Time to learn more vocab with Wondrous Words Wednesday, a fun meme hosted by Kathy at bermudaonion.net. It’s a great way to learn something new.
When I saw this word, I immediately thought of its antonym. Let’s see if you do too:
The nocuous fungus ruined all the tomatoes in my garden!
nocuous \’näk-yə-wəs\ adj. from Latin nocuus, from nocēre, which means “to harm”; harmful
I could figure out nocuous because I know its more popular relative, innocuous. It also sounds a lot like “noxious”.
Word Nerd Workout
Give a synonym for nocuous- BESIDES harmful or noxious. Think of a really evil character, or a huge problem from a book you’ve read, to get some ideas.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me today!
Julia
*gulps* Never, ever, heard this word before. I love how you’re increasing my vocabulary! 🙂
Great word! I guess I should have thought about the opposite term to figure it out sooner, but I cheated and looked at your definition first. Thanks for boosting my vocab!
No worries Jen! Glad to help.
Yup! I immediately thought of the antonym to figure it out.
I am reminded of a recent Dictionary.com article about words whose roots have lost their meaning. Let’s see if I can remember any …
discombobulate (there is no combobulate)
Darn, I can’t think of the others!
Dictionary.com has a lot of really neat articles. It’s a shame they sold out to such nocuous advertising that they’ve become almost unusable! And apparently they got rid of their index of old articles, because I can’t find the one I was talking about. 🙁
Thanks Dianne- discombobulate is an awesome word. And thanks for the helpful tip about dictionary.com. Good use of my word nerd word!
YAY, another word I knew! My synonym: damaging.
Hope the kids are off to a great school year, and hope we can meet in Cburg soon!
Good word, Susan. Yes, we’re off to a good start. I’d like to meet; I’ll be in touch! Thanks!
SAT vocab time – pernicious! Highly destructive. Wicked.