-fer, -ferous

1. Pertaining to conditions or people who are too unpleasant to deal with or to accept; intolerable, and difficult to get along with: Laurie exclaimed that the persisting heat wave was insufferable and she could hardly wait for winter to come again.

Laurenda felt that her supervisor was insufferable because he was always interfering with her work without consulting or discussing it with her.

Nina said she couldn't take any more of her neighbor's insufferable arrogance of having the volume of his TV turned up so loudly almost every night after midnight.

2. Descriptive of a situation which a person finds impossible to endure: Uriah was experiencing an insufferable agony and sadness during the funeral for his wife. © ALL rights are reserved.

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That which cannot be be endured; intolerableness: Because of the insufferableness of the weather conditions, Bert and Ursula have cancelled their plans to travel this summer.

Concerning how something is too unpleasant, or too difficult, to accept: As a patient, Laura's insufferably arrogant attitude towards the medical staff at the hospital made it very difficult for them to provide her with the care that she needed.

1. Hindrance or obstruction that prevents a natural or desired outcome: Carson jokingly complained about the interference in his plans for vacation which was caused by his work schedule.
2. Involvement in something without any invitation or justification: Mason thoughtlessly used interferences at today's office meeting by interrupting the chairman, Mr. Thomas, at the beginning instead of waiting for the discussion part to take place.
3. In the game of football, the legal blocking of defensive players to protect and make way for the player carrying the ball: Jeannette's father played football and wore large shoulder pads to protect himself when he ran interference so his teammate could score a touch down.
4. The inhibition or prevention of clear reception of broadcast signals or the distorted portion of a received signal: The mountains and high winds caused much interference when Jasper tried to call his wife to explain why he would be late coming home.
5. The confusion or distortion that happens when old and new learning styles or information appear to contradict each other: The interference caused by the transition from teaching in a rote manner to a more inquiry based system sometimes frustrated the teachers. for example Mr. Black.
6. An assumption or a guess which is made based on little or no evidence: It seems that some lawyers try to present evidence during trials in such a way that the jury will choose the interferences that favors their clients.

Characteristic of something which produces a white, milky secretion: The more lactiferous cow in the farmer's herd often nursed calves of other, younger cows, which were not as lactiferous.

1. The morning star; the planet Venus when she appears in the sky before sunrise: Victor's mother always enjoyed getting up early so that she could see Lucifer in the sky before daylight.
2. The rebel archangel whose fall from heaven was supposed to be referred to in Isaiah xiv. 12 (in the Old Testament Bible): Satan, the Devil was interpreted by some to be Lucifer.
3. Etymology: "light-bearing", "light-bringer", or "bringing light" from Latin lux, lucis, "light" + ferre, "to carry".

In Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions; he was the chief spirit of evil and the adversary of God; and a master of Hell.

Belief that Lucifer was the proper name of Satan began with its reference in the Bible to translate Greek Phosphoros, which translates Hebrew Helel ben Shahar in Isaiah xiv.12: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" [King James Version]. The verse was interpreted by Christians as a reference to "Satan", because of the mention of a fall from Heaven.

Descriptive of something; such as, a document, or other property, which cannot legally be given to another person: The deed to the nontransferable property of Ted's farm could not be given to his cousin, Jim, until after Ted's parents were no longer living.

The aircraft fares that Mark and his wife purchased at a special discount for the flight to Honolulu are nonrefundable and also nontransferable tickets to any other people. They were told that they would have to use their non-transferable tickets or they would lose them.

1. Descriptive of something that bears, or diffuses, a scent or a smell: Anything that produces an odoriferous fragrance is rarely anything that has an unpleasant odor.
2. Giving off a pleasing scent: Mary's odoriferous spices were ingredients that provided more pleasure when eating her meals.

So, make your choice. Odoriferous is either a pleasant odor or and unpleasant odor!

1. The act of giving a person, or people, the opportunity to accept something: James received a job offer to work with a computer company as a programmer.
2. An amount of money which someone is willing to pay for something: Roland decided to wait for a better offer for his newly constructed house.
3. An opportunity to buy something at a price that is lower than it usually is: The store said that there was a special offer for the items which is good only while they last.

1. To give someone an opportunity to accept or to take something: Sharon was offered a job in the bank; for which she was very grateful.

The insurance company was offering John and his wife Susan, the victims of the car accident, a significant sum of money as compensation for their injuries.

2. To make something available or to provide and to supply something: When James and Jane were tourists in New York, they couldn't find their way back to their hotel; so, a man offered to help them.
3. To say or to express something as an idea to be thought about or to be considered: Mr. X, the author of the book, offers another possible explanation for the economic situations that exist today.
4. To say or to give something; such as, a prayer, or a sacrifice, as a form of religious worship: The minister, Mr. Lacy, asked his congregation to bow their heads and to offer a prayer of thanks to God.
5. Etymology: from Old English ofrian, "to offer, to show, to exhibit, to sacrifice, to bring an oblation"; from Latin offerre, "to present, to bestow, to bring before"; in Late Latin, "to present in worship"; from ob "to" + ferre, "to bring, to carry".

1. Money that members of a congregation donate during their religious services: Leonora made her regular financial offering each Sunday as a regular contribution to support the needs of her church.
2. Something that is proposed or suggested during the course of a meeting or negotiation: The union member's offering for a wage increase was being considered by the management.

1. Part of a religious service in some Christian churches during which the officiating individual may invite the attendees to eat and to drink bread and wine, often accompanied by prayers and music: Sister Katherine knelt by the altar to participate in the offertory.
2. Music that is presented during church services: The offertory, which was being played on the organ, was inspirational and caused Janson to smile with happiness.

1. A reference to something which produces, breeds, or harbors infectious diseases: The sewers, which were blocked and causing flooding, were declared pestiferous zones by the health department.
2. Characteristic of something or a place being contaminated by an epidemic ailment: Dr. Moralas worked in the pestiferous ward in the temporary hospital of the desert community.
3. Descriptive of a person who is morally evil or deadly: Slane was known to the police as a pestiferous person who hung around dark corners of the local streets waiting for an opportunity to rob someone.
4. Pertaining to an individual who is bothersome or annoying: Keith's younger brother was the most pestiferous kid in the neighborhood because he was always teasing younger children and girls.
5. Etymology: from Latin pestiferus; from pestis, "plague" + ferre, "to bear". © ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
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1. A reference to the spread and cause of an epidemic disease: Recently, measles spread at a pestiferously fast rate through the local school.
2. Characterized by the contamination of infecting organisms: The health inspectors, including Mr. Gould and Mrs. Roberts, were concerned about the potentially pestiferously dangerous contamination of the meat when the refrigerators in the grocery store did not work properly.

A particularly fatal epidemic disease; especially, in the past with the bubonic plague: For a report in school, Jane found out that International health organizations are concerned about the pestiferousness of Ebola virus, which is largely limited to parts of Africa; at least for now.