Tom from Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, notices something odd while doing a tick check after a walk in the woods: Both tick and check can mean “a checkmark,” making the compound a kind of accidental synonym sandwich. The linguistic term for a word...
A kangaroo word is a word that contains letters that appear in the same order and form a synonym. Examples include the verb regulate, which contains rule; masculine, which contains male; blossom which contains bloom; and precipitation, which has...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski is puzzling over one-word compound synonyms. For example, in the sentence While pretty, the bouquet was dominated by a rather large starblossom, the word starblossom might clue what tall plant that many associate with Vincent...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle about synonyms might have you reaching for a thesaurus. For example, what 19th-century novel might have been titled Self-respect and Bias? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Synonymous Novel Title Word...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski offers a puzzle about kangaroo words. They’re words that contain a synonym of themselves. For example, the word devilish contains what adjective that means the same thing? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Is there a difference between the adverbs maybe and perhaps? They’re basically synonyms, but of the two, perhaps tends to appear in language of a slightly more formal language register. The affected language in an old Taster’s Choice coffee...