{"id":3637,"date":"2012-02-01T18:06:24","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T10:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/?p=3637"},"modified":"2026-03-18T17:30:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:30:59","slug":"10-words-that-you-may-think-you-know-the-meaning-of-but-probably-dont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/10-words-that-you-may-think-you-know-the-meaning-of-but-probably-dont\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Words That You May Think You Know the Meaning of, But Probably Don’t"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Coca-colaEditors and proofreaders can be pretty annoying, and their tendency to point out the slightest error in your written English can really grind. You only need to take a quick look at many of the blogs that are published online to see that your written English is better than most. In fact, sometimes you may actually\u00a0purposefully break the rules of grammar<\/a>; that’s fine. However, breaking the rules of grammar and vocabulary by mistake is not, and if you use words incorrectly then you just look plain old dumb.<\/p>\n

Here are ten words that are commonly completely misused. Familiarize yourself with them and do us all a favor and use them correctly for a change.<\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

Ironic<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

You may think it means<\/strong>: An interesting or amusing coincidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI waited for the bus for 45 minutes and then three arrived at once. How ironic.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It actually means<\/strong>: The opposite of what is appropriate, expected, or fitting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very ironic when, just moments after her car accident, Sarah declared that she \u2018felt like a million bucks.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

Redundant<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may think it means<\/strong>: Useless and unable to perform a function.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe oven stopped working and was redundant.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It actually means<\/strong>: Surplus to requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company was forced to make 50 people redundant.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

Revert<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may think it means<\/strong>: To respond or reply to something.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will revert on the matter in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It actually means<\/strong>: To return to its former state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plant reverted to its former glory after it was watered.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

Instant<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may think it means<\/strong>: Quickly or without intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe jumped out of his chair in an instant when he heard the crash outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It actually means<\/strong>: A very precise moment in time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that instant, I knew I was in love.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

Enormity<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may think it means<\/strong>: Enormous, an extremely important situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until the court summons appeared that I realized the enormity of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It actually means<\/strong>: Extremely evil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enormity of his evil plans shocked everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

Chronic<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may think it means<\/strong>: Serious, severe, or really bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of homework I need to complete by Friday is chronic.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It actually means<\/strong>: A long-term medical condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames suffered from a chronic back complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Disinterested<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may think it means<\/strong>: Not interested in something.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stared at me with a disinterested look that told me he wasn\u2019t listening to a word I said.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It actually means<\/strong>: Independent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jury was formed of disinterested parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

Decimate<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may think it means<\/strong>: To completely destroy something.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building was completely decimated after the explosion.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It actually means<\/strong>: That ten percent of an entity is destroyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Roman army decimated their enemy and killed one in ten soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

Ultimate<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may think it means<\/strong>: The best, or most important.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that she bought the same dress as me is the ultimate compliment.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It actually means<\/strong>: The last in a list of items.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ultimate item on my list was the most difficult to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Peruse<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may think it means<\/strong>: To quickly skim through a written document.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absent-mindedly perused the newspaper as I waited for the doctor to call me.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It actually means<\/strong>: To read thoroughly and in detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI perused the entire textbook but still needed to learn more.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you struggle with your vocabulary? Our expert rewriting services can help you to perfect your written documents in a matter of hours.<\/p>\n

Do you like these? Check out these funny abbreviations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editors and proofreaders can be pretty annoying, and their tendency to point out the slightest error in your written English can really grind. You only need to take a quick look at many of the blogs that are published online to see that your written English is better than most. In fact, sometimes you may … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fun-and-fails"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3637"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10958,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637\/revisions\/10958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}