Propinquitous

Question

Should I use this word in the IELTS writing test when describing places on a map?A children's playground and a water for aquatic flora are propinquitous.

Teechr · Accepted Answer

No. Avoid unfamiliar vocabulary. The examiner will see right through it and you will not impress them one iota.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Nh?t Bìnha water

That is such an elementary mistake. Water is noncount.

Nh?t Bìnhpropinquitous

I have seen this word maybe a few times in my life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propinquity

When you have a very silly mistake in the same sentence with a very specialized word, the examiner will not be pleased.

Blue Jay · Answer

Propinquitous is so obscure that few dictionaries list it. I would guess that most native speakers wouldn't know it. If the examiner didn't know the word, and didn't find it in their dictionary, they would think it didn't exist, and would mark you down for it.

Anonymous · Answer

"Propinquity" is a cool word. I've always liked it. It's fun to use it and then watch them wonder what it means. You have to be careful, though. A few people will know it, and they will know if you have used it unadvisedly, as you have here. The word "propinquitous" connotes affinity in addition to nearness unless the sentence does not permit a plain "nearby", but your sentence positively cries out for "nearby". I remember Piers Anthony used "propinquity" in one of his early Xanth books, something like "Propinquity facilitates adaptation", and all he meant was that having the two things in close proximity makes it easier to combine them. He liked to toss in vocabulary-builder words when he could, and he was always right on the money. He's still alive at 86.

Tokamak · Answer

It has been a while since I have seen such poor advice given so I am not quite sure what vernacular your 'moderators' use daily  or whether they are just victims of this latter-day apathy to the spoken word but I can tell you this: never not use a word because you ?????????????? the reader mayn't be familiar with it (especially your examiner); this is not only lazy thinking but just perpetuates the slide into estuary ingerrlish instead of improving spoken English. As for avoiding 'propinquitous' merely because it does not appear in many dictionaries - not only is this a non-fact but it is also poor advice because the way you improve your own - and even others, in reading your work - is by using established, interesting and challenging diction (even if sometimes somewhat archaic) rather than the generic, moreofthesame. To answer your question though - I am not sure if you have used 'propinquitous' correctly though because I am not sure whether you are referring to the close proximity of water to playgrounds or whether you mean the propinquity of aquatic flora to water; if the latter then I would advise not to use it because the flora is not so much propinquitous (in close proximity to) water so much as actually ???????????????? in it. One final word on this: why say "So-and-so is near to" when can say the almost "propinquitous" instead? Archaic or not...bring it back my friend

Lucificur jojo · Answer

Yes always want too know where's your surroundings

Propinquitous

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