Sunday, March 15, 2026

WORD MAN: MULTIFARIOUS

I'm reading the Isaac Asimov novel The Robots of Dawn and I just found the word MULTIFARIOUS. I assume it means many.

Meaning: many and of various types: "multifarious activities."

Similar: numerous, countless, innumerable.

I just came across the word PALLIATED. It means to "make (a disease or its symptoms) less severe without removing the cause."

Used in a sentence: "Treatment works by palliating symptoms; pharmaceutical drugs palliate, they do not cure."

Similar: alleviate, ease, relieve, soothe.

I had never seen STERTOROUSLY before Asimov used it. Stertorous means (of breathing) noisy and labored. (Sounds like Darth Vader.)

Used in a sentence: "The breathing was becoming less stertorous"; "a stertorous sigh."

MORE: FARRAGOa confused mixture. "A farrago of fact and myth about Abraham Lincoln."

Similar: clutter, muddle, mess, confusion.

MORE: TETRASYLLABIC, tetrasyllabic words contain exactly four syllables. They're four-syllable words.

MORE: SENTENTIOUSgiven to moralizing in a pompous or affected manner. "He tried to encourage his men with sententious rhetoric"

Similar: moralistic, moralizing, sanctimonious, self-righteous.

MORE: VERTIGINOUS, meaning extremely high or steep: "vertiginous drops to the valleys below."

Similar: steep, sheer, high, vertical.

MORE: EXCULPATEshow or declare that (someone) is not guilty of wrongdoing: "the article exculpated the mayor."

Similar: release, liberate, free, acquit, clear, absolve.

MORE: SUSURRATIONwhispering or rustling: "the susurration of the river"

Similar: hum, humming, buzzing, murmur, drone, whir, whirring.

These aren't ALL of Asimov's big words in the book, just the most egregious.

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