Difficult Words : Hapless, Hackneyed, Harbinger, Hedonism, Hegemony and Heresy





Difficult Words: Hapless, Hackneyed, Harbinger, Hedonism, Hegemony and Heresy

Hackneyed (HAD need) adj: overused, trite, stale

As cold as ice is a hackneyed expression.

Michael's book was full of clichés and hackneyed phrases.

The creationism issue had been discussed so much as to become hackneyed.




Harbinger (HAR bin jur) n: a forerunner, a signal of

Be careful with the pronunciation of this word. Many people pronounce it incorrectly.

Warm weather is the harbinger of spring.

A cloud of bad breath and body odor, which preceded him by several yards every where he went, was Harold's harbinger.




Hapless (HAP lis) adj: unlucky

Joe's hapless search for fun led him from one disappointment to another.

Alex led a hapless existence that made all his friends' lives seem fortunate by comparison.




Hedonism (HEED uh niz um) n: the pursuit of pleasure as a way of life

A hedonist practices hedonism twenty-four hours a day.




Hegemony (hi JEM uh nee) n: leadership, especially of one nation over another

America's nuclear hegemony has been challenged and perhaps usurped by the Soviets.

Japan and Germany vie for hegemony in the foreign-car market.




Heresy (HER I see) n: any belief that is strongly opposed to established beliefs

Galileo was tried for the heresy of suggesting that the sun did not revolve around the earth. He was almost convicted of being a heretic, but he recanted his heretical view.




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