third, which in turn comes from TRES, TRIA, three, the source of the English prefix TRI-, three. TRI- appears in TRIANGLE, a three-angled figure in geometry; in TRIPLICATE, threefold; and in TRIDENT, a three-pronged fork. From the Latin TERTIUS, third, comes the English TERTIARY, of the third rank or order, used in geology to mean the third period of geological development, the age of mammals, beginning some fifty million years ago. Before the TERTIARY came the SECONDARY era, although this word is rarely used by geologists, who call it the MESOZOIC era, time of middle life. After the TERTIARY came the QUATERNARY, the present age of man. In the test phrase: "TERCENTENARY celebration," PRIMITIVE is the most frequent misconception. PRIMITIVE means having the characteristics of early times. This may be a confusion of TERCENTENARY with TERTIARY, third, of the third order, after PRIMARY and SECONDARY. TERCENTENARY means consisting of three hundred years, pertaining to three hundred years, happening after three hundred years. In 1907, Jamestown, Virginia celebrated the TERCENTENARY of the first permanent English settlement in America in 1607. In 1920, Plymouth, Massachusetts celebrated the TERCENTENARY of the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock in 1620, three hundred years earlier.

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Code, cryptography, secret writing, specially arranged words of assigned significance, method of conveying a hidden meaning, writing in occult characters. CIPHER goes back to the Arabic SIFR, empty, nothing, a word which in turn comes from the Arabic SAFARA, to be empty. From this original meaning, nothing, zero, comes the English CIPHER, a ZERO, also written 0. This ZERO or CIPHER then came to be used in such numbers as TEN, 10, TWENTY, 20, and THIRTY, 30; "An arithmetical mark," says Dr. Johnson, "which, standing for nothing itself, increases the value of the other figures." Perhaps from this, CIPHER came to mean a monogram, several letters intertwined and written as one. CIPHER is used more often today, however, to mean a secret code. Julius Caesar used a simple CIPHER, writing the fourth letter of the alphabet, D, in place of the first letter, A; and the fifth letter, E, in place of the second, B. In the test phrase: "It is in CIPHER," the word is thought by 8% of adult readers to mean LONGHAND. The word CIPHER has been used loosely at times for SHORTHAND, stenography, the opposite of LONGHAND, written script. CIPHER and CODE are practically synonymous. A CODE is a collection of laws, set of rules, system of signals, as: "The Morse CODE." A CIPHER is an arrangement of words or letters which conveys a meaning understood by only a few persons and kept secret from others.

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False hair, wig to cover the bald top of a man's head. TOUPEE is the English spelling and pronunciation of the French TOUPET, the diminutive of an Old French word which meant tuft of hair. In England, the French spelling is now the more popular. In the United States, the word is always spelled TOUPEE, but most often pronounced TOUPEE, like the French. From the same ultimate source as TOUPEE comes the English word TOP, which goes directly back to Anglo-Saxon and which once meant the top of the head, hair, tuft, forelock. TOUPEE is thought by 3 percent of adult readers to mean SMALL TENT. This is clearly a confusion of TOUPEE, wig, false hair, with TIPI. TIPI, also spelled TEPEE, is a combination of two Sioux roots, TI, to dwell, and PI, used for. The TIPI is an Indian tent used by the plains tribes. It has a conical framework of wooden poles covered with dressed buffalo skins sewed together, and is an easily movable form of shelter. PERUKE, PERIWIG, and TOUPEE, are three words for wig. The word PERIWIG seems to be a variation of PERUKE, and has the same meaning. The PERUKE is best known as the heavy wig with curls which cover the entire head and fall to the shoulders. It was worn by men of fashion from 1650 to 1750, and still by judges in England. A TOUPEE was originally a curl of artificial hair on the top of the head, the crowning feature of a PERIWIG. The word TOUPEE was also used for a PERIWIG in which the front hair was combed up over a pad to form a topknot. Such TOUPEES or PERIWIGS were worn by both sexes in the 18th century. A TOUPEE is now a thin patch of false hair covering a bald spot.

