Confusing Words Clarified: Group P; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. +
(lists of "P" sections that are organized into what for some people are confusing groups of words)
If you have any problems understanding the pronunciation symbols, go to this Pronunciation Chart for clarifications.
2. Regarding someone having or showing an ability to notice and to understand things that are difficult or not obvious: The movie critic made some perspicacious observations about the film.
2. Characterizing someone who expresses himself or herself clearly and effectively: The professor was known as a perspicuous lecturer who could explain topics exceedingly well.
Mildred's lecture was perspicuous and her scholarship demonstrated a perspicacious understanding of the topic.
2. To look at or to read something in an informal, casual, leisurely, or relaxed way; sometimes believed to be misleading or incorrect: Manfred decided to peruse the newspaper during his break while he enjoyed a snack.
2. To proceed or to follow: Shanna and Sherman were determined to pursue a course directly across the snowy field in order to get to their winter lodge.
3. To haunt or to afflict: The nightmares continued to pursue Trudy after having witnessed the horrible boating accident.
4. To be involved in: After his retirement, Norman was very happy to pursue his hobby of fishing.
5. To chase or to follow something in order to overtake, capture, or to kill it: The hunter spent a long time in an effort to pursue the deer in the forest so he could shoot it and return home with venison for his family.
Glenn wants to pursue a career in library sciences because it will make it possible for him to peruse the newest books and magazines.
Chad's icy glare served to petrify Debora and she was unable to run away.2. To confound with amazement or fear: The harrowing tales of the author will petrify Janine and she will not want to walk in the graveyard after dark ever again.
3. To deaden or to stifle: Betty had the feeling that the long lecture was going to petrify her mind because it was so boring.
Nathan was so evil he seemed to putrefy everything around him.
2. To free from guilt or blemish: Rosetta's confession that she took her mother's ring helped to purify her conscience.
Howard wants to purify the air because the old cabbage has started to putrefy and to stink up the place and if he smells it for very long, he's afraid his brain will petrify.
2. Any extremely unusual or extraordinary thing or occurrence that is known through the senses rather than known through thought or study: The neighbor was shocked with the phenomenon of a fire suddenly starting from an electrical explosion caused by her refrigeratorin her kitchen.
3. A fact of scientific interest that can be scientifically described, appraised, or explained: Gerald's chemistry instructor demonstrated the phenomenon of mixing chemicals to produce dyes for industrial purposes.
2. Very good or great; extremely unusual in a way that is very impressive: The book was a phenomenal success for several months.
Ed's phenomenal understanding of the single rare scientific phenomenon of ice crystals was amazing; however, he lost points in his essay by referring to it as a single rare scientific phenomena.
2. Archaic usage: the art of medicine and healing: Polly wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps and planned to train as a physic as soon as she could because she wanted to help people with ailments .
2. Characteristic of extraordinary sensitivity to forces beyond the physical world: Cherie seemed to have a psychic understanding of Susana's problems.
Randy's new doctor had a magnificent physique and the patients appreciated his administration of a physic. Once he even admitted to studying the art of being a psychic to gain an even greater understanding of the healing arts that exist beyond the mere physical concepts.
2. A number approximately equal to 3.14159 which is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter and is represented by the symbol π: Learning what pi means has presented a mental block which is still unclear to Mildred.
2. A business or social activity: Janet wanted to have her finger in every social pie in town.
3. The whole of something which can be divided into shares: The bankers were determined to distribute the economic pie among their shareholders.
A farmer was proud of his son's educational development, but he was very puzzled one day when the boy came home from school and told his father that he had learned about "Pi R Square". "Son", said the farmer, "Pie aren't square"; "Pie are round".
Angie's aunt often bragged about her mathematical wizard of a son who was in junior high school. She once commented that he could calculate the pi of her homemade apple pie.
2. A porch that is arcaded and roofed: Michael and Jillian sat in the piazza to stay out of the sun while they drank their coffee.
2. A shopping area often adjacent to a road or highway: Aaron's aunt has a bakery that is located in the plaza near the main route into the city.
3. An area on or next to a highway having restaurants, gas stations, restrooms, etc.: Besides the toll booth, the plaza also had a post office and coffee shop; also called a "toll plaza".
When Lorna and Denna went to Italy for their holidays, they sat in the piazza and enjoyed a fresh pizza; all of which was far from being in any way similar to a typical plaza back home.
2. A conception of how something or someone looks or what something is like: After some discussion, Kevin is convinced that he has a clearer picture of what the group needs to do to enhance the project.
