Crystal Clear Proofing: Vocabulary

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Vocabulary

Increase your vocabulary with not-very-common and/or not-frequently-used words.

Today's Weird Word is: febrile, and its pronunciation is: 'fe-'brīl.

Febrile is an adjective meaning: marked or caused by fever; feverish.

Jeremy suited up for the game despite a high temperature and other febrile symptoms.

12 comments:

Christine DanekSeptember 29, 2010 at 7:17:00 AM CDT
Thanks. I love learning new words or words I have forgotten.
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Mason CanyonSeptember 29, 2010 at 7:33:00 AM CDT
Always fun to find new words here. Thanks.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress
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AnonymousSeptember 29, 2010 at 8:39:00 AM CDT
Crystal - I like that word and I'm glad you've highlighted it :-). I really enjoy these less-common words.
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Carol KilgoreSeptember 29, 2010 at 8:57:00 AM CDT
I love learning new words. I've seen this one before, but I never knew what it meant. And obviously never looked it up. I can't believe I just admitted that. Thanks.
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UnknownSeptember 29, 2010 at 9:09:00 AM CDT
Christine and Mason: I love words, and the *not-so-common* ones are not only educational, but FUN! I'm glad you like them as well!

Karen: Aww,,,how kind of you to ask! I'll tell you, this has been the most difficult year, health wise, that I've had in a long time! I'm still dealing with some issues, but I DO see a light at the end of the tunnel I've been in! I truly appreciate your concern. Thank you so much! ♥

Margot: Thanks! ...And thank you for the award! (I'll be passing it forward in the near future.) I really love that award. I don't want to say *more than the others* -- but it's so appropriate...that makes it VERY special. Thank you for thinking of me to pass it on to!

Carol: Oh - that is so funny! Thanks for the chuckle!
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Alex J. CavanaughSeptember 29, 2010 at 12:57:00 PM CDT
You always select such unique words!
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UnknownSeptember 29, 2010 at 2:53:00 PM CDT
Alex: Why, thank you! :)
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Old KittySeptember 29, 2010 at 4:31:00 PM CDT
It's a fabulous word!! I love this word and I would have so pronounced it as febrile not febril! So Thank you! take care
x
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WriterSeptember 29, 2010 at 4:40:00 PM CDT
WOW, new word for me, thank you!
Although I shoud have guessed that one since it's the same in French: fébrile, and in Spanish, febril. :(
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JournoMichSeptember 30, 2010 at 2:15:00 PM CDT
A word I can definitely use with young kids in the house! Sorry I haven't been by on the days you post; I could have sworn you were a Tues-Thurs blogger!

Michele
SouthernCityMysteriesse
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L. Diane WolfeSeptember 30, 2010 at 2:27:00 PM CDT
As always, the word is new to me!
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UnknownSeptember 30, 2010 at 3:13:00 PM CDT
Old Kitty: You and I pronounce these words the same! I would have guessed it to be febrile as well!

Claudia, Michele and Diane: It's been so exciting for me to realize how many of you not only love words (well, that goes without saying, since most of you are writers/authors!) but enjoy the weird ones too!

Diane: Whenever I post a Weird Word, I always wonder if you'll be able to stump Craig! LOL!
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Reader Comments

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Crystal Clear Proofing posts the greatest writing/editing tutorials. As an editor myself, I go there often to learn subtle nuances in the craft of good writing, as she has this marvelous ability to make those fuzzy, sometimes hard to determine, gray areas of correct writing, well…Crystal Clear!

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I.E AND E.G.
Thank you! I've never know what those meant or how to properly use them!

JOINT AND SEPARATE POSSESSION
Thank you so much! I had a hard time finding what joint and seperate possession means! Once again, thank you!

WAIT AND AWAIT
Oh, I love this site! Do you have a past post about lay, lie and all that good stuff?

This is a very clear and succinct explanation of the distinction between the two words."

LAY AND LIE
OMG! This is GREAT!!! I might actually understand it now! Thanks so much, Crystal. This is an awesome site!

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AFFECT AND EFFECT
Thank you for this great post! I have printed it to keep it handy. Hopefully, it will positively affect my future writing.

Thanks for this post Crystal. I was going to actually email you and request that you explain the difference between these two, because these are usually a problem for me. Thanks again!

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THAT AND WHICH
Another excellent grammar lesson!

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WHO AND WHOM
Perfect! Got it...I keep all these tutorials in a bookmarked file now.

Great tutorial!! I'm saving this one.

Another great tutorial.

QUOTATION MARKS
Great post. Good tips about punctuation.

AWHILE AND A WHILE
Another fine tutorial. Got it added to my Clear as a Crystal file.

What a wonderful tip!

Oh!!! Those examples are perfect and it really makes sense now. Thanks!

APOSTROPHE USE WITH POSSESSIVE NOUNS
Excellent and very thorough. Got this one copied and stored along with ALL your tutorials in my Crystal Clear Writing folder. :)

Another excellent post. I always have trouble with these.

Now that my eyes have re-focused after glazing over, I can say that this is why writers need to hire editors--So they don't have to think too much about grammar. I can't keep all the darn rules straight in my head. Thanks for doing what you do. I am cutting and pasting this into a new word file for grammar tips.

Good one! I'm tweeting this.

Clear and concise. Thanks.

That possessive S has at some points been the bane of my existence...so thanks for this.

Great article! Thanks for the examples too.

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LEVELS OF EDITING
Crystal, great explanation and post today - I copied it as a word doc and stored it in my "Crystal Clear" file.

You've written a wonderful post that throws light on a rather mysterious (to me) subject.

ONE WORD VS. TWO WORDS
Another great post.

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WRITING DATES AND TIMES
Writing dates and times is always confusing for me, so I really appreciate this, Crystal! Thanks.

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PREPOSITIONS
Excellent tutorial, got it saved as usual.

Thanks for this! Bookmarking it for easy reference.

SEMICOLONS
Another great and much needed post for people like me. This is why you are the Grammar Goddess!

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COLONS
As always, awesome advice and clarification.

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Helpful as always. Thanks.

DASHES
You should really turn your blog into a book. Now THAT is a grammar book I would buy!

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Most helpful. I just had to change a host of en dashes to em dashes in my ms.

HYPHENS
Thank you very much for this post!

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OVER THE TOP AWARD
Congratulations, you and your blog are "Over the Top."

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FIFTEEN PUNCTUATION FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Great summary.

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Crystal this is excellent. I've got it stored in my Crystal Clear file folder.

Yeah, I've created a Crystal folder as well and cut and paste all your gems.

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EFFECTIVE WRITING
I think this is one of my favorite rules post yet. So helpful!! May have to post this one on my desk too, I know I'll get one of those flip book easels so I can have all your post handy and in my face to remind me. I need that, you are an editor extraodinaire!!!

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CLAUSES
Thanks! I love these tutorials.

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CHALLENGES
Great idea for a proofreader post!

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***************************************************************************************** "Editors and proof readers are the unrecognized support structure of books. Without them, books would take authors twice as long to complete." Comment left by Leigh Russell (CRIME FICTION)