Difficult Words : Exemplify, Exasperate, Exhaustive, Exhort, Exigency and Existential





Difficult Words: Exemplify, Exasperate, Exhaustive, Exhort, Exigency and Existential

Exasperate (ig ZEM puh RATE) v: to annoy thoroughly, to make very angry, to try the patience of

The child's insistence on hopping backward on one foot exasperated his mother, who was in a hurry.

The algebra class's refusal to answer any questions was extremely exasperating to the substitute teacher.




Exemplify (ig ZEM pluh FYE) v: to illustrate by example, to serve as a good example

Fred participated in every class discussion and typed all of these papers. His teacher thought Fred exemplified the model student. Fred's classmates thought Fred was sycophantic.

An exemplar is an ideal model or a paradigm. Exemplary means out-standing or worthy of imitation.




Exhaustive (ig ZAWS tiv) adj: thorough, rigorous, complete, painstaking

Before you use a parachute, you should examine it exhaustively for defects. Once you jump, your decision is irrevocable.




Exhort (ig ZAWRT) v: to urge strongly, to give a serious warning to

The coach used his bullhorn to exhort us to try harder.

The fearful forest ranger exhorted us not to go into the cave, but we did so anyway and became lost in the center of the earth.




Exigency (EK si jen see) n: an emergency, an urgency

An academic exigency: You haven't opened a book all term and the final is tomorrow morning.

Exigent means urgent.




Existential (EG zi STEN shul) adj: having to do with existence, having to do with the body of thought called existentialism, which basically holds that human beings are responsible for their own actions but is otherwise too complicated to summarize in a single sentence.

This word is overused but misunderstood by virtually all of the people who use it. Unless you have a very good reason for throwing it around, you should probably avoid it.




Go to The Difficult Words Index


Synonyms and Antonyms


Vocabulary| English Teacher| Etymology| Longest Word | Letter Writing


Proverbs| Misspelled Words| Contractions


From Exemplify to HOME PAGE