hoary [ HAWR-ee, HOHR-ee ]
[adjective]
MEANING:
- extremely old, and often impressive and admired
2. greyish white or white due to age
3. white or whitish in color
USAGE EXAMPLE 1:
I found an old dog with a hoary muzzle sleeping in my front verandah.
USAGE EXAMPLE 2:
He used the hoary metaphor of thousands of planes landing safely at the airport every day, but we only hear about the ones with bumpy landings.
fractious [ FRAK-shuh’ s ]
[adjective]
MEANING:
- unruly, troublesome or rebellious
- irritable, quarrelsome or peevish
USAGE EXAMPLE 1:
The fractious child had no friends.
USAGE EXAMPLE 2:
Even in the fractious world of Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China relations, to fix a beauty pageant for patriotic reasons might be a first.
armada [ ahr-MAH-duh’ ]
[noun]
MEANING:
- a fleet of warships
- a fleet of vehicles
USAGE EXAMPLE 1:
An armada of trucks laden with cargo was on its way to the port.
USAGE EXAMPLE 2:
The Franco-Spanish armada lost 22 ships, either sunk or captured.
poseur [ poh-ZUR ]
[noun]
MEANING:
- a person who tries to impress others by putting on a false showy manner or elegance.
- one who attempts to influence others with an affected pose or stance that is not one’s normal behavior.
USAGE EXAMPLE 1:
The manager of the club recognized him as a poseur and had the bouncers escort him off the premises.
USAGE EXAMPLE 2:
This city’s drug underworld is littered with “poseurs” — lowlife trigger men pretending they’re the real hard cases.
perpetuate [ per-PECH-oo-eyt ]
[transitive verb]
MEANING:
- to save from extinction or prolong the existence of
- to cause to continue indefinitely
- cause to be remembered
USAGE EXAMPLE 1:
It was because the rich nobles knew they were above the law that they could perpetuate injustice in the land.
USAGE EXAMPLE 2:
But the idea that our spouses should be our best friends is one of those romantic notions that has been perpetuated by our mothers and grandmothers and every movie in the Meg Ryan canon.