Subscribe To This Site
Difficult Words:
Bequest, Bereaved, Beset, Blasphemy, Blatant and Blight
Difficult Words ( Bequest, Bereaved, Beset, Blasphemy, Blatant and Blight) and their usages have been explained here in detail.
Bereaved (bi REFT) adj: deprived or left desolate especially through death, bereaved means the same thing as bereft.
The new widow was still bereaved when we saw her. Every time anyone mentioned here dead husband's name, she burst into tears.
The children were bereaved by the death of their pet. Then they got a new pet.
Bequest (bi KWEST) n: something left to some in a will
If your next-door neighbor leaves you all his millions in a will, the money is a bequest from him to you. It is not polite to request a bequest. Just keep smiling and hope for the best.
To leave something to someone in a will is to bequeath it. A bequest is something that has been bequeathed.
Beset (bi SET) v: to harass; to surround
The bereft widow was beset by grief.
Problems beset the expedition almost from the beginning and the mountain climbers soon returned to their base camp.
The little town was beset by robberies, but the police could do to nothing.
Blasphemy (BLAS flush mee) n: irreverence; an insult to something held sacred; profanity
In the strictest sense, to commit blasphemy is to say nasty, insulting things about God. The word is used more broadly, though, to cover a wide range of nasty, insulting comments.
To blaspheme (blas FEEM, BLAS feem) is to use swear words or say deeply irreverent things. A person who says such things is blasphemous.
Blatant (BLAT unt) adj: unpleasantly or offensively noisy; glaring
David was blatantly critical of our efforts. That is, he was noisy and obnoxious in making his criticisms.
Blatant is often confused with flagrant, since both words mean glaring. A blatant act is usually also a flagrant one, but a flagrant act isn't necessarily blatant. You might want to refer to the listing for flagrant.
Blight (byte) n: a disease in plants; anything that injures or destroys
An early frost proved blight to the citrus crops last year, so we had no orange juice for breakfast.
Difficult Words Index