284. Words with a Surprising Meaning

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Some words do not mean what their appearance suggests

HOW MEANINGS CAN SURPRISE

A word sometimes has a very different meaning from what its user or reader expects. There are different possible causes. At the most basic level, a word or part of one might have more possible meanings than its user or reader thinks, so that when it has one of the unfamiliar ones, the familiar one is believed to be present instead.

One kind of word that can give this sort of problem is actually two completely different words with identical spelling (see 11. Homonyms and Homographs). Another kind is what I have elsewhere called “multi-use”: very familiar small words with a rare and very different alternative meaning (see 256. Unusual Meanings of Familiar Words). Sometimes an alternative meaning is the opposite of the main one! Apparent, for example, can mean “seeming but not real” instead of “obvious” (see 132. Tricky Word Contrasts 4, #7, plus 319. Superficiality). Also notable are words with a simple basic meaning replaceable by a more sophisticated metaphorical one (see 7. Metaphorical Meanings).

The word inflammable illustrates how even a part of a word can mislead. Derived from the verb INFLAME, which literally means “put into flames”, this word is an adjective meaning “able to be inflamed”, or “easily burned”. The problem is that the in- part, a fairly standard way of contributing the idea of “into” to a word, is also used in many words to mean “not” (see 146. Some Important Prefix Types). This has resulted in so many people taking inflammable to mean “not able to burn”, and being harmed as a result, that governments and media have started using the new word flammable instead.

Another type of word with unexpected meaning may be spelled very like but not the same as one or more already-known words. Although such shared spelling is very typically a good clue to the meaning of a new word, in a few problem cases it is not.

For example, unbelievable means not “hard to believe” but “amazing” (see 114. Tricky Word Contrasts 3, #7). The adjective economical, which is substantially spelled like the noun economy, looks as if it should mean “concerning the economy”, rather as political means “concerning politics” (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary, #2). In fact, though, it means “saving money”, the expected meaning being expressed instead by economic (see 48. Tricky Word Contrasts 1, #5).

It is, of course, not just English words spelled like other English words that can cause this type of confusion. Most speakers of another language than English will be very familiar with so-called “false friends”: English words spelled like a word in their own language but with something unexpected about their meaning. Examples elsewhere in this blog include realise (132. Tricky Word Contrasts 4, #2), edition (197. The Language of Bibliographies, #3), security (236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #1), occasion (236. Tricky Word Contrasts 9, #3) and mentality (276. Tricky Word Contrasts 11, #2).

This post presents a variety of further words that are easily misunderstood for one or other of the reasons above.

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PROBLEM WORDS

1. Invaluable

Here, in- does have the expected meaning of “not”. However, invaluable does not mean “not valuable” (= “worthless”). Instead, it means the exact opposite: “hugely valuable”.

The meaning of -valuable here has to be understood not as “possessing great value” but as “able to be given a value” – the kind of meaning that results from -able being added to most verbs (see the end of “Verb Form Paraphrase” in 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds). Once invaluable is equated with “unable to be given a value”, the idea of “hugely valuable” is perhaps easier to see.

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2. Incomparable

This -able word, which is easy to understand as “unable to be compared with anything”, actually does imply a comparison, as it expresses the positive idea of “unequalled” and hence “best”. The verb from which it is derived, COMPARE, is itself sometimes associated with the idea of “equalling” or “matching”. This happens when it is used not with a following object noun but with a following positive adverb like well (see 277. Advantages and Disadvantages, #6).

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3. Priceless

Although -less typically means just “without” (see 106. Word-Like Suffixes), here it helps create a meaning like that of invaluable, based on similar logic. The difference between priceless and invaluable lies in what they describe. Priceless tends to be associated with material objects like works of art or gold rings, while invaluable is associated with other things, often abstract, such as friendship or assistance. For more on this kind of difference, see 16. Ways of Distinguishing Similar Words, #6.

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4. Terrific

This word is derived from the ancient European language Latin, where terr- means “terror” and -ific means “causing”. The terr- spelling keeps its Latin meaning in various other English words (terror, terrifying, terrorist, deter etc.), and in many other European languages. However, terrific is very different. Its central meaning is “huge”. It has a negative suggestion with negative nouns like difficulty, problems and suffering, but it becomes positive with most other nouns, especially enjoyment-suggesting ones like film, holiday and kindness.

The related adverb terrifically acts similarly. It is, in fact, one of numerous adverbs that can replace very much to describe an adjective or verb in a more colourful way (see 194. Adverbs that Say How Much, #5). A problem, for example, might be terrifically difficult, while a student might work terrifically hard.

