We have been learning English for a very long time. This language can be a real pest as sometimes the native speakers find it a bit difficult and they also stumble upon some words which are quite tricky to spell and pronounce. Some words in the English language are difficult to understand and because of this, they are misused by diminishing its original meaning.
If you are concerned about the pronunciation then you have come to the right place. It is the confusing words that are becoming a problem and one of those difficult words in English.
Top Most Difficult Words to Understand & Hard to Use
We bring you a list of 6 words which can be difficult to understand, pronounce or spell.
1. Literally:
If you misuse this word then it might raise the red flags against you. By definition, the word Literally means in some literal sense or something that is not imagined but truly happened. Hence it is popularly used to express something in a situation that actually happened. It is quite an interesting word as the Oxford Dictionary has included an informal meaning of the word as well.
2. Ironic:
The next word in the list is almost confusing to English speakers – it might be naive or otherwise. But not really as we could write the entire course and still not use the ironic word correctly.
The basic meaning of the word is something that is used to understand with that of coincidence or strange turn of events. But it does not cover the full meaning. It shows the twisted circumstances. The basic concept of the irony is to express a multi-layered yet simple way of the usage of words.
It is also considered as the opposite of the literal meaning of the words or situation that is being described. It is a type of sarcasm. There are various types of irony such as dramatic irony, situational irony, historical irony and others. As we know that irony is one of the essential ingredients to a regular day and no one knows how incorrectly it is used.
3. Irregardless:
It is the word that directly means something without regards or despite something. You can have an example that :
She was about to max out her credit card regardless of the consequences she would face.
With the above example, the word completely makes sense. The words are perfectly acceptable. The word means ‘ not without regard’ and the suffix will mean ‘without’. So one of the easy way to remember the word and its usage. It will be listed as the non-standard word. It is technically correct and should not be thrown out to learn and use English.
4. Whom:
Yes, you might be wondering as to why this word is visible in the of difficult words. Yes, most of the people find it difficult to find the actual usage or application of the word. But it is difficult to tell which word would you need. If you always try yourself with the words ‘him’ or ‘he’. You would know ‘whom’ word.
5. Colonel:
It is the pronunciation bungle among most of the students. While you would be looking at this word then you might think that it will be pronounced as co-lo-nel. But it is actually pronounced as ‘kernel’. It is the technique of word-borrowing. It is basically a French word and borrowed from Italian.
6. Nonplussed:
Let’s see the example sentence before moving toward the actual meaning.
Are you feeling a bit nonplussed after our brief with the linguistic history?
When you arrive at one of the sixth difficult words and otherwise it is another word with a sneaky prefix. As the prefix -non means ‘not’ and some of the people really misuse the words ‘nonplussed’ as ‘unfazed’ and ‘uninterested’.
It is a word used in both ways and at least in English. It is often become difficult to understand and mean the writer’s intent.