It’s amazing what a difference one letter makes. From veracious to voracious.
From truthful and honest to a passionate approach to an activity. Of course, one could say that all that enthusiasm is honest.
Veracious is all about the truth, accuracy, precision.
Voracious, on the other hand, is an eagerness for a lot of food or a particular activity — of your choice. Consider Gargantua’s capacity for food and drink. Don Juan’s predilection for romance. My own obsession with reading. Olympic athletes’ persistence in training through the aches and pains to achieve perfection.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Veracious | Voracious |
|---|---|
Pinocchio by Schwerdhoefer is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay. — Pinocchio is the antithesis of veracious. |
Hot Dog Eating Contest by Nicole Kibert is under the C BY0-NC-ND 2.0 license, via Flickr. — An eating contest requires voracious eaters. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adjective | Adjective |
| [Formal] Speaking or representing the truth
Habitually speaking the truth
Characterized by truthfulness
Accurate
|
Wanting or devouring great quantities of food
|
| Examples: | |
| She gave a veracious account.
He was a veracious witness. Unfortunately, it was not a veracious statement. I am completely convinced that not everyone is capable of presenting Don Juan on the stage as the veracious lover type of figure. It is disheartening for a veracious researcher to debunk this Caspian megalomania. I was all alone until I met Aya, a young, veracious girl, when I was eight. |
He had a voracious appetite.
Apart from their voracious appetite for native species, another worry is that they will burrow into riverbanks, adding to the problem of erosion. I was a little disturbed that he had a voracious appetite for potato chips and would leave the empty wrappers all over the floor. Her voracious reading of literature was astounding. It seem entirely fitting that his own voracious academic and literary activity should be rooted in a city that takes such an obvious pleasure in all that the mind and body can absorb. I am enormously impressed by the warm welcome you gave me, and by all your questions and your voracious enthusiasm. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: nonveracious Adverb: nonveraciously, veraciously Noun: veraciousness, veracity |
Adjective: unvoracious Adverb: voraciously Noun: unvoraciousness, voraciousness, voracity |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late 17th century from the Latin verax, verac-, from verus (true) + -ious. | Mid-17th century from the Latin vorax, vorac-, from vorare (devour) + -ious. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Veracious versus Voracious
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: veracious
Lexico.com: veracious, voracious
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Nära mjoden upplevelse is Pompemcbagel‘s own work and is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
