There are words often described by candidates to mean words that are exactly the same in meaning. When certain words we mention or use in isolation tend to be synonymous with one another, the difference stands out when these words are used in context.
For instance, smart, sharp and clever in isolation, appear to have the same meaning, but by the time they are used in sentence, the story will definitely change.
In this sentence:
The knife is sharp.
Neither smart nor clever can replace sharp as its synonym.
Synonyms can, therefore be described as words that are almost the same in meaning.
Examples of some words and their synonyms
| Words | Synonyms |
| Terrify | Frighten, scare |
| Ferocious | Cruel, ruthless |
| Terminate | End |
| Terse | Curt |
| Torture | Torment |
| Turmoil | Confusion |
| Vacillate | Hesitate |
| Turbulent | Violent, Disorderly |
| Stupendous | Tremendous |
| Vivacious | Lively. Gay, cheerful |
| Colossal | Immense, large, big |
| Coerce | Force, compel |
| Obstacle | Impediment, barrier, hindrance. |
| Exigency | Need, Emergency |
| Exigent | Urgent, Pressing |
| Extravagant | Wasteful |
| Adamant | Unyielding, Stubborn |
| Inference | Deduction, conclusion |
| Infer | Conclude, deduce |
| Infinite | Endless, limitless |
| Goal (Noun) | Jail, prison |
| Execute | Accomplish, do or kill. |
Sentence Example
His refusal to leave office after so many tears triggered (caused) the crisis.
The fear of famine is heightened (worsened) by rumours of war.
You need to scrutinize (examine) the facts before reaching a decision.
The authorities said the demonstration were organized by dissident (rebellious) activists.
There is an upsurge (increase) of violent crimes in this country.
The policewoman who saved the boy from being blown to pieces by the bomb was awarded a prize for gallantry (bravery).
The reply he gave to the question was ambiguous (Vague)
Her terse (curt) reply brought the conversation to an end.
His contribution to the development of the hospital remains unrivalled (unparalleled)
I went through his work, it was all gibberish (meaningless).
ANTONYMS
These are words and opposite
| Words | Antonyms |
| Optimist | Pessimist |
| Listen | Ignore |
| Coerce | Coax |
| Humility | Pride, Arrogance |
| Extinction | Existence |
| Ratify | Reject |
| Preserve | Destroy |
| Ruthless | Humane, kind |
| Commence | End |
| Indolence | Hardworking, Industrious, diligent |
| Harmful | Innocuous |
| Extol | Condemn, Reprimand |
| Loquacious | Taciturn |
Sentence Examples
The chairman vacillated in a matter that required decisive action.
The accused pleaded that the incident was accidental but the prosecution claimed that it was premeditated (deliberate).
The probationary workers do not have the same rights as confirmed staff.
Elders are expected to be experienced where youth are green (innocent).
Emeka is quite refined in his manners but his colleague is rather crude (uncultured).
Whenever we are considering weighty issues. Olu somehow introduce trivia matters.
The students were advised to resort to consultation with the authorities rather than confrontation whenever there were problems.
We had expected the secretary to sooth the feelings of the aggrieved members instead of making comments that could incense them.
The serenity of the village contrasts with the bustle of life.
Olu spoke in a disjointed manner while Oputa gave a coherent speech.
PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES
A prefix is a word element added to a base or root word at the beginning to give another word. Prefixes do not generally change or alter the word-class of the base or root word as suffixes do but they do change the meaning.
Examples are:
Fair – base or root word
Un – a prefix
Unfair
Legal – base or root word
il – a prefix
Illegal.
