Meaning: A verb, wheedle means to use words for flattery. It is done to persuade the other person to do something.
Origin: The first-known use of the word was in 1661, although the origin of the word is still not known.
Usage: The sales representative was so good that she could easily wheedle my brother into spending more money than he had intended to.
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Meaning: A verb, titivate means to make something attractive. It can be used for an object or for a person as well and refers to improving the appearance using small changes.
Origin: The word is believed to have been derived from the word tidy. It may have been formed using a combination of ‘tidy’ and ‘renovate’.
Usage: The minister announced his plans to titivate the rehabilitation centre at the meeting.
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Meaning: The word binge refers to a period of excessive indulgence in an activity, especially eating, drinking, and now watching content as well.
Origin: The word binge is noted in British writer Arthur Benoni Evans “Leicestershire Words, Phrases and Proverbs”, originally published in 1848. In this, the word is said to be a dialect verb for “to soak in water a wooden vessel, that would otherwise leak,” to make the wood swell. Evans adds that it was later extended locally to refer to excessive drinking (“soaking”).
The sense of binge-eating started around World War 1, while binge-watching made its foray in 1996.
Usage: He binge-watched all the episodes of the series in the last three days.
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Meaning: This verb means to make to make amends: to provide or serve as reparation or compensation.
Origin: Atone has its roots in the idea of reconciliation and harmony. It grew out of the Middle English phrase ‘at on’ meaning ‘in harmony’. When atone joined modem English in the 16th century, it meant “to reconcile,” and suggested the restoration of a peaceful and harmonious state between people or groups. Today, this word specifically implies addressing the damage or disharmony caused by one’s own behaviour.
Usage: James tried to atone for the wrong doings of his youth by devoting his life to helping others.
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Meaning: A noun, abatement suggests reprieve or the act of reducing something, or making something unpleasant less intense. It may be used to refer to a reduction in penalties, a rebate or a respite in war.
Origin: The term comes from Anglo-Norman French, from Old French abatre meaning “fell, put an end to”. It entered English in the mid-14th Century.
Usage: The long war shows no sign of abatement.
With no abatement in the bursting of firecrackers on Diwali night, the poor dogs in the neighbourhood kept howling.
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Meaning: This adjective refers to something very obvious and intentional, when it is a bad thing.
Origin: Coined in 1596 by English poet Edmund Spenser in “The Faerie Queen”. In the poem, the blatant beast is a thousand-tongued monster representing slander. Primarily alliterative, it is perhaps by Latin blatire, meaning “to babble”. It entered general use by 1650s as “noisy in an offensive and vulgar way”, and the sense of “obvious, glaringly conspicuous” is from 1889.
Usage: She turned her back on him in blatant disregard.
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