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Difficult Words:
Analogy, Anarchy, Anecdote, Anguish, Animosity and Anomaly
This is a list of Difficult Words: Analogy, Anarchy, Anecdote, Anguish, Animosity and Anomaly
Analogy (uh NAL uh jee) n: a comparison of one thing to another, similarity
• To say having an allergy feels like being bitten by an alligator would be to make or draw an analogy between an allergy and an alligator. Analogy usually refers to similarities between things that are not otherwise very similar. If you don't think an allergy is at all like an alligator, you might say, "That analogy doesn't hold up." To say that there is no analogy between an allergy and an alligator is to say that they are not analogous.
Anarchy (AN ur KEE) n: absence of government or control, lawlessness, disorder
• The country fell into a state of anarchy after the rebels kidnapped the president and locked the legislature inside the Capitol.
• The word doesn't have to be used in its strict political meaning. You could say that there was anarchy in the kindergarten when the teacher stepped out of the door for a moment. You could say it and you would probably be right.
• The words anarchy and monarchy are closely related. Anarchy means no leader. Monarchy, a government headed by a king or queen, means one leader.
Anecdote (AN ik DOTE) n: a short account of a humorous or revealing incident
• The old lady kept the motorcycle gang thoroughly amused with anecdote after anecdote about her cute little dog.
• Fred told an anecdote about the time Sally got her big toe stuck in a bowling ball.
• The vice-president set the crowd at ease with an anecdote about his childhood desire to become a vice-president.
• To say that the evidence of life on other planets is merely anecdotal is to say that we haven't captured any aliens, but simply heard a lot of stories from people who claimed to have been kidnapped by flying saucers.
Anguish (ANG gwish) n: agonizing physical or mental pain
• There had been a nurse in the emergency rook for twenty years but she had never gotten used to the anguish of accident victims.
Animosity (AN uh MOS I tee) n: resentment, hostility, ill will
• Loudoun hates Eric so much that she would like to stuff him in a mail sack and throw him out of an airplane. Loudoun is full of animosity.
• A person whose look could kill is a person whose animosity is evident.
• The rivals for the state championship felt great animosity toward each other. Whenever they ran into each other, they snarled.
Anomaly (uh NOM uh lee) n: an aberration, an irregularity, a deviation
• A snowy winter day is not an anomaly, but a snowy July day is.
• A house without a roof is an anomaly - a cold, wet anomaly. A roofless house could be said to be anomalous. Something that is anomalous is something that is not normal or regular.