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Sacred, holy, hallowed, consecrated, blessed, inviolable, of great goodness, as: "A SACROSANCT volume." To 15 percent of adult readers SACROSANCT incorrectly means PROHIBITIVE, forbidding, preventing, prohibiting. To another 13 percent SACROSANCT means OUT-OF-PRINT, possibly a remote confusion of SACROSANCT with EXTINCT, which means out of existence, at an end, having ceased. SACROSANCT is from the two Latin words SACER and SANCTUS, both of which mean holy, sacred, so that SACROSANCT is literally doubly sacred, extremely holy.

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To flirt, trifle amorously, coquet, make love to women as a pastime. In the test phrase: "Always PHILANDERING," the word is thought by 29% of college seniors to mean SQUANDERING, wasting, dissipating, spending lavishly. By another 26% PHILANDERING is thought to mean IDLING, wasting time. These misunderstandings are perhaps due to some confusion between PHILANDER, to flirt, and MEANDER, a word which, like PHILANDER, comes from a proper name. MEANDER is derived from the river MEANDER, a winding stream which flows into the Aegean Sea near Miletus. To MEANDER is to proceed by winding and turning. PHILANDER comes directly from the name of a youth, PHILANDER, in ORLANDO FURIOSO, a poem by Ariosto, written in 1516, in which PHILANDER flirts with a married lady. The name PHILANDER comes in turn from two Greek words, PHILEIN, to love; and ANER, ANDROS, man; the source of the modern English word PHILANTHROPIST, literally one who loves mankind. From the same source come PHILOSOPHY, love of wisdom, and PHILOLOGY, love of learning and literature. Although the word PHILOLOGY is often used to mean a study of language, even specifically a study of words, the meaning is broader than this; PHILOLOGY is a study of language and literature to gain an insight into man's activities. To PHILANDER is to flirt.

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Analysis, discrimination, elucidation, perception, classification, differentiation, drawing a conclusion from a number of facts, opinion resulting from an examination, characterization in precise terms. DIAGNOSIS comes from the Greek DIAGNOSIS, literally a distinguishing. This noun comes in turn from the Greek verb DIAGIGNOSKEIN, to distinguish, discern, discriminate, a combination of DIA, between, and GNONAI, to know. The unusual word GNOSIS, from the same verb GNONAI, to know, means knowledge of the highest type, science. PROGNOSIS, forecast, prediction, literally knowing beforehand, comes from PRO, before, and the same verb GNONAI, to know. By derivation a DIAGNOSIS is knowing the difference between. In medicine, a DIAGNOSIS is recognizing a sickness from its symptoms, determining the nature of the disease. A doctor observes, takes temperature, gathers facts. He then fits these together in his mind, draws a conclusion, makes a DIAGNOSIS. On the basis of this DIAGNOSIS, he PRESCRIBES, tells what to do.

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Very big, huge, gigantic, tremendous, enormous, monstrous, mammoth, immense, stupendous, titanic, elephantine; Brobdingnagian, a word invented by Jonathan Swift (also called Dean Swift) in GULLIVER'S TRAVELS; and gargantuan, from Rabelais's satire. To 2 percent of adult readers COLOSSAL incorrectly means MYTHICAL, imaginary, fabulous. This is perhaps because of the derivation of the word COLOSSAL, which comes from the word COLOSSUS. The COLOSSUS of RHODES was a huge bronze statue of Apollo, said to be 70 cubits, just over 100 feet in height. It was built by the sculptor Chares, finished in 280 B.C., and stood for 56 years at one side of the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes, an island in the Aegean Sea. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 224 B.C. and the fragments lay where they fell for a thousand years. Although the Colossus of Rhodes was a real statue, an exaggerated story has been handed down that it stood astride the mouth of the port and that ships sailed between its legs. Because of this fiction, the statue itself is often thought of as MYTHICAL, imaginary, fabulous. From COLOSSUS come the words: COLOSSEUM, the great amphitheater at Rome, begun by Vespasian in 75 A.D. and which, when completed, seated 87,000 persons; and the adjective COLOSSAL, huge, gigantic, very big, mammoth, enormous, immense.

