adjective of, concerning, or occurring in the night.He suffered from nocturnal fears that kept him from sleeping.The secret police carried out a nocturnal raid on the writer’s premises. See the full entry
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WOTD: profitable
adjective bringing profits.We had a profitable business until the competition became too stiff. See the full entry
WOTD: royalty
noun a member of a royal family, or such members collectively.Only royalty and members of the nobility owned land at this time. the power, right, or status of a king, queen, or…
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Word of the year 2021 Wordsmyth would like to invite you to reflect on this year and consider a word that has most drawn our society’s attention to something important, something that…
Word Parts II: basic suffixes
Suffixes are word parts that are added to a root to create a word (e.g., “dent” + “-al” = “dental”) or to a root word to create a new word (e.g., “soft” + “ness” = “softness”). Suffixes often change a root word’s part of speech and sometimes they make a significant change in the meaning too. For example, the suffix “-less” changes a noun to an adjective and also changes the meaning a great deal. Compare “tooth” and “toothless,” for instance! Some suffixes add grammatical information to a root without changing the part of speech.