A Dictionary of Cont..

act 1
a busybody) act is invariably used; but where
it is simply a deed or where the meaning
expressed in the noun phrase is expressed in
an adjective, action is preferred (the act of a
careless person; a careless action).
A deed referred to at the immediate moment
of its doing (in the very act of making off
with it) or contrasted with words or thought
(acts, not words, are what we need) is likely
to be referred to as an act, but even here if
the sense is collective action will probably be
used (speech and action are different things).
act; play. Used as a verb in the same sense as
ploy (play the fool), act has a serious handicap,
that of ambiguity. Its importance as a verb
meaning to do, to perform, to execute, and so
on, overshadows its theatrical connotations of
pretense and dissimulation. The command to
act the man means something different, and
more, than to play the man. Therefore where
pretense is meant, play is preferable.
In slang act, as a noun, has come almost
entirely to mean pretense (Oh, he’s just putting
on an act). The extension of this usage no
doubt reffects the cynicism of the age but it is
dangerous and corrosive, for how shall we
speak of acts of kindness, of generosity, of
courage, and of love?
activate; actuate. To activate is to make active
(It was believed that the Sibyl was activated
by the Devil). In physics it means to render
radioactive. In the United States Army it
means to place a military unit in an active
status by assigning to it officers, enlisted men,
and all necessary equipment for war strength
and training for war service.
To actuate is to move mechanical things to
action (The electro-magnet actuated the armature)
or to incite human beings to action by
acting upon the will, as motives do (His
motives differed from those by which his predecessor
had been actuated. The murderer had
not, apparently, been actuated by the desire for
money, for over a thousand dollars was found
in the dead man’s wallet).
active voice. A verb is said to be in the active
voice when it represents its subject as active,
that is, as doing, being, or becoming something,
as in he believes the story and this is
true. A verb is said to be in the passive voice
when it represents its subject as acted upon,
or passive, as in the story is believed. See passive
voice.
actress. See poet; poetess.
actually; really. Actually is an adverb synonymous
with really used in questions to connote
disbelief (Did you actually see the rope trick?);
in replies to questions in which doubt has been
expressed, re-affirming the original assertion
(Yes, Z actually saw it!); and in statements
which profess to reveal hitherto concealed
truths concerning a matter under discussion
(Actually, it is no great mystery; it’s simply a
clever deception).
The last example is a worn-out import from
England, a verbal swagger stick used in polite
0
conversation to point up minor revelations
(Jones is a bore, but actually he means well).
The suggestion it carries of superior knowledge
on the part of the speaker and the air
of condescension that so often accompanies
the revelations make it an irritating word. It
can become a nuisance, actually. See also precisely.
actuate. See activate.
adapt; advpt. The confusion between adapt and
adopt may be avoided if one recognizes apt
in the second syllable of the first word. Apt
means suited to the purpose. Adapt means to
make suitable, to adjust to. We say that an
object is adapted to its purpose, an animal to
its environment. (To adapt an apt proverb:
A bassoon is an ill wind that nobody blows
good).
To adopt, on the other hand, is to choose
or to make one’s own by selection or assent
(American women eagerly adopt the styles
which New York dressmakers adapt from
French fashions).
adapted; suitable. Adapted is not a synonym for
suitable. Appropriate or fitting would be better
for suitable. Adapted means that something has
been changed to fit and, unless the idea of
change or adaptation is in the thought, it would
be better to use another word.
addendum. The plural is addendums or addenda.
addicted; devoted. Although both words mean
habitual attachment, addicted now means being
attached to something which the speaker regards
as undesirable (He is addicted to lying).
Sometimes it is used for humorous effect of
things that the ordinary person would not
consider undesirable in order to show that the
speaker does (He is addicted to artichokes.
He is addicted to good works),
Devoted means attachment or habitual action,
but to good things (She is devoted to her
mother).
add(ing) insult to injury. The saying is very old.
There are several Latin and Greek passages
that reflect on the exacerbation that contumely
gives to an injury. But the very things that
make it a saying-its obviousness, its rhythm,
and the balance of the two in-‘s-make it a
cliche, something that slips into the mind easily
and is used without further consideration of
its appropriateness. If this is exactly what is
meant, if it is an insult and not a further
injury that has been added, and if this way of
saying seems the proper way, despite the fact
that it has been expressed this way many
millions of times. then sav it this wav. But it
is wiser to avoid the phrase.
addle. An addle (or addled) egg is a rotten egg
and an addlebrain or addlehead is not only
confused, but sterile and stinking. It is not
only muddled but muddy. The term is a contemptuous
one and not to be used in place of
featherheaded or giddy.
Dizzy, by the way, which is now used
widely as a slang term for ludicrously stupid
(a dizzy blond) originally meant stupid. Slang,