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Difficult Words : Foment, Foible, Forbear, Forgo, Forsake and Fortuitous
Difficult Words: Foment, Foible, Forbear, Forgo, Forsake and Fortuitous
Foible (FOI bul) n: a minor character flaw
Barbara's foibles included a tendency to prefer dogs to people.
The delegates to the state convention ignored the candidates' positions on the major issues and concentrated on their foibles.
Forbear (fawr BAIR) v: to refrain from, to abstain
Stephen told me I could become a millionaire if I joined him in his business, but his company makes me nervous so I decided to forbear.
George forbore to punch me in the nose, even though I had told him that I thought he was a sniveling idiot.
A forebear (FORE bair)-sometimes also spelled forbear-is an ancestor.
William's forebears came to America on the Mayflower.
Foment (foh MENT) v: to stir up, to instigate
The bad news from abroad fomented pessimism among professional investors.
The radicals set off several bombs in an effort to foment rebellion among the peasants.
Forgo (fohr GOH) v: to do without, to forbear
We had some of the chocolate cake, and some of the chocolate mouse, and some of the chocolate cream pie, but we were worried about our weight so we decided to forgo the chocolate-covered potato chips. That is, we forwent them.
Forsake (fawr SAKE) v: to abandon, to renounce and to relinquish
We urged Buddy to forsake his life with the lien beings and return to his job at the drugstore.
All the guru's followers had forsaken him, so he became a real estate developer and turned his temple into an apartment building.
Fortuitous (fawr TOO I tus) adj: accidental, occurring by chance
The program's outcome was not the result of any plan but was entirely fortuitous.
The object was so perfectly formed that its creation could not have been fortuitous.
Fortuitous is often misused to mean lucky or serendipitous. Don't make that same mistake. It means merely accidental.
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