Saturday, May 9, 2026

PAIRS AND SNARES XLII

The words in each group can be confused. Can you give a simple definition of each one that shows the difference between them?

1. ACCESS - EXCESS

2. ACCEDE - CONCEDE 

3. ACCEPT - EXCEPT - EXPECT 

4. TRACK - TRACT

5. WANDER - WONDER

6. ABSTRUSE - OBTUSE 

7. PRESCRIBE - PROSCRIBE

8. TORTUOUS - TORTUROUS

Answers:

1. ACCESS - Ability, right, or permission to approach, enter, communicate, or use something or someone
    EXCESS - An amount that is more than necessary, usual, or allowed - an overabundance of something 
 
2. ACCEDE - To give consent, agree, or yield to a request or demand - sometimes passively, sometimes after pressure / to assume a (high) office, position, or throne 
    CONCEDE - Yield, admit defeat, or surrender with great reluctance - usually after resistance 
 
3.  ACCEPT - Receive, approve, or agree to something
     EXCEPT - Excluding, skipping
     EXPECT - Believe, anticipate, look forward to something / to require or demand - as to expect honesty
 
4. TRACK - A path or trail, as of footprints or of an animal, a specialized course for racing, railroad rails, an individual song on a recording / to follow
    TRACT - An area of land (housing tract) / a short pamphlet 
 
5. WANDER - Move about in an aimless way / deviate from a topic or lose concentration - as in "letting one's mind wander"
    WONDER - A mixture of surprise, curiosity, and awe at something beautiful, unexpected, or inexplicable / to feel curiosity or doubt with a desire to learn more / miraculous, as a "wonder drug" 
 
6.  ABSTRUSE - Difficult to understand, obscure
     OBTUSE - Slow to understand, failing to grasp the obvious / an angle between 90 and 180 degrees
 
7. PRESCRIBE - Officially recommend, authorize, or lay down rules / in medicine, to order a medicine or treatment
    PROSCRIBE - To forbid, prohibit, or condemn something as harmful or unlawful
 
8.  TORTUOUS - Winding, full of twists, turns, or bends
     TORTUROUS - Causing extreme pain or suffering, physically or mentally agonizing 


 

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