Other examples and types of prefixes are:
Number Prefixes
| Prefix | Meaning of Prefix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| UNI, MONO | One | lateral logue theism | Unilateral Monologue monotheism |
| BI-, DI-, DIA-, | Two | Ligual Ennial, annual Pole logue | Bilingual Biennial, biannual Dipole dialogue |
| TRI-, MULTI-, POLY- | Three Many | Partite Angle Racial Lingual Syllabic Atomic Gamy Andry technic | Tripartite Triangle Multiracial, multilingual, polysyllabic, polyatomic, polygamy, polyandry, polytechnic. |
Prefix of Time and Order
| Prefix | Meaning of Prefix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| POST – EX – | After Former | – War, classical – Natal, – mortem – Husband, – president | Post-war, post-classical Post-natal, post-mortem. Ex-husband. Ex-president |
| FORE PRE – | before before | -prefect -tell, – knowledge, war, marital – natal | Ex-prefect Foretell, foreknowledge Prewar, premarital. prenatal |
| RE- | again | -pack-build -evaluate -settlement | Re-pack, rebuild Re-evaluate Re-settlement |
Prefix of Location or Transfer
| Prefix | Meaning of Prefix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| SUB | Beneath, lesser in rank | – Way, conscious – let, standard | Subway, subconscious Sublet, substandard |
| SUPER | Over, above | Structure, natural Human | Superstructure, supernatural, superhuman. |
| INTER | Between, among | Marry, national | Intermarry, international. |
| TRANS | Across, from one place to another | State, – action Denominational Port, Parent Atlantic, plant | Interstate, interaction, interdominational, transport, transparent, transatlantic, transplant. |
Prefix of Degree
| Prefix | Meaning of Prefix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| OVER | Too much, excessively | Eat, dressed Confident, sleep, react. | Overheat, overdressed Over-confident, oversleep, over react. |
| UNDER | Over, above | Fund, size. Estimate, study Privileged. | Underfund, undersize, underestimate, understudy, underprivileged. |
| INFRA | Below, lower than | Human, dig | Infrahuman, infra-dig |
| MINI | Little | Skirt, hall, cab. | Miniskirt, mini-hall, minicab |
| ULTRA | Extremely, beyond | Violet, modern High, sonic Marine, frequency | Ultraviolet, ultramodern, ultra-high, ultrasonic, ultramarine, ultra-frequency. |
| HYPER | extremely | Critical, active, sensitive, market. | Hypercritical, hyperactive, hypersensitive, hypermarket. |
| SUB | Lower than, less than. | Human, standard, atomic, committee, continent, divide | Subhuman, substandard, subatomic, subcommittee, subcontinent, subdivide. |
| SUR | Over and above | Charged, tax | Surcharged, surtax |
| ARCH | Highest, worst | Duke, bishop, angel, enemy | Archduke, archbishop, archangel, archenemy. |
| OUT | Longer, to do something faster | Live, run | Outlive, Outrun |
Prefix of Attitude
| Prefix | Meaning of Prefix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| CO,/COM-/CON- | With, together, jointly. | Operate, bine, cur, pilot, author. | Co-operate, combine, concur, co-pilot, co-author. |
| PRO | On the side of | Communist, government | Pro-communist, pro-government.
|
| ANTI- | against | Missile, social, clockwise, riot | Antimissile, antisocial, anti clockwise,, antiriot |
| COUNTER | In opposition | Act, revolution | Counteract, conter-revolution |
Prefix of Degree
| Prefix | Meaning of Prefix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| IN- | Not | Sane, adequate, accessible, efficient | Insane, inadequate, inaccessible, inefficient. |
| UN- | The opposite of, not | Kind, fair, assuming, expected, stable, developed. | Unkind, unfair, unassuming, unexpected, unstable, undeveloped. |
| NON- | None | Smoker, commission | Nonsmoker, non-commission |
| DIS- | The opposite of | Loyal, like, favour, connect, honest | Disloyal, dislike, disfavor, disconnect, dishonest. |
| A- | Lacking in | Moral, symmetry | Amoral, asymmetry |
Pejorative Prefix
| Prefix | Meaning of Prefix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| MAL | Badly | Treat, function, formed | Maltreat, malfunction, malformed |
| MIS | wrongly | Inform, conduct, leading | Misinform, misconduct, misleading. |
| PSEUDO | False, imitation, not real. | Intellectual | Pseudointellectual |
Other Prefixes are:
| Prefix | Meaning of Prefix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| PROTO | Original, first | Type, -martyr, indo-European. | Prototype, proto martyr, proto-indo-European. |
| PAN- VICE- | All, worldwide, deputy | African, Arabism President, principal, captain. | Pan-African, Pan-Arabism. Vice-president, Vice-principal, Vice-captain. |
| SEMI- | Half | Circle, literate, weekly | Half-circle, half-literate, halfweekly. |
| AUTO- | self | -matic, -biography, -changer, -graph | Automatic, autobiography, autochanger, autograph |
Suffixes
A suffix is a word element added to a base or root word at the end to give another word. Unlike prefixes, suffixes frequently alter the word-class and word-function. Suffixes change words from noun to adjectives and adjectives to adverbs. For example. The adjective ‘sever’, by the addition of the suffix ‘-ity’, it is changed into a noun ‘severity’. The noun ‘editor’ by the addition of the suffix ‘-ial’, is changed to ‘editorial’.