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5. Satisfactory

The suggestion in this word is more negative than positive. There is the idea of being enough, but also of not meeting a desired or expected level, rather as also happens with acceptable and passable. As a description of academic achievement, satisfactory often represents the lowest pass level, below average, above average and outstanding (see 114. Tricky Word Contrasts 3, #9).

One way of making satisfactory sound more positive is by placing it after entirely. Another is by replacing it with enough or sufficient (see 189. Expressing Sufficiency, #2).

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6. Useless

In this word, as in priceless above, -less often means more than “without”. Useless typically means “inept” or “failing”. Obviously, this is vital to appreciate in order to avoid unintended insult. To indicate just that something is ineffective, one can say not useful or not helpful; to mean “cannot be used”, say of no use.

It is a general tendency for not + positive adjective to sound more polite than a negative adjective alone (see “Tonal Appropriacy” in 166. Appropriacy in Professional English).

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7. Certainly

This word, a formal or emphatic equivalent of yes, sometimes suggests its user’s doubt rather than certainty. The correct interpretation depends on the surrounding words or the situational context. For example, certainty is usually suggested in promises and in disagreements with another person’s negative claim:

(a) Some writers say the moon landings never occurred, but they certainly did.

For more on this sort of statement, see 224. Asserting the Truth of What you Say.

The suggestion of doubt appears when a certainly statement is followed by but or equivalent:

(b) Road building certainly reduces traffic congestion initially, but ultimately it exacerbates it.

This implies doubt about the value of building roads (see 51. Making Concessions with “may”).

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8. Hateful

In many words, -ful means “having”, a kind of opposite of -less (see 106. Word-Like Suffixes). This is the case, for example, in hopeful, spiteful and tearful. In hateful, however, it means “causing”. Thus, a hateful person is not someone who hates something, but someone who other people hate. A common way to indicate having hate is with hate-filled.

Very often, hateful describes a thing rather than a person, common partner nouns including journeys, messages and times. There are a few other -ful words like hateful, such as frightful, hurtful, pitiful and restful.

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9. Exceptional

This word only sometimes characterises something as just an exception, equating to “different” or “unusual” (see 215. Naming Exceptions):

(c) Last year was very hot, but that is exceptional.

More often, exceptional additionally has the positive suggestion of “special” or “outstanding”, reflecting the fact that unusual phenomena very often do have these qualities. For example, an exceptional performance is usually understood as an outstanding one, and an exceptional appetite is usually a very large one. Normally, the context will clarify which meaning is intended.

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10. Speculative

To speculate is to state an unproven possibility. It can be legitimate in academic discussion provided its uncertainty is clearly indicated with language like perhaps or might (see 95. Making Statements More Uncertain 1). It is particularly associated with philosophy.

In disciplines with a more scientific approach, speculative statements are likely to be quite rare, and even inappropriate in some contexts. The word speculative once occurred in an academic research article that I asked some students to read. It was being used to dismiss a theory as not based on proper research. Some of the students missed this negative aspect of the word, seeing just a comparison instead of a criticism (see 13. Hidden Negatives).

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11. Appreciable

This looks as if it should mean “able to be appreciated”, but -able, just as in comparable, means more than just “able to be”, here implying the additional idea of “quite large”. An appreciable distance, for example, would be one that was notable through being of above average but not huge length.

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12. Hopeless

It is easy to think that hopeless is the typical way of describing someone without hope, just as fearless typically describes someone without fear. In fact, though, hopeless much more often describes things than people, common examples being a hopeless situation and a hopeless idea. Yet it is still the human observer who is understood to lack hope. Reflecting this, the meaning of hopeless might be characterised as “not inspiring hope”.

The opposite of hopeless used in this typical way is generally promising but can on occasion be hopeful (see 296. Tricky Word Contrasts 12, #2). To describe someone as lacking hope without using hopeless, it is possible to say despairing before a noun and in despair or without hope after one.

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13. Unique

This word of French origin (see 135. French Influences on English Vocabulary, #7) combines the French meaning of “sole” with the extra meaning of “special”. Thus, a unique opportunity is not necessarily the only opportunity encountered, but is rather a more special one than most if not all others (see 251. The Grammar of “Only”).

Unique is thus similar to exceptional (#9 above). It differs in its strength, suggesting greater rarity of what it describes.

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14. OVERLOOK

This verb has two rather different meanings. One, associated with high places, is “provide a view of a neighbouring lower place”. For example, a block of flats might overlook a row of houses, so that residents of the former might be able to observe events in the latter. The other meaning is “not see”, either intentionally, as when a police officer overlooks a minor offence, or unintentionally, as when a researcher overlooks a significant fact.

