English for Students

Difficult Words : Dogmatic, Doctrinaire, Domestic, Dormant, Dubious and Duplicity

Difficult Words: Dogmatic, Doctrinaire, Domestic, Dormant, Dubious and Duplicity

Doctrinaire (DOK truth NAIR) adj: inflexibly committed to a doctrine or theory without regard to its practicality; dogmatic

A doctrinaire supporter of manned space flights to Pluto would be someone who supported such space flights even though it might be shown that such lengthy journeys could never be undertaken.

A doctrinaire Opponent of fluoridation of water would be someone whose opposition could not be shaken by proof that fluoride is good for teeth and not bad for anything else.

A person with doctrinaire views can be called a doctrinaire.

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Dogmatic (dawg MAT ik) adj: arrogantly assertive of unproven ideas, stubbornly claiming that something (often a system of beliefs) is beyond dispute

A dogma is a belief. A dogmatic Person, however, is stubbornly convinced of his beliefs.

Marty is dogmatic on the subject of the creation of the world. He sneers at anyone whose views are not identical to his.

The Philosophy Professor became increasingly dogmatic as he grew older and became more firmly convinced of his strange theories.

The opinions or ideas dogmatically asserted by a dogmatic Person are known collectively as dogma.

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Domestic (duh MES tik) adj: having to do with the household or family; not foreign

A home that enjoys domestic tranquility is a happy home.

A maid is sometimes referred to as a domestic engineer or simply as a domestic.

To be domestic is to enjoy being at home or to be skillful at doing things around the house.

Domestic wine is wine from this country, as opposed to wine imported from, say, France.

The domestic steel industry is the steel industry in this country.

A country that enjoys domestic tranquility is a happy country.

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Dormant (DAWR munt) adj: inactive; as though asleep; asleep

Dormant, like dormitory, comes from a root meaning sleep.

The volcano erupted violently and then fell dormant for several hundred years.

Many plants remain dormant through the winter. That is, they stop growing until spring.

Frank's interest in playing the piano was dormant and quite possibly dead.

The snow fell silently over the dormant villages, which became snarled in traffic jams the following morning.

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Dubious (DOO bee us) adj: full of doubt; uncertain

I was fairly certain that I would be able to fly if I could merely flap my arms hard enough. But Mary was dubious. She said I'd better flap my legs as well.

We were dubious about the team's chance of success and as it turned out, our dubiety was justified. The team lost.

Dubious and doubtful don't mean exactly the same thing. A dubious person is a person who has doubts. A doubtful outcome is an outcome that isn't certain to occur.

Sam's chances of getting the job were doubtful, because the employer was dubious of his claim that he had been president of the United States while in high School.

Something beyond doubt is indubitable. A dogmatic person believes his opinions are indubitable.

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Duplicity (doo PLIS I tee) n: the act of being two-faced; double-dealing; deception.

Dave, in his duplicity, told us he wasn't going to rob the bank and then went right out and robbed it.

Liars engage in duplicity all the time; they say one thing and do another.

The duplicitous salesman sold the stuffed camel to someone else even though he had promised to sell it to us.

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