Most words only have one correct negative prefix out of “in-“, “im-“, and “un-“. Why are both “imbalance” and “unbalance” both grammatically correct (but “inbalance” is not”)? What are differences in meaning and usage of these two opposites of “balance”? Can they be regarded as synonyms of each other? Are there any other examples of … Read more
As for an ad hoc single-direction train, the last station is called the “terminus”, while the first station is called the ______. A. origin B. source C. start D. initus E. …… (other names) Answer The words, on British railways, are “origin” and “destination”. “Terminus” has a specific meaning, which is the end of the … Read more
I want to say, Your situation is, without exaggerating, more severe than mine. However, I want to replace “without exaggerating” with an adverb. Something like “undoubtedly”. Now I know the word “unexaggeratedly” has not been born yet, and that I can always use the same sentence I mentioned above, but I love using adverbs in … Read more
Eschatology is the study or philosophy of formation of ideas about the end of things, apparently derived from the Greek ἔσχατος meaning "last" and -λογία meaning "study of". What is the word for "the formation of ideas about the beginning of things? Edit: I’ve accepted "cosmogony" as the answer, but I also really liked "protology". … Read more
Is there an opposite “-ism” word to nepotism? If nepotism refers to the nature of favoring one due to familial or friendly relations, surely there is an antonym to nepotism that conveys the favoring of one due to merit or productivity. However, “meritism” and “productivism” are not words. Meritorious and productivity work in a pinch … Read more
Or, you could say, a proponent of meritocracy (descriptors for opponents of meritocracy also welcome, see details below). Please don’t say “meritocrat”, I would rather avoid that one. Nouns and adjectives are all welcome, single-word descriptions preferred, but two-word descriptions are fine too. The terms should also not rely on reference to other ideologies or … Read more
There is an opposite word of dominant in sexuality and otherwise which has the starting letters ‘mas……….’ but I’m not able to recall the word, can somebody help ? I just remember it being too long and not able to pronounce it properly. While I have no sentence in my mind, I can describe an … Read more
Is there a different or better word for “underfill”. MS Word, Google, don’t seem to recognize underfill as a word. On Merriam Webster, they recognize it as a noun(paraphrased): a piece of steel manufactured with insufficient material an incompletely filled container Underfill is also a material used in the PCB manufacturing process. Why isn’t it … Read more
Is “least riskiest” stylistically correct? Can it be considered a double superlative? Would “safest” be a better choice? Answer “Least riskiest” makes no sense. You can, if you wish, apply “least” to an adjective, making the phrase: least risky Although technically the same in meaning as “safest”, it has a different implication. Most people will … Read more
As a developer, I am writing a commit message to rollback an update. In my message I want to describe what I am doing which is the opposite of an update. I am looking for something like the word downgrade for upgrade. If you wonder what is the difference between update and upgrade, check this … Read more