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Servile, belonging to a retinue or train of servants, humble, vulgar, degrading, lowly, domestic, subservient. In the test phrase: "Of MENIAL rank," the word is thought by 16% of adult readers to mean MIDDLE. This is probably a confusion of MENIAL with MEAN. There are two adjectives spelled MEAN, with different derivations and different modern meanings. One of the two goes back to Anglo-Saxon and originally meant common, general, and then of common origin, low, humble, inferior, shabby, poor, as: "Of MEAN appearance," "A MEAN abode," and is almost a synonym of MENIAL. The other adjective MEAN goes back through Old French to the Latin MEDIUS, middle, and means midway, occupying a middle position, median, middling, moderate, medium. MENIAL goes back through Old French to the Latin MANSIO, MANSIONIS, an abode, dwelling, the source of the English MANSION. The obsolete word MEINY, household, retinue, attendants, train, comes from the same source. MENIAL originally meant belonging to the retinue of servants. The noun a MENIAL differs from a day laborer, for a MENIAL dwells in the household of the master and performs domestic duties.

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Pipeline supplying water to distant places, conduit, large tube, canal, channel for conveying water. AQUEDUCT comes from the Latin AQUAEDUCTUS, a carrier of water. The Latin AQUAE is the genitive of AQUA, water; the noun DUCTUS is a pipe, canal, duct, from the verb DUCERE, to lead, convey. A DUCT is any channel, pipe, or tube. The word is used principally in anatomy for vessels that convey blood, or other substance, through the body. The word also occurs in the science of BRYOLOGY, the study of mosses. A VIADUCT, from the Latin VIA, way, road, carries a road; an AQUEDUCT carries water. In picking the meaning of AQUEDUCTS, adult readers divide among the incorrect choices ARCHES, FISH POOLS, and ETCHINGS. The last is a confusion of AQUEDUCT, pipeline for water, with AQUATINT, a word from the same Latin AQUA, water, and TINCTUS, the past participle of TINGERE, to tinge, dye, tint. An AQUATINT, literally tinted water, dyed water, is a black and white or brown print made like an etching, except that areas or spaces, instead of lines, are eaten away by the acid. The medium or pigment is dark brown bister, sepia, or India ink. The confusion of AQUEDUCTS with FISH POOLS stems from the word AQUARIUM. An AQUARIUM is a home for live, usually miniature fish, a glass container filled with water, pebbles, and plants. The confusion of AQUEDUCTS and ARCHES is natural for anyone who has seen the ancient Roman AQUEDUCTS. The AQUEDUCT is the pipeline from the water supply, from a lake or reservoir, to the city where the water is used. The spectacular part is where the pipeline crosses high over a valley, supported by stupendous ARCHES. The ARCHES, made of stone, are merely the carrying structure. The pipeline or channel is the AQUEDUCT.

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A linguist, one who writes or speaks several languages; also, a mixture or confusion of languages, or a book containing the same text in different languages. In the test phrase: "A great POLYGLOT," the word is thought by 29% of adult readers to mean GLUTTON, a voracious eater, gormandizer, the popular misconception. This may be due to the verb GLUT, which means to stuff, gorge, and which comes from the Latin GLUTTIRE, to swallow. POLYGLOT is from the Greek POLYS, many, and GLOTTA, tongue. POLY-, many, appears in a number of English words, as: POLYGAMIST, a man with several wives; POLYGON, a geometric figure with many angles; and POLYNESIA, by derivation many islands, the name of a group of islands east of the Malay Archipelago. GLOT, tongue, appears in the medical terms GLOTTIS, mouth of the windpipe; and EPIGLOTTIS, upon the glottis, a valve-like organ that prevents the entrance of food and drink into the windpipe. POLYGLOT, from Greek, and MULTILINGUAL, from Latin, are each nouns and adjectives, and are exactly synonymous.

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A magnificent building where a body is buried, sepulcher, tomb, burial vault. MAUSOLEUM and SARCOPHAGUS are confused by 20 percent of students. A SARCOPHAGUS is a stone coffin. The word goes back to the Latin phrase SARCOPHAGUS LAPIS, a kind of limestone, where SARCOPHAGUS is an adjective, from the Greek adjective SARKOPHAGOS, literally flesh-eating, carnivorous. The Greek phrase SARKOPHAGOS LITHOS, sarcophagus stone, was a kind of limestone supposed to consume the flesh of corpses, and so used for coffins. From this the Latin SARCOPHAGUS came to be a noun which meant coffin. A SARCOPHAGUS is a coffin, stone box; a MAUSOLEUM is a building. MAUSOLEUM and CENOTAPH are confused by another 11 percent. A CENOTAPH, from the Greek CENOS, empty, plus TAPHOS, tomb, is an empty tomb, a sepulchral monument built for someone who is buried elsewhere. A MAUSOLEUM always contains a body. The original MAUSOLEUM, no longer in existence, was a splendid structure built by Queen Artemisia of Caria in Asia Minor, at Halicarnassus, about 350 B.C., as a tomb for her husband, King MAUSOLUS. The word MAUSOLEUM, identical with the Latin MAUSOLEUM, comes from the Greek MAUSOLEION, the tomb of Mausolus.