3. Something or someone that looks very much like another thing or person: The daughter was the picture of her mother.
2. To describe someone or something in a particular way: Unless people have experienced them, they can only picture the horrible devastations and suffering that are caused by earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, etc.
2. A container with a handle and a lip that is used for holding and pouring out liquids of various kinds: Mark's mother poured milk out of a pitcher into the bowls of cereal that he, his brother, and sister were going to have for breakfast.
3. The amount of liquid held by a container: Karin drank more than one pitcher of cold tea during that hot summer day.
Matthew's grandmother said that she could still picture in her mind the picture his mother drew when she was just five years old. It was a remarkable drawing of a pitcher filled with flowers.
2. A bird characterized by having a stout body, short legs, and smooth, solid, compact feathers: There is a handsome black and white pigeon that comes to eat birdfood every day in Ronda's backyard.
Elisa's cousin was sure that Andrew could teach his favorite pigeon to respond to verbal commands in pidgin language.
2. A road that people must pay to use: In this kind of weather, there probably will be too much traffic on the pike.
Eric decided to take the pike even though he knew he would have to pay a toll to drive to the city where his sister lived.3. A long spear, formerly used by infantry, which typically consisted of a long pole with a sharp metal point: During the Middle Ages, foot soldiers would carry a pike and a shield to battle.
Walter and Albert were going down the pike on their way to fish for some pike when they saw what turned out to be a pike (or spear) that fell off a truck in front of them.
Found near the foot of the Peak of Pike, consisting of a spearhead attached to a long pole or a pike (which was later superseded by the bayonet), it turned out that it belonged to a collector of historical medieval weapons.
2. To try something with a small group of people to find out if it would be successful or popular: The school is going to pilot a program for daily breakfasts with a few students before trying to introduce it to the whole school.
3. To provide advice or instructions that would help people accomplish something: The coach was determined to pilot his team to the national championships.
4. To fly a flying machine or to steer a vessel: Jack's sister is learning how to pilot an airplane and his brother is getting experience learning to pilot ships into port during fair and stormy weather.
The pilot agreed to pilot a twin engine aircraft as part of the pilot project for an advanced pilot training program.
2. A tree that has long, thin needles instead of leaves and which stays green throughout the year: The wood of a pine is often used to make furniture.
2. To wither or to waste away from longing or grief: If Terry continues to grieve for his dead parents, he will pine away and die, too.
Marissa's friend Erick told her that he continued to pine for the pine he had planted in the mountains where he once lived.
In other words, Erick still has a tendency to pine for the pine of his youth.
2. Informal, very happy or amused: Justin was tickled pink by the attention he got from his girl friend.
2. To cut fabric by using special scissors that scallop the edges: Jane's mother always wanted to pink the cloth with pinking sheers so that it wouldn't fray at the sides.
When Bonita was wearing her pink PINK shirt, she felt quite pink when she was dancing and then she was tickled pink when a friend asked her to dance and she noticed he was also wearing a pink PINK.
The pistil of the flower Carl's friend was holding was the most commanding and colorful part of the flower. He held it in one hand and held a pistol in his other hand; sort of like old fashioned hippies, with flowers and guns.
2. A resin derived from the sap of various coniferous trees, as the pines: Keith just found out how sticky the pitch from the spruce and firs can be.
3. The height or decreased level of a sound: Charles' voice has a low pitch or a bass tone.
4. Things which are said by someone, as a salesman, in order to make others want to buy, to do, or to accept something: The author of the novel started to make a pitch about her new book as soon as she was introduced to the audience.
2. To discard by throwing away: Keith plans to pitch the trash in the first bin that he finds.
3. To fall in a headlong manner: Gary stepped on his shoelace and started to pitch down the staircase, but he was able to stop himself before being hurt.
4. To set at a particular level, degree, or quality: Is it possible that she will pitch her expectations as a singer too high?
5. To talk about or to describe something in a favorable way so people will want to buy it, accept it, etc.: They tried to pitch the TV show to several different networks before they finally found one that agreed to produce it.
As Jose walked across the floor, he suddenly started to pitch forward because his shoes got caught in some sticky pitch on the floor boards.
He shouted in such a loud pitch that he caught a woman's attention and she rushed to help him. He was so grateful that he used the occasion to give her a sales pitch about a new kind of flooring.
Confusing Words: Homonyms, Homophones, and Homographs; explained and demonstrated.
Confusing Words: Units, Groups A to Z.
Confusing Words: Vocabulary Quizzes Listed.