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Difficult Words : Fraternal, Founder, Frenetic, Frugal, Furtive and Futile
Difficult Words : Fraternal, Founder, Frenetic, Frugal, Furtive and Futile
Founder (FOUN dur) v: to frail, to collapse, to sink
The candidate's campaign for the presidency foundered when ti was revealed that he had once been married to an orangutan.
Zeke struggled through the first part of the course but foundered when the final examination was given.
The ship foundered shortly after its hull fell off.
Be careful not to confuse this word with flounder which means to move clumsily or in confusion.
Our field hockey team floundered helplessly around the field while the opposing team scored point after point.
The witness began to flounder as the attorney fired question after question.
If you want to remember the difference between the two words, think that when a persons flounders, he is flopping around like a flounder.
Fraternal (fruh TUR nul) adj: like brothers
The fraternal feeling among the meeting's participants disappeared when one of them stood up at dinner and began firing a machine gun.
A fraternity is an organization of men who have bound themselves together in a relationship analogous to that of real brothers.
Frenetic (fruh NET ik) adj: frantic, frenzied
There was a lot of frenetic activity in the office, but nothing ever seemed to get accomplished.
The bird's frenetic attempt to free itself from the thorn bush finally exhausted it. Then the cat strolled over and ate it.
Frugal (FROO gul) adj: economical, penny-pinching
Laura was so frugal that she even tried to bargain with the checkout girl at supermarket.
We were as frugal as we could be, but we still ended up several thousand dollars in debt.
Hannah's frugality annoyed her husband who loved nothing better than spending money.
Furtive (FUR tiv) adj: secretive, sly
John wiggled his ears while the countess was talking to him in a furtive attempt to catch our attention.
The burglars were furtive, but not furtive enough. The alert policeman grabbed them as they carried the color TV through the Washington's back door.
Futile (FYOOT il) adj: useless, hopeless
Our attempt to change the behavior of Harvard was futile, but Lucinda hoped against hope.
Something futile is a futility. Lucinda doesn't know what futility it is.