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A colonnade, row of columns around a temple; range of columns surrounding the cella in a Greek temple; also a row of columns around any inner court. PERISTYLE comes from the two Greek words PERI, about, around, and STYLOS, column. The same PERI appears in such word as: PERIMETER, literally the measure around an object, the outer boundary of a figure; and PERISCOPE, which by derivation means a looking around, now an instrument by means of which one can look around a corner. To 20 percent of college seniors PERISTYLE incorrectly means SCROLL. A SCROLL, in architecture, is round; it is a sculptured ornament resembling a roll of parchment, and is used at the top of columns in both Ionic and Corinthian capitals. PERISTYLE, COLONNADE, and CLOISTER, are all architectural forms. A CLOISTER is a covered walk, often around the inner court of a monastic building. A CLOISTER is usually lined on one side with columns which support the roof; but primarily a CLOISTER is a walk. A COLONNADE is any line of columns placed at regular intervals, and is a more general word than PERISTYLE. A PERISTYLE is a colonnade around the outside of a building, or around an inner court.

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To delay, dally, dawdle, lag, saunter, straggle, hang about, linger idly on the way, tarry, travel indolently, move lazily, trifle away time. LOITER is probably of Dutch origin and is one of the few Dutch words in the English language. Most are nautical terms. Among them are: SCHOONER, a vessel with two or more masts rigged fore and aft; BLOCK, a pulley; BOOM, a horizontal pole to which a sail is attached; MARLINE, a light rope or cord made of two strands, loosely twisted; SKIPPER, a sailing master; SLOOP, a single-masted sailing vessel rigged fore and aft; SMACK, a fishing sloop, a small sailing vessel; YACHT, a vessel for private cruising; and to LUFF, to sail nearer the wind. To LOITER comes from Middle and Old Dutch words meaning to wag about like a loose tooth; and, of the sail of a boat, to shiver, flap idly in the breeze. LOITER has always been used in a derogatory sense. Today, to say that one LOITERS implies not only a waste of time but almost total worthlessness.

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One who plays a part on the stage, actor, player, performer, tragedian, member of the histrionic profession. The noun THESPIAN, still marked colloquial by many dictionaries, is an outgrowth of the adjective THESPIAN, which has literary sanction. The adjective THESPIAN comes from the proper name THESPIS, a Greek poet who lived in the sixth century before Christ. He is said to be the inventor of tragedy or drama, because he introduced into the Greek chorus a single person who talked individually with the leader of the chorus and who was the first actor in the modern sense. This derivation may lead 20% of adult readers and 6% of high-vocabulary ones to believe that THESPIAN means GREEK SCHOLAR. Today the THESPIAN art is the drama, the art of the theater; and a THESPIAN is an actor. Until quite recently, both noun and adjective were always spelled with a capital.

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Blind enthusiasm for one's country, fanatical patriotism, belligerent devotion to a cause, extravagant admiration for one's country's military glory, pugnacious adherence to a party or idea. Nicolas CHAUVIN was a professional soldier, devoted to Napoleon Bonaparte. His loyalty and patriotism were celebrated; but, when it continued after Napoleon's fall, it began to be ridiculed. From the proper name of this French soldier comes the modern term CHAUVINISM. The OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY calls CHAUVINISM equivalent to JINGOISM. Both characterize the kind of blind patriotism which says in one breath that it does not want to fight but that by JINGO it will fight anyway. CHAUVINISM is thought by 17% of adult readers to mean TREASON. TREASON is disloyalty, treachery, an attempt to aid the enemies of one's country, in one way an opposite of CHAUVINISM; and yet CHAUVINISM, belligerent devotion to one's country, may be as destructive as outright TREASON.

