Whiny is an adjective meaning habitually complaining or of or like a whine. Whiney is the same as whiny, but it appears about a fourth as often. Whinny is the sound horses make. It’s synonymous with neigh. Whinney is (1) a surname, (2) an unusual spelling of the female first name usually spelled Winnie, and (3) a component of a few place names (e.g., Whinney Hill, Whinney Banks). [Read more...]

Tolerance is the ability to respect cultures, beliefs, and practices that are different from one’s own. Toleration is the act of tolerating something. So tolerance is something one has, and toleration is something one does. There is gray area between the words, though, and they are interchangeable in some uses. Tolerance is often the safer choice because it is more common and its meaning is broader. [Read more...]

Ingenuous comes from a Latin term meaning of free birth, and it still appears in this sense in writing on Roman history. Elsewhere, the word means (1) frank and straightforward; and (2) naïve, artless, lacking in cunning. Ingenious means marked by great cleverness or imagination. [Read more...]

Inequity and inequality are closely related in origin and in some of their secondary definitions, but there are differences between them. Inequality, meaning, primarily, the condition of being unequal, usually relates to things that can be expressed in numbers.¹ Inequity, meaning injustice or unfairness, usually relates to more qualitative matters.² So, for example, one might say that income inequality results from inequity in society.   [Read more...]

Lobsters’ and other arthropods’ grasping appendages are pincers. And the word has two other definitions: (1) Pincers are a type of grasping tool with a pair of jaws, and (2) a pincer is a military maneuver in which a force is attacked from three sides. A pincher is someone or something that pinches. [Read more...]

Something that causes regret is regrettable.¹ A person who feels regret is regretful—as is something expressing regret (e.g., a regretful letter of apology) or anything else that is full of regret (e.g., a facial expression or a morning after).² [Read more...]

As an adjective, comic means characteristic or having to do with comedy.¹ Comical is a synonym of funny.² Dictionaries list them as variants of each other, and switching them is not a huge usage problem. But careful writers generally keep them separate. [Read more...]

Falsehood means (1) a lie, (2) an untrue statement, and (3) the practice of lying. Falseness means the quality or condition of being untrue. Falsity is a variant of both, though it’s more often used as a synonym of falseness. In fact, though falseness is far older than falsity, the latter is more common in modern usage. [Read more...]

Ascent means (1) the act of climbing or going upward, (2) advancement, and (3) an incline. Ascendance is a chiefly American variant of ascendancy, which means the state of having dominance. Ascendence and ascendency are also listed as variants of ascendancy, but both are very rare in published writing. [Read more...]

The main definitions of warranty are (1) a guarantee given by a company to a purchaser stating that a product will meet certain requirements during a given time, (2) official authorization, and (3) justification for a course of action. It also has some legal definitions that we won’t list here. A warrantee is someone to whom a warranty is given. [Read more...]

To double something is to make it twice as great. To redouble is (1) to double something again, or (2) to make something much greater (as opposed to just twice as great). In modern usage the second sense of redouble is more common than the first. [Read more...]

As an adjective, adopted usually applies to the adoptee (i.e., the one who is passive in the adoption process). Adoptive usually applies to the adopter. So, for example, an adopted child is raised by his or her adoptive parents. [Read more...]

Co-op is short for cooperative, meaning a jointly owned or operated enterprise or organization. It has no other meanings. If you’re looking for a verb meaning to take for one’s own use, the word you want is co-opt.  [Read more...]