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Difficult Words :
Adverse, Aesthetic, Affable, Affectation, Affinity and Affluent
This is a list of Difficult Words: Adverse, Aesthetic, Affable, Affectation, Affinity and Affluent
Aesthetic (es THET ik) adj: having to do with artistic beauty, artistic
• Our Art Professor had a highly developed aesthetic sense. He found things to admire in paintings that, to us, looked like garbage.
Adverse (ad VURS) adj: unfavorable, antagonistic
• Airplanes often don't fly in adverse weather.
• We had to play our soccer match under adverse conditions. It was snowing and only three members of our team had bothered to show up.
• An airplane that took off in bad weather and reached its destination safely would be said to have overcome adversity.
• Adversity means misfortune or unfavorable circumstances. To do something in the face of adversity is to undertake a task despite obstacles. Some people are at their best in adversity, because they rise to the occasion.
• A word often confused with adverse is averse. The two are related but they don't mean quite the same thing. A person who is averse to doing something is a person who doesn't want to do it. To be averse to something is to be opposed to doing it, to have an aversion to doing it.
Affable (AF uh bul) adj: easy to talk to, friendly
• Susan was an affable girl; she could strike up a pleasant conversation with almost anyone.
• The Jefferson’s dog was big but affable. It liked to lick little children on the nose.
• The noun is affability.
Affectation (AF ek TAY shun) n: unnatural or artificial behavior, usually intended to impress
• Becky’s English accent is an affectation. He spent only a week in England and that was several years ago.
• Elizabeth had somehow acquired the absurd affectation of pretending that she didn't know how to turn on a television set.
• A person with an affectation is said to be affected.
• To affect a characteristic or habit is to adopt it consciously, usually in the hope of impressing other people.
• Edward affected to be more of an artist than he really was. Everyone hated him for it.
Affinity (uh FIN i tee) n: sympathy, attraction, kinship, similarity
• Ducks have an affinity for water. That is, they like to be in it.
• Children have an affinity for trouble. That is, they offer to find themselves in it.
• Magnets and iron have an affinity for each other, that is, each is attracted to the other.
• Affinity also means similarity or resemblance. There is an affinity between snow and sleet.
Affluent (AF loo unt) adj: rich, prosperous
• A person can be affluent; all it takes is money. A country can be affluent, too, if it's full of affluent people.
• Affluence means the same thing as wealth or prosperity.