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Results tagged with differences
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user 5262
This tag is for questions about the differences in the meaning of two words. For us to be able to help you, please provide the sourced definitions that you are referring to, where the confusion arises, as well as an example sentence that shows the ambiguity.
3
votes
Can the terms "jingoism" and "ethnocentrism" be used interchangeably?
Use "ethnocentrism" to gently highlight that the subject in question is overly focused on itself. It generally means "to a fault," but not in an overly critical way.
Use "jingoism" to deliver a stron …
- 12.7k
2
votes
"convey" vs. "say"
"I don't express it well" would be my natural choice here.
To "convey" something has a strong sense of ferrying or carrying something, transporting it whether physically or metaphorically.
Neverthel …
- 12.7k
2
votes
Can anybody "learn" or "acquire" a talent?
One normally "develops" a talent. Also, one can "discover" that one has a talent for something. There's usually some sense of innate predilection for the activity in question.
Malcolm Gladwell's obs …
- 12.7k
30
votes
Accepted
What are the similarities and differences between "irony" and "sarcasm"?
Defining the word "sarcasm" is fairly straightforward. It usually means the expression of a sentiment whose opposite is meant. For example:
Hooray! I have a headcold.
Irony, however, eludes a simple …
- 12.7k
33
votes
Accepted
Difference between "invoice" and "bill"?
An invoice is a request for payment that contains information necessary to remit payment to the issuer. Normally that would include the issuer's name, address, terms of payment and if necessary an acc …
- 12.7k
17
votes
Accepted
Is there any difference in meaning between "faith" and "blind faith"?
Billare's comment on the question provides most of the answer. To go a bit further, "blind" is indeed a intensifier and can be used to modify "faith" in this way.
However, we can also posit degrees o …
- 12.7k
6
votes
Is an "informed guess" the same as an "educated guess"?
I would treat these terms as synonymous. Both "informed" and "educated" work to establish the speaker as having some kind of privileged knowledge rendering the guess in question as being more reliable …
- 12.7k
10
votes
What are the distinctions between "authoritarian", "totalitarian", and "dictatorial"?
To give some real-world examples, we could posit the following as exemplars (understanding, of course, that these characterizations are subject to debate):
Authoritarian state: Singapore
Totalitaria …
- 12.7k
8
votes
Is lolspeak bad English, or just a different English?
To extend on Jon Purdy's answer above, three points should be kept in mind:
Lolspeak (as described here) is used as an insider marker for a subset of Internet users. Many similar examples exist of c …
- 12.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Alternative more-to-the-point words for "hot" (as in temperature)?
Right. If you say in English that a food is "hot," that can refer to it's spiciness or its prepared temperature.
If you want to be clear about the spiciness, you can say it is "piquant," or "fiery." …
- 12.7k
3
votes
Difference between "spine" and "backbone"
The term "backbone" is pretty much restricted to a single idiom: to "show some backbone," which means to be brave or resolute.
In this phrase, you can substitute the word "spine," and the meaning is …
- 12.7k
27
votes
Accepted
Using "utilize" instead of "use"?
This goes way back. From the Online Ety. Dict.:
1807, from Fr. utiliser, from It.
utilizzare, from utile "usable," from
L. utilis "usable," from uti (see use
(v.)).
It's used in the sense …
- 12.7k
6
votes
Is there a difference between "Speciality" and "Specialty"?
It's standard US medical editing practice to change instances of "specialities" to "specialties." Note the certifying agency: American Board of Medical Specialties.
- 12.7k
1
vote
"Known unknown" vs. "unknown known"
Here's Rumsfeld's quote in question:
[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also
know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some
things we do not k …
- 12.7k