pertinacious [ pur-tn-EY-shuh’ s ]
[adjective]
MEANING:
1. stubborn, obstinate or unyielding
2. resolute or tenacious
USAGE EXAMPLE 1:
Her pertinacious, pro-communist views irked the audience.
USAGE EXAMPLE 2:
In travelling, there is nothing like dissecting people’s statements, which are usually colored by their estimate of the powers or liking of the person spoken to, making all reasonable inquiries, and then pertinaciously but quietly carrying out one’s own plans.
bard [ bahrd ]
[noun,transitive verb]
MEANING:
1. (n.) a celtic poet who played the lyre or harp while reciting poems
2. (n.) a poet
3. (n.) a piece of armour that is placed on the back of a horse
4. (tr.v.) to place bards on a horse
USAGE EXAMPLE 1:
A bard was called forth to entertain the assembled guests.
USAGE EXAMPLE 2:
Bards are at once entertainers, philosophers, and historians.
unearth [ uhn-URTH ]
[transitive verb]
MEANING:
1. to dig up out of the earth
2. to uncover or bring to public notice
USAGE EXAMPLE 1:
Fossils of some prehistoric creature were unearthed at the excavation site.
USAGE EXAMPLE 2:
Has the Clinton opposition research team dug into Obama’s past and unearthed these scandalous matters the nation does not know?
dominant [ DOM-uh’-nuh’nt ]
[noun,adjective]
MEANING:
1. (adj.) controlling or having authority
2. (adj.) occupying or having an elevated or commanding position
3. (adj.) major or chief
4. (n.) fifth tone of a diatonic scale
5. (n.) a governing trait
USAGE EXAMPLE 1:
He wielded a lot of influence as he enjoyed a dominant position in the municipal corporation.
USAGE EXAMPLE 2:
News Corporation’s James Murdoch has said that a “”dominant”” BBC threatens independent journalism in the UK.
testator [ TES-tey-ter ]
[noun]
MEANING:
1. one who makes a will
2. anyone who has died leaving a valid will
USAGE EXAMPLE 1:
The testator took every precaution to make a valid will so that it could not be contested after his death.
USAGE EXAMPLE 2:
The High Court in London upheld the Will, which was being challenged, on the basis that a mild form of dementia did not necessarily mean that the testator did not understand the implications of making the Will.