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Fireworks, art of making and using fireworks for public display; hence, any brilliant or sensational display. PYROTECHNICS comes directly from the Greek PYR, fire, and TECHNE, art. PYROTECHNICS is the art of making fire. From PYR, fire, come also the noun PYRE, a funeral pile, heap of wood for burning the dead, and the technical term PYROMETER, an instrument for measuring temperatures above the ordinary thermometer. In the test phrase: "Rhetorical PYROTECHNICS," the word is thought by 14% of adult readers to mean GESTURES. GESTURES are motions of the body expressing sentiment or passion, or emphasizing an argument or assertion. GESTICULATIONS are apt to be more excited, active, and violent than GESTURES, which may be quiet. PYROTECHNICS are of three types: ascending fires, such as skyrockets; rotating or gyrating fires, such as pinwheels and catharine wheels; and fixed fires. A GERBE is a fixed fire, a short, squat, heavy Roman candle stood on the ground. It may shoot colored stars high into the air, or its fire may spread like a sheaf of wheat. PYROTECHNIC is the adjective; PYROTECHNICS is the noun, actually a plural in both form and by derivation, but often used as a singular, like MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS, ELECTRONICS, and many other sciences, with a singular verb.

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Authoritatively, with authority, pontifically, officially, from the seat of authority. EX CATHEDRA may also be used as an adjective, as: "EX CATHEDRA judgments." "EX CATHEDRA judgments" are thought by 44 percent of adult readers to be ECCLESIASTICAL. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY is church history. ECCLESIASTICAL LAW is church law. The corresponding noun an ECCLESIASTIC means a clergyman, priest. EX CATHEDRA started as an ecclesiastical phrase. The English word CATHEDRA, the throne, seat, chair of an ecclesiastical bishop, is the Greek CATHEDRA written in Roman letters. It is a combination of the Greek CATA, down, and HEDRA, a seat. From HEDRA, seat, comes the unusual English word EXEDRA, a type of outdoor seat in classical architecture. The CENTURY DICTIONARY defines EXEDRA as: "A raised platform with steps, in the open air, often by a roadside or in some other public place, provided with seats for the purpose of repose and conversation." The phrase EX CATHEDRA means literally from the bishop's chair. When the bishop spoke outside the church, he was not authoritative; but when he spoke EX CATHEDRA, from the bishop's throne, he spoke officially. Today the phrase EX CATHEDRA is used more generally to mean from any position of authority. Although the English word BISHOP goes back to Anglo-Saxon, it may originally have come from the Late Latin EPISCOPUS, a bishop. EPISCOPUS was later corrupted into the shortened BISCOPUS, and from this came the English word BISHOP. EPISCOPAL, from the same EPISCOPUS, a bishop, today means pertaining to a bishop. The bishop's chair, the CATHEDRA, is sometimes called the EPISCOPAL chair. EX CATHEDRA and EX OFFICIO, although parallel in derivation, have different meanings. EX OFFICIO means because of one's office. The vice president of the United States is EX OFFICIO president of the Senate; he presides over the Senate because of his office. EX CATHEDRA means with authority.

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Cave dweller, anyone who lives in a hollow in the earth, primitive spelaean man, cavernicolous person, one who inhabits a den, one dwelling in a subterranean cavern. The word TROGLODYTE comes from the Greek TROGLODYTES, a cave dweller, literally one who creeps into a hole, a combination of TROGLE, hole, cave, and the verb DYEIN, to enter, creep into. A TROGLODYTE is a caveman, one who lives in some sort of excavation. Another Greek word for cave, cavern, is SPELAION. From this comes the English adjective SPELAEAN, which also means pertaining to a cave, cavernous, like a vault, as well as cave-dwelling, living in a cavern. A TROGLODYTE is thought by 29% of adult readers to be a PREHISTORIC ANIMAL. TROGLODYTE may designate an anthropoid ape, such as the gorilla or chimpanzee, but these are not PREHISTORIC ANIMALS, animals which lived prior to recorded history. TROGLODYTE is sometimes used to mean an early primitive man, prehistoric person; but correctly it means specifically a cave dweller.