Not to be confused with OVERLOOK is LOOK OVER, which means “scan” or “peruse”.

283. Lesser-Known Features of Adjectives

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Adjectives are much more than just words for describing a noun

THE POTENTIAL OF ADJECTIVES

The concept of an adjective is, like that of most fundamental grammatical features, familiar to language students from an early stage, but full of hidden aspects that reveal themselves only gradually as studies progress. Information about many of these aspects can be accessed within this blog by clicking on ADJECTIVES in the Categories menu to the right of this page.

Now, however, there are so many posts on adjectives that scrolling through them all to find new insights can take a long time. Hence, I feel there may be some value in a post like this that picks out some of the more esoteric adjective aspects that have been covered to date, and adds something more. In other words, I wish to offer the same kind of survey that I have elsewhere made of prepositions, adverbs and conjunctions.

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BASIC ADJECTIVE FEATURES

To facilitate the main discussion, it is useful to briefly mention the basic features of adjectives. Most people would say that adjectives “describe” a noun. Perhaps more accurately, they “describe” what the noun stands for. There is a problem here, however, of vagueness (see #4 below). Grammarians prefer to say that adjectives “modify nouns”, which means they adjust or clarify the meaning of the noun they are with.

The other basic aspect of adjectives is their “formal” properties – how they fit into sentences. Here is how I approach this in my book Grammar Practice for Professional Writing (Chapter 1):

(An adjective) may go directly between the and the noun it describes (the happy child), or follow the verb is (is happy). You can confirm that a word in these positions is an adjective (and not a noun – cp. the house market and is advice) by checking that it cannot usually stand alone after the (compare the house with *the happy).

Implicit in such descriptions, and often stated explicitly alongside them, is the fact that English adjectives do not directly follow the noun they describe (without a separating verb) as they do in many other languages (*the child happy). It tends to be only later that mention is made of exceptions to this rule. However, even then the full range of possibilities is rarely covered, the focus often being on particular adjectives that must go directly after rather than before their noun, such as below (e.g. the diagram below). For an attempt in this blog to cover all the possibilities, see 109. Placing an Adjective after its Noun.

Another well-known feature of adjectives is their typical endings – -al, -ive, -ful, -y etc. (see 255. Nouns Made from Adjectives and 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb). The problem here, of course, is that plenty of adjectives lack one of these (e.g. quick, silent, slow), and many of the endings are also found on other types of word (see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes).

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BEYOND THE BASICS

1. Positioning with Respect to “the”

The statement above that adjectives added to the + noun must go in between seeks to distinguish them from prepositions, which can accompany the same combination but must precede the. Thus, an adjective is indicated in phrases like the Blue Nile, a preposition in ones like across the Nile (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #1). It is not just the that this rule applies to: most words that can replace the, such as a(n), this and their, act similarly.

A problem with thinking of adjectives in this way is that nouns too can have a “describing” role after the. The above-suggested means of distinguishing them from adjectives – checking usability alone after the – may give some help, but takes no account of the fact that sometimes the does actually precede a lone adjective (see 6. Adjectives with no Noun 1).

An alternative way of recognising adjectives before a noun is by seeing what wording is necessary if a described noun is mentioned first. An adjective after it generally needs which (e.g. the price which is high for the high price), while a noun needs a preposition (e.g. the price of fuel for the fuel price: see 38. Nouns Used like Adjectives).

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2. Sentence Positions

The earlier-quoted rule suggests the two main adjective positions – before a noun or after it with a verb like BE in between – are possible with all adjectives. In reality, plenty of adjectives can occupy only one of these positions. For example, future can only precede its noun (a future priority) and asleep can only follow it (…was asleep). For more, see 184. Adjectives with Limited Mobility.

There are also various other possible adjective positions. Usage without a partner noun and usage immediately after one have already been mentioned. Another post-noun possibility without a link verb in between follows a comma:

(a) The virus spreads easily, deadly to all who contract it.

For details of this usage, see 159. Exotic Grammar Structures 2, #3.

Separated adjectives can also start a sentence:

(b) Common in speech, INTERJECTIONS are rare in writing.

(c) High on the agenda was employee SAFETY.

Both these adjectives relate to the subject of the main verb (capitalised). Common in (b) is part of a description separated from its following noun by a comma (see 307. Word Order Variations, #6) – a usage also possible with descriptive nouns (see 228. Exotic Grammar Structures 5, #3). High in (c) is a complement that has exchanged places with the subject of was, safety – a reversal usually necessitated by the subject being long and / or the main information in the sentence (see 220. Features of Complements, #6).

