Cut your Coat......

Today's Idiom: cut your coat according to your cloth.
 
Meaning: do not go beyond your financial capacity.
 
General Notes: It is wrong to say 'cut your coat according to your SIZE' or any other wrong version apart from 'cut your coat according to your cloth.'

Much of a muchness

Today’s Idiom: much of a muchness

Meaning: very similar

Usage: The twins are just much of a muchness.

Synonym: alike, similar

Better the devil you kinow.......

Today's Idiom: better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
 
Meaning: It is sometime wise to stay in a bad situation and deal with it than to attempt to jump into a new situation which may latter be much worse than the former one.
 
General Notes: It is wrong to render the idiom as: 'better the 

devil you know than the ANGEL you don't.' It is, however 

correct if you only stop at saying 'better the devil you know.'

Plaintive vs. Plaintiff

Today’s Word: plaintive

Pronunciation: /ˈpleιntιv/

Part of Speech: adjective

Meaning: sounding sad

Usage: The songs were rendered in a plaintive tone.

Synonym: mournful, plangent, sombre, melancholy

General Note: Plaintive is different from plaintiff. A plaintiff is a person who lodges a formal complaint against somebody in court of law.

Playwright

Today’s Words: playwright

Pronunciation: /pleIraIt/

Part of Speech: noun

Meaning: a person who writes plays

Usage: Her mother was a playwright.

Synonym:  scriptwriter

General Note: Don’t make the mistake of calling a person that writes plays a playwriter. You should rather say a playwright.

Gratis

Today’s Word: gratis

Pronunciation: /ˈgrætιs/

Part of Speech: adverb

Meaning: free of charge

Usage: She gave it to me gratis

Synonym: free

General Note: Gratis is an adverb, and it can also be used as an adjective.

As an adverb: She gave it to me gratis.

As an adjective: She gave me a gratis copy of the book.

The ins and outs

Today’s Idiom: the ins and outs

Meaning: all the details

Usage: She has been doing the job for decades; she knows the ins and outs of the job.

Wrong Usage: She has been doing the job for decades; she knows the in and out of the job.

General Note: It is not the in and out. It is rather the ins and outs. In and out are pluralized.

Compunction

Today’s Word: compunction

Pronunciation: /kəmˈpʌkʃn/

Part of Speech: noun

Meaning: a guilty or remorseful feeling about something

 Synonyms: remorse, guilt

General Note: Compunction is an uncountable noun in British English. For example:

She felt no compunction about leaking the secret.

It could be a countable noun in American English. For example:

She felt no compunctions about leaking the secret.

Also, the preposition that goes with compunction is about but not for. For example: She felt no compunction about running away from home.

Where there’s life

Today’s Idiom: where there’s life, (there’s hope)

Meaning: don’t give up hope in any bad situation you may find yourself because there is a chance that it will improve

General Note: Most people usually wrongly say when there’s life, there’s hope. It is not when but where. When is an adverb of time while where is an adverb of place. Where, in this saying, represents any bad situation.

Again, it’s correct if you don’t complete it and stop at saying ‘where there’s life....’

On the market

Today’s Idiom: on the market

Meaning: available to be bought

Usage: These new products are now on the market.

Wrong Usage: These new products are now in the market.

General Note: In the market doesn’t mean that something is available to be bought. To be in the market for something means you are interested in buying that thing. For example:

1.      I’m not in the market for a new mobile phone. (Not interested in buying a new mobile phone.)

2.      She is in the market for a new car. (Interested in buying a new car.)

A trouble shared.

Today’s Idiom: a trouble shared is a trouble halved

Meaning: when you tell people that can help you about the problem you are passing through, the problem are made less serious

Usage: Don’t die in silence; a trouble shared is a trouble halved.

Wrong Usage: Don’t die in silence; a problem shared is half solved.

General Note: It’s trouble but not problem. Don’t replace …a trouble halved with …half solved.

He who laughs last laughs longest

Today’s Idiom: he who laughs last laughs longest

Meaning: this saying is usually used to warn a person that seems to be too proud of his or her present success because another person may later be more successful

Usage: Don’t let this success enter into your head. Just know that he who laughs last laughs longest.

Wrong Usages: Don’t let this success enter into your head. Just know that he who laughs last laughs best.

General Note: You shouldn’t replace longest with best.

Out of the frying pan

Today's Idiom: out of the frying pan into the fire.
Meaning: coming from a bad situation into a worse one.
General Notes: This idiom is not 'from frying pan to fire.' It is rather 'out of the frying pan into the fire.' You must include 'out of,' 'into,' and also avoid the omission of  article 'the'

Tricky

Today’s Word: tricky

Pronunciation: /trIki/

Part of Speech: adjective

Meaning: (1) difficult to tackle (2) likely to trick you

Usage: (for 2) I always try to avoid clients that are tricky.

Wrong Usage: I always try to avoid clients that are trickish.

Synonyms: sly, deceptive, difficult

Antonyms: straightforward

General Note: There is no word like trickish. Avoid saying or using it.

Devout

Today’s Word: devout

Pronunciation: /dIˈvaut/

Part of Speech: adjective

Meaning: having a strong belief in a particular religion and strictly adhering to its laws

Usage: That lady seems to be a devout Christian.

Wrong Usage: That lady seems to be a devoted Christian.

Synonyms:  religious, pious

Antonyms: impious

General Note: We should not wrongly use devote in place of devout. Devout is used in religious sense. Devote is a verb while devout is an adjective. However, to be devoted to something is to give it much attention.

Fatal

Today’s Word: fatal

Pronunciation: /feItl/

Part of Speech: adjective

Meaning: (1) causing death (2) bringing disaster (3) caused by fate

Usage: (for 1) His brother died in a fatal road accident last year.

Wrong Usage: (for 1) His brother died in serious road accident last year.

Synonyms: deadly, ghastly

Derived Form: fatally (adverb)

General Note: When an accident involves a loss of life, it is said to be fatal. But a serious accident is the one that does not bring about a loss of life.

Plethora

Today’s Word: plethora.

Pronunciation: /’pleθƏrƏ/  

Part of Speech: noun.

Etymology: from Latin, plethora.

Meaning: an amount that is more than is needed.

Usage: There is a plethora of gifts to be distributed here today.

Synonyms: surplus, excess.

Antonyms: dearth, shortage.