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A gross grammatical error, deviation from standard grammatical usage; loosely, any blunder in speech. Also, a breach of etiquette, impropriety, violation of convention; or in general, any error, incongruity, inconsistency, or absurdity. SOLECISM is from the Greek SOLOIKISMOS, from the verb SOLOIKIZEIN, to speak or write incorrectly, or be rude or awkward in manner. This in turn comes from SOLOIKOS, speaking incorrectly, using provincialisms, also awkward or rude in manners. SOLOIKOS is supposed to have meant originally speaking or acting like an inhabitant of SOLOI, in Latin SOLI, a town in Cilicia, Asia Minor, said to have been colonized by Athenian emigrants. In Greek, HOI SOLOIKOI means foreigners, and SOLECISM in English today carries the suggestion of speaking like a foreigner, like one unfamiliar with the rules of the language. SOLECISM may also suggest foreign in the sense of unfamiliar with the customs of a place, and so awkward or uncouth in behavior. According to grammarians, violations of good usage in English fall into three categories: BARBARISMS, SOLECISMS, and IMPROPRIETIES. Austin Phelps, in his ENGLISH STYLE IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE, 1883, writes: "In the forms of words, a violation of purity is a BARBARISM; in the constructions, a violation of purity is a SOLECISM; in the meanings of words and phrases, a violation of purity is an IMPROPRIETY." As examples of BARBARISMS, words not English, the CENTURY DICTIONARY gives the spurious formations HEFT, PLED, PROVEN, and SYSTEMIZE. Because they are often coined words or erroneous formations already common to the multitude, BARBARISMS as often as not are readily accepted into the language; BUREAUCRAT, CABLEGRAM, COASTAL, CLIMACTIC, PACIFIST, and RACIAL are all BARBARISMS, but no one takes any notice of them today. This is not to say, however, that all BARBARISMS are excusable. In his DICTIONARY OF MODERN ENGLISH USAGE, H.W. Fowler flatly states: "That barbarisms should exist is a pity; to expend much energy on denouncing those that do exist is a waste; to create them is a grave misdemeanor; and the greater the need of the word that is made, the greater its maker's guilt if he miscreates it." As an example of an IMPROPRIETY, a violation of the precise meaning of words or phrases, the CENTURY quotes Byron's poem CHILDE HAROLD: "There let him LAY." LIE, of course, is the correct word. LAY is either the past tense of LIE, as "There he LAY"; or a verb meaning to put, place, as: "LAY it down," with the past tense LAID. A special form of IMPROPRIETY is a MALAPROPISM, a word created from the name MRS. MALAPROP, a character who constantly commits IMPROPRIETIES, violations of the meanings of words, in Sheridan's play THE RIVALS. A MALAPROPISM is a ridiculous misuse of words, especially by someone who is trying to sound more eloquent or educated than he is; it is often the substitution of an improper word for the correct word when both are similar in sound, as: "CONTAGIOUS houses" for "CONTIGUOUS (touching) houses"; or "REPREHEND the meaning" for "APPREHEND the meaning." A SOLECISM is a grammatical error, a violation of correct usage. "It AIN'T NO good" and "WHO did you see?" are examples of SOLECISMS, ungrammatical speech or diction. A SOLECISM may also be a breach of etiquette, display of bad manners; from 1884 comes the quotation: "In those days smoking in the street was an unpardonable SOLECISM." Finally, a SOLECISM may be an incongruity, inconsistency, or error of any kind. The American historian William Prescott, 1796-1859, wrote: "The idea of compelling belief in particular doctrines is a SOLECISM." Francis Bacon, the English philosopher, jurist, and statesman, 1561-1626, wrote: "It is the SOLECISM of power to command the end, and yet not endure the mean." A SOLECIST is one guilty of SOLECISMS in either language or behavior. SOLECISTIC is the adjective; to SOLECIZE, the verb.

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Occupation, calling, employment, designation, profession, particular activity, business, trade. VOCATION comes from the Latin VOCATIO, VOCATIONIS, a calling, summoning, from the verb VOCARE, to call, summon. This verb VOCARE comes in turn from VOX, VOCIS, voice, the source of the English word VOICE. A VOCATION is a calling, summons to a particular duty. The plural, VOCATIONS, is thought by 2 percent of adult readers to mean HOBBIES. This is obviously a confusion of VOCATION, calling, with AVOCATION. AVOCATION comes from the Latin AVOCARE, to call away, call off, a combination of A, which stands for the Latin AB, away, and VOCARE, to call. An AVOCATION calls one away from one's main objective. An AVOCATION is a diversion, hobby, pastime, activity engaged in for enjoyment, in addition to one's VOCATION, occupation, regular employment, profession, calling.

