por·cine (pôr s n )
adj.
Of or resembling swine or a pig: "a bald porcine old man" (Vladimir Nabokov).
[Middle English, from Old French porcin, from Latin porc
nus, from porcus, pig; see porko- in Indo-European roots.] |
ri·par·i·an (r -pâr - n)
adj.
Of, on, or relating to the banks of a natural course of water.
[From Latin r
p rius, from rpa, bank.] |
| myr·i·ad (mr-d)
adj.
1. Constituting a very large, indefinite number; innumerable: the myriad fish in the ocean.
2. Composed of numerous diverse elements or facets: the myriad life of the metropolis.
n.
1. A vast number: the myriads of bees in the hive.
2. Archaic Ten thousand.
[Greek m
 rias, mriad-, ten thousand, from mrios, countless.]
Usage Note: Throughout most of its history in English myriad was used as a noun, as in a myriad of men. In the 19th century it began to be used in poetry as an adjective, as in myriad men. Both usages in English are acceptable, as in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Myriad myriads of lives." This poetic, adjectival use became so well entrenched generally that many people came to consider it as the only correct use. In fact, both uses in English are parallel with those of the original ancient Greek. The Greek word m
rias, from which myriad derives, could be used as either a noun or an adjective, but the noun mrias was used in general prose and in mathematics while the adjective mrias was used only in poetry. |
pre·science (pr shns, --ns, prshns, -sh-ns)
n.
Knowledge of actions or events before they occur; foresight.
|
ob·fus·cate ( bf-skt, b-f skt)
tr.v. ob·fus·cat·ed, ob·fus·cat·ing, ob·fus·cates
1. To make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand: "A great effort was made . . . to obscure or obfuscate the truth" (Robert Conquest).
2. To render indistinct or dim; darken: The fog obfuscated the shore.
[Latin obfusc
re, obfusct-, to darken : ob-, over; see ob- + fuscre, to darken (from fuscus, dark).]
ob
fus·cation n.
ob·fus
ca·tory (b-fsk-tôr, -t r, b-) adj. |
