A whim is a strange or capricious notion; a temporary eccentricity; a freak. A person or thing that has many whims can be called whimsical. When the Web site that he started on a whim, HOTorNOT.com, a meeting site popular…

Heresy is an opinion that goes against the values of an established doctrine or system. It is commonly used in the religious context. He is quick to acknowledge that scholarship is not more important than sanctity, but he still argues…

Anew is an adverb, and it means again or once more. As a vice chairman and longtime stockholder of Bear Stearns, Fares D. Noujaim suffered an emotional and financial blow when the investment bank imploded. Now he gets a chance…

Propaganda is any kind of information that is spread to help or harm a specific doctrine, system, person, group and so on. The origin of the word is connected with the “College of the Propaganda,” a school created by Pope…

Peruse means to read or examine something with great care, checking all the details. Many people believe that peruse means to glance over something, but this is clearly not the case. I.R.S. policies are not always so clear, so caution…

A caveat is a warning or admonition. It can also mean a detail or condition to be taken into consideration while doing something. After country icon Minnie Pearl died, Rod Harris commissioned a statue. The donation came with one caveat:…

Sift means to separate the fine part of a substance with a sieve. It can also be used figuratively, where it means to examine something closely. As he talked, his wife, Setsuko, squatted in the ruin of the house. A…

Sublimate, in chemistry, means to purify a substance or to transform a compound from solid to gas state (without passing through the liquid one). In psychology, on the other hand, it means to direct a sexual impulse to a more…

Indulge means to yield to a desire, to be permissive. The adjective is indulgent. The expression self-indulgent is often used to describe a person who is indulgent with her own desires. Francis must sublimate his passion for forces and fulcrums…

Standstill is a state of rest or the cessation of a certain activity. The word originated from the stand still phrase. The announcement of a debt standstill on November 25th by Dubai World, a conglomerate based in the desert emirate,…

Vex means to annoy, disturb or torment. Usually the distress is a mental one, but vex can also mean to cause physical pain. What appeared to vex Mr. Cheney the most were Mr. Emanuel’s remarks, which the former vice president…

Hustle means to work energetically, to push, or to be aggressive in certain endeavors (e.g., playing a sport or conducting business). When used with a subject it means to urge, coerce, push or force to move (e.g., hustle something out…

Ecclesiastic is a person inside a religious order. The adjective, on other other hand, is ecclesiastical. Two centuries after Olaus Magnus, another ecclesiastic, the Danish missionary Hans Egede (who eventually became the bishop of Greenland), visited that icy island early…

Secular is an adjective used to describe things or people that are not religious. When Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, spoke out a week ago, calling for full national elections instead of the caucus-style…

Peripatetic, the noun, is a person who walks or travels about. It can be used as an adjective as well, with the same meaning. The word makes allusion to Aristotle, who used to teach his philosophy while walking in the…

Browbeat means to intimidate or subjugate by the use of verbal harassment or force. A synonym to browbeat is to bully. If we follow the usual script, this means it’s time for upset listeners and viewers to rally to the…

Debase is a verb that means to reduce the quality or value of something, or to lower the rank or dignity of someone. So the Pentagon contends that it has no choice but to exclude its sufferers from the Purple…

Ecumenical, which can also be spelled as ecumenic, is an adjective that means universal or general. Ecumenical is also used to describe things pertaining to or promoting the Christian church. Among the council’s key developments were its ecumenical outreach and…

Frantic is an adjective that means desperate or frenzied. The adverb is frantically. They culminated a weekend of frantic around-the-clock negotiations, as Wall Street bankers huddled in meetings at the behest of Bush administration officials to try to avoid a…

An oxymoron is a figure of speech where incongruous or contradictory terms are combined. Two examples are “genuine imitation” and “deafening silence.” In response to ”Making E-ZPass Easier” (July 28), let’s not overlook the profound oxymoron of both the name…

Vernacular, the noun, is the native language of a place. It can also refer to the everyday expressions used by people or to the vocabulary used inside a particular place or profession. The adjective means native or indigenous. “Super Freakonomics”…

Yearn means to grieve or to have a strong desire or need for something. The noun yearning, similarly, refers to a longing or unfulfilled desire or need. But mostly, she puts away her subway book as she steps out of…

The Internet is exploding with opportunities, and starting a freelance writing career is certainly one of them. If you like to write, it is a no-brainer. Freelance writing allows you to make money while exercising your writing skills, covering topics…

Quintessence is the most important part of anything. It can also mean the pure essence of a substance. The word comes from quinta essentia, which means fifth essence. The Greeks had four basic elements: water, air, earth and fire.…

Jettison is a verb that means to throw goods overboard to make a vessel in danger of wreck lighter or more stable. People often use it in a figurative sense, though, where it means to discard something. Near-bankruptcy is causing…

Inure means to harden or to accustom to some kind of hardship. For example, one could inure to cold or hunger. There is no policy, practice,procedure, piece of equipment or change in regimen that is going to completely inure us…

All right, let’s go straight to the point: there is no writing tip in this post, and yes it contains a plug for a paid product. However, I am not writing this for money, but rather because I think the…