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3. Resemblance to Verbs

Adjectives have verb characteristics that can cause confusion. One is their very noun-describing nature, also a characteristic of verbs in the participle form. Some adjectives actually have a participle spelling, familiar examples being interesting and advanced. Their adjective features probably evolved from their participle ones. For differences between the two, see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending.

Secondly, adjectives can combine with BE to act like a verb in a sentence. For example, is different and is full correspond to the verbs differs and is filled. For numerous other examples, see 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds.

Things are especially confusing with adjectives spelt exactly the same as the base form of a verb, such as clean, clear, equal, free, level, open and slow (see 140. Words with Unexpected Grammar 2, #f). The main clue to the adjective use of any of these is absence of an ending after BE, since verbs after BE always need -ed (or irregular equivalent) or -ing.

However, not every verb-like adjective follows BE. Consider this:

(d) Two spoonfuls made the quantities equal.

The only clue that equal here is an adjective is the fact that it has no directly-following noun. The verb EQUAL usually needs one because it is “transitive”, i.e. a verb that always needs a noun as its “object” (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 3, #4).

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4. Variable Descriptive Role

The kind of information that an adjective gives about its noun is not always the same. Quite often, an adjective and following noun together represent a subdivision of what the noun would represent by itself – in other words adjectives often have a classifying effect. For example, difficult problems are a smaller group than problems, clean water is a smaller amount than water, and the known universe allows for the universe being greater. Adjectives are not the only means of indicating a subdivision, but they are a common one.

An important distinction regarding subdivisions is between those that themselves have subdivisions, such as birds, a subdivision of vertebrates, and those that are an individual, such as Indonesia, a subdivision of countries (see 162. Writing about Classifications). Sometimes, an adjective-containing subdivision name is unclear about which of these possibilities is meant. For example, a yellow taxi could mean either “a taxi that is yellow”, without implying other yellow taxis, or “a taxi belonging to the yellow group”, implying that yellow taxis were a definite subgroup.

One situation where such uncertainty is removed is when a noun has two adjectives. In writing, a large, yellow taxi (comma between the adjectives) does not give any special group meaning to yellow, whereas a large yellow taxi does. In speech, the use with a comma needs a pause after each adjective, but the use without allows one only after the first (see 243. Pronunciation Secrets, #2).

Adjectives have one other use too: highlighting a key feature of a group rather than a subdivision. For example, life-giving water does not refer to something less than water: it just indicates the relevance to a particular situation of something always present in water. Other examples are the over-arching sky and Almighty God.

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5. Expandability

Like other word classes, adjectives can be made into into a longer equivalent through words placed before or after them. Preceding words tend to be adverbs, often of “degree” (e.g. very, too, more, rather, quite) but sometimes not (e.g. prematurely, obviously), while following words are typically preposition phrases (as in happy with everything), to verbs (happy to wait), or that clauses (happy that…).

Some expansion possibilities result from either the type of meaning carried by the adjective or the adjective’s form. One relevant meaning type is “gradability” – ability to indicate different amounts. It exists, for example, in the meanings of easy and interesting, but not those of absent, alive and essential. Only gradable adjectives can accompany a degree adverb. 

Another relevant meaning type is likelihood of describing humans. Pleased and willing very typically describe humans, while pleasing and useful do not. After the first kind, infinitive verbs tend to have active meaning (e.g. pleased to help), after the second, passive meaning (e.g. pleasing to observe: see 83. Adjectives before a “to” Verb).

Among adjective forms, comparatives and superlatives do not allow exactly the same degree adverbs that base forms do. For example, comparatives replace very with far or much, and superlatives have either much (e.g. much the quickest), or (before or after them) by far. Superlatives actually allow a choice of following adverb-like expressions (see 269. Exotic Grammar Structures 7, #3). They can also follow quite, but give it a different meaning from that before base forms.

For more detailed information about adjective expansion, see 194. Adverbs that Say How Much and 203. Expanding an Adjective with Words after it.

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6. Use with “Compared to”

Adjectives show comparison in not just the familiar comparative form + than (e.g. larger than…), but also the base form + compared to (large compared to…). However, there is a difference: the latter implies the adjective is not a typical description of the noun (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 2, #5).

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7. Lone Comparative after “the”

Besides making familiar combinations like the higher the X, the longer the Y (see 192. When BE can be Omitted), the with a lone comparative adjective sometimes follows BE, e.g.  was the higher (see 309. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 5, #3).