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Believer Posted 20 years ago
Vocabulary

Why a person would use this over that?

Sometimes I find some words to be very similar and have hard time deciding whether to use this word or that word. How would an expert decide when to use this word or that word when the two words in question is very similar in all practical purposes?

e.g.

He was irate. vs. He was angry.

He was dead. vs. He was deceased.
  

Top answer

Irate means VERY angry. You can be a little angry, but you can't be a little irate. As for "dead" vs.

— BarbaraPA

  • Irate means VERY angry.
  • You can be a little angry, but you can't be a little irate.
  • As for "dead" vs.
  • "deceased" - it's a more "gentle" way of expressing it.
  • There are many more ways for saying that: passed on, passed away, "no longer with us," and so on.
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2 Answers
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Irate means VERY angry. You can be a little angry, but you can't be a little irate.

As for "dead" vs. "deceased" - it's a more "gentle" way of expressing it. There are many more ways for saying that: passed on, passed away, "no longer with us," and so on.
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Studying a good, detailed, dictionary, while reading things, would help you a lot.
I'd suggest a subscription to Merriam Webster Unabridged (online).

The more you advance into a language, the more definitions you need to know for a word, as well as possible cases of its use, its synonyms, etc.

Reading good books, with an eye open for the usage, would do the same f
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