Everyone else is picking on Martha Stewart and we didn't want to be left behind, so we have offered language assistance during her readjustment period following confinement. It is very short and to the point; read it at: http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/martha.html or click the ad on the fron...

We have divided each language area up into (1) general dictionaries, (2) specialty dictionaries, (3) grammars, (4) language resources (newspapers, online radio & TV, traditional language resources (books, tapes, videos). The improvement over yourDictionary's layout is that the grammars, resource...

• reprobate • Pronunciation: re-prê-beyt Part of Speech: Transitive verb, Adjective, Noun Meaning: 1. [Verb] To rebuke, admonish, condemn. 2. [Adjective] Morally corrupt, condemned to eternally. 3. [Noun] A person so morally corrupt as to be already condemned to eternal damnation. Notes: The Good W...

• providence • Pronunciation: prah-vê-dens Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. Care and foresight in the management of resources, planning for the future. 2. The prudence and foresight shown by a deity in the care of the world and its creatures. 3. The deity itself (usually capitalized as Providence)....

• vaccinate • Pronunciation: vak-sê-neyt • Hear it! Part of Speech: Transitive verb Meaning: To inject an antigen, such as a dead bacteria or a mild virus, into someone to create antibodies that will protect the vacinee from disease caused by the antigen. The antigen, together with its liquid mediu...

• pillage • Pronunciation: pi-lêj Part of Speech: Transitive verb Meaning: To loot on a grand scale, to plunder, to take forcibly as spoils of war. Notes: This bad Good Word has only a few relatives: the agent noun, pillager, a regular process noun, pillaging, which can double as an adjective (the ...

• bairn • Pronunciation: bey(r)n Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: A child, a baby Notes: Today's word has a healthy and happy brood itself. Bairnly "childish" is the adjective and adverb, which come with their own noun, bairnliness. Bairnhood is childhood and childishness is bairnliness. A f...

So long it was noone everyone knows or someone dressed extraordinarily.

I switched my nouns and adjectives. Nice catch. Thanks. Fixed in the archives.

• mundane • Pronunciation: mên-deyn Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: 1. Worldly, secular, as opposed to spiritual or heavenly. 2. Pedestrian, commonplace, trite, ordinary. Notes: The adverb for this good adjective is mundanely and you have your choice of two nouns: the mundane mundaneness or the ...

• covet • ———————————————————— Pronunciation: kê-vet Part of Speech: Transitive verb Meaning: 1. To greatly desire. 2. To unnaturally envy someone for something they have. Notes: This Good Word came to English with its whole family. The adjective is covetous and the adverb, covetously. The past par...

Maybe I should take a run at this one. I'll bet there are a lot of people out there who have a sense of this word but have difficulty keeping up with its syllables. It has a noble and interesting ancestry, too; related to 'raptor'.

I'll try to squeeze it into March; otherwise, early April.

Brak means 'salty' in Dutch, so brakish would be 'saltyish'. It is a rather stranded word with few relatives in Dutch. German has Brackwasser but no Brack that I can find.

I think I'll pass on this one but 'etiolate' is an old favorite of mine that I've scheduled for March.

• marshal • Pronunciation: mah(r)-sêl • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun, Transitive Verb Meaning: 1. [Noun] A federal, state, or other law-enforcement officer. 2. [Noun] The highest military rank in the Armies of some countries, e.g. a field marshal. 3. [Noun] The person in charge of a ceremony, as a...

Stargzer's rule is excellent but one more little point ties it all up nicely:

When you effect something, you cause it.

"Eberntson's question effected an interesting series of replies that affected our understanding of the difference between 'affect' and 'effect'."