A Dictionary of Cont..

it was thought to imply an acknowledgment of
at least temporary inferiority, an acknowledgment
which the frontiersman was in no way
and at no time inclined to make.
In its commonest contemporary use, uppreciute
has a vestige of this feeling. I appreciate
what you’ve done for me does not directly say
Thanks. It says, I have formed a just estimate
(with my customary keen insight and delicate
perception) of your act and [by implication]
I am favorably impressed by it. Now -this is
lordly. A king could not be more graciously
condescending. But it’s a little dishone:st (as
most circumlocutions are) in that it twists
matters in such a way that the recipient of
the favor seems to be bestowing it. Of course
the ordinary man has very little awareness of
all this when he uses the phrase; but he must
have some perception of it-he must appreciate
it, to some extent-because he so often seeks
to bolster the assurance with supporting emphasis
(I certainly appreciate what you’ve done
for me! I sure do appreciate it!).
Where appreciation is intended, appreciate
should be used, but when gratitude has to be
expressed it is better to swallow one’s pride
and say Thank you.
apprehend; comprehend. As synonyms of understand
(the only one of their many meanings
in which they are likely to be confused),
apprehend means getting hold of and comprehend
means embracing fully. What one cannot
apprehend one cannot even know about. (A
child does not apprehend danger in an er’ectric
wire.) What one cannot comprehend one is
simply unable to understand fully.
Comprehensive means inclusive. Apprehensive
means perceptive, but apparently, what
the perceptive perceive in life is alarming, for
it also means anxious, uneasy, and fearful.
apprise; apprize. Apprise means to inform or to
notify (He was apprised of the danger. He was
apprised of his appointment to the professorship).
It is a rather formal word, often overworked
in business correspondence. (See also
tell.)
Apprize means to put a value upon, to appraise.
Actually it is the same word as appraise,
although it has had a different history. Apprize
is not used very much, being confined largely
to legal matters.
Since apprise is sometimes spelled apprize
and since apprize is sometimes spelled apprise,
any attempt to distinguish between them is
absurd. It is simply better-as most people
do-to use appraise when “to put a value
upon,” is the meaning.
approach. When used as a noun approach is
followed by to, as in the approach to the
house. The verb is used without to, as in
they approached the house.
appropriate; expropriate; impropriate. The verb
appropriate is distinguished from rake or give
in that it means to give for a particular rlerson
or purpose or to take from a particular person
or for a particular purpose. Congress appropriates
money because it supplies money only
39 apt
to meet the purposes of definite bills that have
been enacted.
The widespread erroneous use of the word
may have had its beginning in the grandiloquent
humor of the frontier where a man
seeing something that he wanted might say,
1’11 just appropriate that, meaning I will assign
it to my own particular use.
To expropriate is to take, by legal action,
land from a private person for the general use.
The rare word impropriate is limited to ecclesiastical
writings. It means the bestowal of
church property (as at the time of the dissolution
of the monasteries in England) upon
private individuals.
approximate- That which is approximate is nearly
exact; it approaches closely to something or
brings it near. To approximate is to approach
closely.
It is desirable to avoid using the word as if
it meant to resemble or to make resemble.
That which approximates something comes
close to it but does not necessarily appear to
be it.
a priori; prima facie. A priori means from cause
to effect, from a general law to a particular
instance, valid independently of observationas
opposed to a posteriori (We cannot a priori
determine the value of anything wholly new.
We should be guided by observational evidence
and not by a priori principles. Knowledge a
posteriori is a synonym for . . . knowledge
from experience).
A priori is sometimes misused for prima
facie, which means at first view, on the first
impression, before making an investigation,
especially in the phrase an a priori case. The
two phrases are not the same. The use of
technical philosophical terms, especially in a
foreign language, lays one open to the accusation
of pedantry anyway and to misuse them
will quickly get one convicted of both pedantry
and ignorance.
apropos. This word is sometimes followed by to,
but of is preferrable, as in this is apropos of
what you were saying.
apt; likely. Apt and likely are close synonyms,
but the careful speaker or writer will make a
distinction between them. Apt, in its primary
sense, means fit or suitable. Likely indicates a
probability arising from the nature of the
situation. Of a witty and cutting reply to
some insolent remark it might be said that
It was an apt answer: just the sort of thing
that so-and-so would be likely to say.
When applied to persons, apt means inclined
or prone; when applied to things, it means
habitually liable. Apt is often applied to the
general situation, likely to the specific. We say,
Snow is apt to fall in Chicago in late November.
On a day in late November in Chicago
when the weather conditions indicate that there
probably will be snow, we say, It is likely to
snow today.
Apt, when used in the sense of prone or
liable, may be followed by an infinitive, as in
hP is apt to forget, but not by the -ing form