Category word meaning

(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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(Pronounced pre-co-cious)

Meaning: Precocious means having or showing mature qualities at an unusually early age. It can also mean exceptionally early in development or occurrence.

Origin: This word comes from combining the Latin prefix prae-, meaning ‘ahead of’ with the verb coquere, meaning to cook or to ripen. Together, they formed the adjective praecox, which meant early ripening. By the mid-1600s, English speakers had turned praecox into precocious and were using it especially to describe plants that produced blossoms before their leaves came out.

Usage:  She was a precocious child who could read before she started school.

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Meaning: A verb, portend means to give an omen or anticipatory sign of something.

Origin: The word is derived from the Latin word portendere which means to indicate, point out or foretell. The word was first used in the 15th century.

Usage: The gypsy was always welcome in the king's court, because her visions would portend the fate of his kingdom, and more so now than ever, when he was in his darkest hour.

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