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March 13 & 14, 2003 arduous (ARD ju us) The adjective arduous means to be difficult and tiring and to involve a lot of effort. All three women were sent to a brothel in Nagano prefecture and were made to work long hours in physically arduous conditions. Collecting all that information is an arduous process. Relatives began the arduous task of identifying the dead. Officials said they believed the fighters had made the arduous journey farther south to areas that were not as well monitored by US helicopters. March 12, 2003 fluctuate (FLUKT cha weit) The verb fluctuate means to change in an irregular way. The noun form is fluctuation (fluckt cha WEI shun). It's not just that there is so little water, the water level fluctuates all day. Their number fluctuated but eventually totaled over 400 riders. The minister said that the currency fluctuations were caused by "hostile elements" in the financial community. The aim of the plan was to avoid excessive currency fluctuations. March 11, 2004 grave The adjective grave means to be very serious, important and worrying. When used to describe a person, grave means to be serious in behaviour or appearance. The adverbial form is gravely. Sources close to the cabinet asked why, if the intention was to improve efficiency, the two agriculture ministers would keep their jobs, despite gravely mishandling the bird flu crisis. US leaders regularly called Iraq a grave and growing threat. The country's economic situation was too grave for the unions to go on strike. The doctor came in with a grave look on his face. March 10, 2004 ripe The adjective ripe means to normally means to be fully grown and ready to eat, but ripe can also refer to an event or situation that is likely or ready to happen soon. Last year's all-out drug war had severely weakened the drug syndicates and now the time was ripe to go "for the kill", Mr Thaksin said. The market seemed ripe for such a product. The stock's share price has been beaten down so far, it's ripe for a rebound. Ripe fallen fruit lay scattered everywhere. March 9, 2004 panacea (pan a SEE a) The noun panacea refers to a solution for all problems and it is usually used in a negative sense, i.e., that something is not a panacea. The money the government was putting into development projects in the South was no panacea, Mr Prawase said. The drug is no panacea as most patients in the UCLA study responded for less than year. The organisation said that mere computers should never be considered a magic panacea for humanity's ills. Among the fundamentalist groups, Islam is looked upon as a panacea for all the evils of modern society. March 8, 2004 avenge (a VENDJ) The verb avenge means punish a person responsible for a wrong or harmful act. Paradorn Srichaphan's bid to avenge his emotional defeat before his home crowd in the Thailand Open in Bangkok five months ago ended in the narrowest of failures, a broken racket, an umpire's warning and yet more frustration. The general's family called for retaliation on a massive scale to avenge his murder. China will be looking to avenge its 1996 losses to the United States. McVeigh said he carried out the attack to avenge illegal raids by US federal agents Click here to see our words in the news for the previous week. Return to our home page |© The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 2004 | Last modified: March 15, 2004