Examples of suffixes and changes in word class and functions are:
Noun-Adjective Suffixes
| Suffix | Meaning of Suffix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| -LESS | Without | Child (noun) Care (noun) | Childless (Adjective) Careless (Adjective) |
| -LY | Having less qualities of | Coward (noun). | Cowardly (Adjective) |
| -FUL | Having…, giving…, | Help (noun) | Helpful (Adjective) |
| -LIKE | Having the qualities of | Child (noun) | Childlike (Adjective) |
| -Y | Like…, covered with… | Cream (noun) Hair (noun) | Creamy (Adjective) Hairy (Adjective) |
| -ISH | Belonging to, having the character of | Turk (noun) Fool (noun) | Turkish (Adjective) Foolish (Adjective) |
| -ITY | Person (noun) Legal (noun) | Personality (Adjective) Legality (Adjective) | |
| IAL | Editor (noun) | Editorial (Adjective) |
Adjective-Noun Suffixes
| Suffix | Meaning of Suffix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| -NESS | State, quality | Happy (adjective) Sad (adjective) Clever (adjective) | Happiness (Noun) Sadness (Noun) Cleverness (Noun) |
| -ITY | State, quality | Sane (adjective) Senile (adjective) Electric (adjective) | Sanity (Noun) Senility (Noun) Electricity (Noun) |
Adverb Suffixes
| Suffix | Meaning of Suffix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| -LY | In a manner | Happy (adjective) Strangely (adjective) Wistful (adjective) | Happily (Adverb) Strangely (Adverb) Wistfully (Adverb) |
| -WISE | In the manner of | Crab (noun) Clock (noun) | Crabwise (Adverb) Clockwise (Adverb) |
| -WARD (S) | Manner, direction | Back (adverb) Fore (adverb) | Backward (Adverb) Foreward (Adverb) |
Adjective Suffixes
| Suffix | Meaning of Suffix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| -ABLE | Able, worthy to | Read (verb) | Readable (adjective) |
| -IBLE | Force (verb) | Forcible (adjective) | |
| -ISH | somewhat | Young (Adjective) Fool (noun) | Youngish (adjective) Foolish (adjective) |
Verb-Noun Suffixes
| Suffix | Meaning of Suffix | Base/Root Word | New Word Formed |
| -AL | Action | Refuse (verb) Dismiss (verb) | Refusal (noun) Dismissal (noun) |
| -ER, -OR | Instrumental or agentive | Drive (verb) Receive (verb) Act (verb) Edit (verb) | Driver (noun) Receiver (noun) Actor (noun) Editor (noun) |
| -ANT | Agentive and instrumental | Inhabit (verb) Disinfect (verb) | Inhabitant (noun) Disinfectant (noun) |
| -MENT | State, action | Amaze (verb) | Amazement (noun) |
| -AGE | Activity, result of | Drain (verb) | Drainage (noun) |
| -ATION | State, action, institution | Explore (verb) Organize (verb) | Exploration (noun) Organization (noun) |
HOMOPHONES AND HOMONYMNS
Homophones
Homophones are words that are similar in sound but differ in spelling and meaning.
Examples are:
Aloud – Allowed
Waist – Waste
Presents – Presence
Piece – Peace
Quiet – Quiet
Principal – Principle
Deer – Dear
Plain – Plane
Raise – Rays
Weather – Whether
Adapt – Adopt
Afflict – Inflict
Aural – Oral
Air – Heir
Amoral – Immoral
Artist – Artiste
Loose – Lose
Moral – Morale
Prescribe – Proscribe
Sew – Sow
Creek – Creak
Homonyms
Homonyms are words which have the same spelling and punctuation but different meaning.
Examples are:
Flight – a journey in space
Flight – a group of steps along a staircase.
Plain – a flat open space in the field
Plain – to become clear and obvious
Faint – to lose consciousness
Faint – not clear or sharp
Box – a cubical container made of wood or metal
The use of clenched fist to punch someone
Ball – a round rubber or leather object
Ball – a typical European formal dance party
Word formation in English language is very common in WAEC, NECO, JAMB as well as other exams that requires test of English proficiency. To be sure you understand word formation in English language which includes prefixes, suffixes, synonyms, antonyms, homophones and homonyms and so on, you are advised to attempt some practice questions on the subject matter for you to personally test your level of understanding.
