Tagged Questions
-2
votes
2answers
118 views
Is “unmissable” a valid word?
I noticed an advert on TV advertising "unmissable" shows coming up. MS Word marks it as a spelling mistake, but the Mac OS is OK with it.
I don't particularly like it.
2
votes
1answer
152 views
Interpreting “not bad”
In conversations people often use "not bad". How to interpret this?
Are they feeling good or just not bad or somewhere in the middle?
Does it depend on the context?
E.g.:
X: How are you doing ...
2
votes
2answers
3k views
“Repairable” vs. “reparable” vs. “irreparable” vs. “unrepairable”
I've been looking online at these three words, but I'm not able to determine their relationship and the rules surrounding their usage.
I believe this is true:
Repairable: Just what you'd think, ...
0
votes
1answer
173 views
Difference between “antisymmetric” and “nonsymmetric” [closed]
What is the difference between antisymmetric and nonsymmetric?
I only know the meaning of asymmetric.
-1
votes
2answers
244 views
Usage of “no more” in a sentence
I would need help with the following sentence:
It may be no more difficult to claim in words a feeling not felt than one that is.
The “no more” is related to the whole sentence or just to the ...
14
votes
4answers
837 views
How productive is the prefix “un-”?
Is it possible to use un- with new words such as sit, sleep, sad? I'm currently seeing many words (in programming) which use "un-" in the meaning of undoing something.
For example, is it possible to ...
4
votes
6answers
519 views
Euphemism for “non-useful”
I was just about to tell someone how something "wouldn't really be much useful" if they leave it the way it is — which is like a much more polite version of useless, but I just couldn't find the word. ...
24
votes
8answers
983 views
Are “disgraceful” and “ungraceful” two different kinds of negations?
"Disgraceful" and "ungraceful" are both derived from negations of "graceful".
Wiktionary describes disgraceful as
bringing or warranting disgrace; shameful.
giving offense to moral sensibilities ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
“Seems to be not X” vs. “seems to not be X”
Which one of these two sentences is written correctly?
This test data seems to be not good.
This test data seems to not be good.
Better yet if you could explain as to why the correct ...
1
vote
3answers
608 views
Difference between “unlikeable” and “dislikeable”?
Is there a difference between unlikeable and dislikeable? It feels like there is, but I'm uncertain how to explain it.
4
votes
4answers
550 views
What's the distinction between “nonessential” and “inessential”?
I'm revising a text that uses the word "nonessential", but my ear is telling me "inessential." Usually when there are two very similar words like this, there is some subtle (or not so subtle) ...
3
votes
3answers
352 views
Adjective describing possession by someone else
Is there any adjective in English that would describe a quality of belonging or being in the possession of someone else who is not the speaker?
In short, what adjective would you substitute for the ...
7
votes
4answers
360 views
Why can't one be “trepid”?
Why can one be intrepid but not trepid? The Free Dictionary and Merriam-Webster show it as a word, but my spell-checker doesn't. Why can't someone be trepid, despite the fact that one can feel ...
2
votes
3answers
1k views
Is “uncomplete” a word? [closed]
Or would I just use incomplete? Would there be any instance that one would uncomplete?
10
votes
2answers
531 views
Is the use of a hyphen between “non” and an adjective strictly necessary?
Do I need to put a "-" between "non" and an adjective? As an example in physics we say "a non isolated photon", "non tight photon"... The context is very formal (paper publications and similar). Is ...
-4
votes
2answers
331 views
Why is “insatiable” pronounced as if it was “unsatiable”? [closed]
Why is insatiable pronounced as if it was unsatiable?
15
votes
7answers
1k views
Is my worst enemy my best friend (interpreting negative adjectives applied to negative nouns)?
"The worst student" is the student who is bad at things. In this case, "worst" simply describes the noun.
Following this logic, your "worst enemy" would be the person who is very bad at being your ...
1
vote
4answers
1k views
Is “incomplex” a legitimate word?
I want to create a poster titled "An Incomplex Introduction to Complexity-based Cryptography." As you see, it contrasts the words incomplex and complexity. (Words like simple or easy do not provide ...
13
votes
10answers
10k views
What is a good replacement for “ununderstandable”?
I want to tell a colleague of mine I'm doing something that will prevent her from getting "ununderstandable" errors. I have:
...so that you will not get unnecessary, [ununderstandable] errors.
...
7
votes
5answers
2k views
“Undistinguishable” vs. “indistinguishable”
Is there a difference between these two words? To me, it seems that undistinguishable is more where you can't tell what it is, and indistinguishable seems to be where they're the same. It seems a lot ...
