Subscribe To This Site
Difficult Words:
Archetype, Ardent, Arduous, Aristocratic, Artful and Artifice
This is a list of Difficult Words: Archetype, Ardent, Arduous, Aristocratic, Artful and Artifice
Archetype (AHR ki TYPE) n: an original model or pattern
• An archetype is similar to a prototype. A prototype is a first, tentative model that is made but that will be improved in later version. Henry Ford built a prototype of his Model T in his basement. His mother kicked him out so he had no choice but to start a motor car company.
• An archetype is usually something that precedes something else. Plato is the archetype of all philosophers.
• An archetype is archetypal or archetypical.
Ardent (AHR dunt) adj: passionate
• Larry's ardent wooing finally got on Cynthia's nerves, and she told him to get lost.
• Blanche happily stuffed badgers from morning to night. She was an ardent taxidermist.
• To be ardent is to have ardor. The young lovers were oblivious to everything except their ardor for each other.
Arduous (AHR joo us) adj: hard, difficult
• Climbing the mountain was arduous. We were so exhausted when we got to the top that we forgot to enjoy the view.
• The arduous care trip was made even more difficult by the fact that all four tires went flat, one after another.
Aristocratic (uh RTIS tuh KRAT ik) adj: of noble birth, snobbish
• Prince Charles is aristocratic. He is member of the British aristocracy. Aristocracy means a small class of Privileged people.
• Polo, which Prince Charles enjoys, is often said to be an aristocratic sport. Because it is typically played by dukes, marquises, and other Privileged people.
• It is possible to be an aristocrat without being rich, although aristocrats tend to be quite wealthy. There is nothing you can do to become an aristocrat, short of being born into a family of them.
• People who act as though they think they are better than everyone else are often said to be aristocratic. A Person with an "aristocratic bearing" is a Person who keeps his or her nose in the air and looks down on everyone else.
Artful (AHRI ful) adj: Crafty, wily, sly
• After dinner, the artful counselor told the campers that there was a madman loose in the woods, thus causing them to lie quietly in the tent. The Artful Dodger is a con man in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist.
• Artful does not mean artistic. If an artist is artful, it means not that she is talented but that she is in some way crafty or sneaky.
• Someone who is artless, on the other hand, is simple and honest. Young children are charmingly artless.
Artifice (AHRT uh fush) n: a clever trick; cunning
• The Trojan Horse was an artifice designed to get the soldiers inside the walls.
• Mrs. Baker had to resort to artifice to get her children to take their baths. She told them that the bathtub was filled with sugar syrup and that they could drink it if they would take off their clothes and climb in.
• Artifice and artificial are related worlds.