Images Thread 18

[hazard]

Regarding this list.

Very noisy is not the same as deafening. 'Deafening' means it literally makes you less capable of hearing temporarily or permanently. Very noisy can just means there is enough noise, which needs not be loud, to make it hard to hear specific sounds.
Very often is not the same as frequently. Frequently means that something happens regularly. It is common that something that is described to happen frequently to happen very often, but something can happen very often without happening regularly.
Very old can mean ancient. Ancient can also mean 'much older than something you would describe as very old', or refer to things from specific times.
'Old-fashioned' and 'archaic' are, in the context you'd use 'old-fashioned' in, actually synonyms.
I'm sure that the transparent cloth spun across the doorway you can see right through means the doorway is very open, I mean, it's not as if you walk into it, right?
Okay, 'excruciating' is being used properly here.
While ashes and ash wood are usually very pale, they do not have to be. Not all combustion processes produce a pale ash, and ash wood can be dyed, lacquered or stained.
Something that is flawless is without flaw. This can be perfect. But it can also be exactly what you do not want, in which case it's not perfect. And as it also happens, if you are using 'flawless' to indicate 'perfect', the words are synonymous.
Destitute can indicate an extreme degree of poverty. But there's a difference between 'very poor' and 'destitute', even if the difference is not large. Someone who is very poor may be lacking many things, but 'destitute' would indicate a near enough complete lack of everything.
I'm sure a very powerful argument or a strong man swinging a hammer can be compelling, but something doesn't need to be powerful to be compelling.
'Beautiful' is in most contexts a valid replacement for 'very pretty'. But I'm not sure I would use 'beautiful' the same way I would use 'pretty' when describing pleasing quantities of, say, money.
Rapid is likewise being properly used.
Something that is 'very quiet' may have been made more quiet, but 'hushed' is very much 'having made or entreated something to be more quiet'.
While 'pouring' can mean 'very rainy', and I'm sure if I'm pouring a bucket of water out it can be mistaken as 'very rainy', a 'very rainy day' is not the same as 'it was pouring that day'. One can describe a day where rain of some kind was a distinct feature for most of the day, whereas the other can describe a relatively short shower.
While 'being wealthy' can mean 'being rich', and this may just being the Dutchman in me, there is a distinct difference between 'having lots of money and thus being rich' and 'being prosperous without necessarily having lots of money', which English does not seem to distinguish between.
Sorrowful is being properly used.
Aside the literal meaning of 'being turned to stone', 'petrified' can also mean 'being so afraid one cannot act'. One can still be very scared indeed without being unable to act. Admittedly, such levels of fear are often accurately identified as 'pants shitting'.
Unless you are talking temperature, chilling is being used properly.
Grave is being used properly.
Aside from 'keen' being a way to describe enthusiasm, it's also synonymous with 'sharp', so...
In the contexts you'd use 'gleaming' to describe things that are shiny, they'd be synonymous.
If we are talking spans of time, instructions or letters brief is being used here. Less so if we are talking physical objects that are not short messages.
To be lacking in confidence, determination, boldness or courage is not the same as avoiding things. One is often at the root of the other, but not the same.
Aside the whole chemistry definition of basic, that which is fundamental is not the same as that which is simple.


Words, they mean things. And somebody who follows that list without thinking uses those words very badly.