Monday, March 16, 2020

Words That Include Dur

Words That Include Dur Words That Include Dur Words That Include Dur By Mark Nichol If a word begins with or includes the element dur, it’s likely to be part of the word family derived from the Latin verb durare, meaning â€Å"harden† or â€Å"last.† This post defines the members of this family. Durable means â€Å"able to last a long time† (the noun forms are durability and, rarely, durableness), and a little-known intensifier of that word, perdurable, employs the â€Å"throughout† sense of the prefix per- to mean â€Å"everlasting† or â€Å"very durable.† To endure is to accept or tolerate, though the word may refer to suffering a condition or experience, and it also pertains to continuation of a state or to putting up with the continuation. Something that can be endured is endurable, and the noun form is endurance, which means â€Å"an act or instance of enduring† and sometimes refers to any of several types of competitive events involving long distances and/or arduous conditions the participants must endure. (The mostly obsolete word durance is still used occasionally in legal contexts to refer to physical restraint or confinement.) Enduro is an off-road motorcycle sport. During means â€Å"at a point in the course of† or â€Å"throughout,† so the context of a sentence in which during is employed must clarify whether something done during a visit, for example, was done at some time while the visit occurred or all through the visit. Duration, meanwhile, is a noun referring to a length or span of time. The adjective obdurate is a synonym for â€Å"stubborn,† while the less common word indurate refers to figurative or literal hardening and serves also as a verb meaning â€Å"establish† or â€Å"inure,† or â€Å"make hard† or â€Å"make stubborn.† (Obdurate, however, does not have a verb form; the verb indurate does double duty.) Interestingly, the medieval poet Dante’s full name is Durante degli Alighieri; his birth name comes from durare and survived into modern Italian as a surname used, among others, by twentieth-century entertainer Jimmy Durante. Today is the last day to join our Freelance Writing Course. Dont miss out! Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What is the Difference Between "These" and "Those"?50 Idioms About Meat and Dairy ProductsFew vs. Several