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Rustic laborer, farmer, farm worker, farmhand, uneducated countryman. In the test phrase: "They are PEASANTS," the word is thought by 7% of adult readers to mean CITIZENS. The word CITIZEN has been used in at least three different ways. In modern usage it means one who has the rights, privileges, and responsibilities which belong to a member of the state or nation. It has in the past been used to mean a person engaged in trade, as opposed to one of noble birth and breeding. It has also been used to mean one who lives in a city. In all three senses a CITIZEN and a PEASANT are almost diametrically opposed. A CITIZEN has the full rights of the state, and although the political rights of the PEASANT have varied at different times in different countries, they have usually been restricted in some way. In the second sense in which the word CITIZEN is used, both a CITIZEN and a PEASANT are of low birth compared with a noble; but a CITIZEN, as thus defined, is engaged in trade, while a PEASANT works on the land. In the third sense, a CITIZEN lives in a city, while a PEASANT lives in the country. Both a PEASANT and a SERF are farm laborers. A SERF cannot own land; he belongs to the soil, and is sold with it. A PEASANT, on the contrary, may own and work his own land. The word PEASANT is not used of Americans; FARMHAND is the nearest substitute. An American college boy could take a job on a farm for the summer, and would then be a FARMHAND; but he could not, in a like manner, be a PEASANT.

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Mercy, indulgence, forbearance, pity, clemency in sparing the life of a captive. "He begged for QUARTER." The noun QUARTER is best known when used to mean a fourth part. The same word with the same derivation may mean a section of a city, as: "The Latin QUARTER." The noun QUARTER meaning mercy has apparently a different history. It has been suggested that it comes from demanding a quarter of a soldier's pay for his release; or from the word QUARTER used to mean a building or abode in which soldiers were lodged before being ransomed; but the exact history of the word is uncertain.

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Mute acting, dumb show, ballet, significant gesture without speech, play in which performers express themselves by mute gestures sometimes accompanied by music. In the test phrase: "Shown in PANTOMIME," the word is thought by 10 percent of adult readers to mean FULL VIEW. This may be a confusion of PANTOMIME, acting in gestures, with PANORAMA. The word PANORAMA comes from the Greek PAS, PANTOS, all, and HORAMA, view. A PANORAMA is literally an all-view, a view over all the landscape. The word PANTOMIME corresponds to the modern French PANTOMIME. Both come through the Latin PANTOMIMUS, from the same Greek PAS, PANTOS, all, and MIMOS, an imitator. Directly from this last Greek word comes the English MIME. The word MIME was first used of the Greek plays that developed in Sicily and southern Italy as early as the 5th century before Christ. In these the actor both gesticulated and spoke. The word at first referred to the play, and later came to be employed for the actor, especially for one who mimicked either a living person or a historical character. PANTOMIME, literally all-imitating, applies only to one who never speaks, who limits his acting entirely to gestures. Like MIME, the word PANTOMIME was once used for the actor. This meaning is now rare, and the word is used exclusively of the performance. A PANTOMIMIST is one who acts in a PANTOMIME, a dumb show. A PANTOMIME is any play in which the plot is conveyed by gestures. Savage war dances are PANTOMIMES.

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Domination, authority, controlling influence, mastery, advantage, upper hand, dominion, superiority, primacy, sovereignty, command. ASCENDANCY comes from the adjective ASCENDANT, plus the modern ending -ANCY, a recent alteration of -ANCE in imitation of the original Latin -ANTIA. The adjective ASCENDANT means rising, mounting, going up. It comes from the Latin ASCENDENS, ASCENDENTIS, the present participle of ASCENDERE, to go up, rise, ascend. The adjective and the noun may be spelled either ASCENDANT, ASCENDANCY, following the French ASCENDANT, or ASCENDENT, ASCENDENCY, more directly from the Latin. The verb to ASCEND and the corresponding Latin ASCENDERE come from the Latin AD, to, and SCANDERE, to climb. From the same source come DESCEND, to climb down; TRANSCEND, to climb across; CONDESCEND, to climb down from one's rank or dignity; and the verb to SCAN, to measure verse by counting its feet, literally to climb through verse. ASCENDANCY is thought by 15% of readers to mean SELF-CONFIDENCE. SELF-CONFIDENCE is assurance, a firm b