lam.'br-.zhel

(1) The food of the Greek and Roman gods. (2) Something extremely pleasant to taste or smell. *Ambrosia* literally means “immortality” in Greek, and in Greek and Roman mythology only the immortals—the gods and goddesses—could eat ambrosia or drink *nectar*. Both may have been divine forms of honey. The gods also used nectar and ambrosia like oils for ceremonial anointing, and a mixture of water, oil, and fruits called ambrosia came to be used in human ceremonies as well. Since we can't know what the mythical ambrosia tasted or smelled like, we mere mortals are free to give the name to our favorite *ambrosial* dessert— perhaps one involving oranges, coconut, and heavy cream.

(1) Something treated as established and accepted opinion. (2) A principle or set of principles taught by a religious organization. Religious dogma and scientific dogma are sometimes at odds, as in arguments between those who believe in the biblical story of creation and those who believe in evolution. Since all dogma resists change, arguments of any kind are harder to resolve when both sides are *dogmatic* in their beliefs. *Dogma* and *dogmatic* are generally used disapprovingly; it's always other people who believe unquestioningly in dogma and who take a dogmatic approach to important issues.

rggrattesl

Without charge; free. *Gratis* comes from the Latin word for “favor” ; so in English a party favor is a small item given gratis to everyone attending a party. *Gratis* is used as both an adjective (“The drinks were gratis”) and an adverb (“Drinks were served gratis”). But however it's used, it means “free.”

iyi-r-kal

An exclamation used to express triumph and delight on a discovery. *Eureka* means “I have found” in Greek. The story goes that the Greek inventor Archimedes, given the task of determining the purity of gold in a crown, shouted “Eureka!” one day after stepping into a bath and making water slop over the side, when he suddenly realized that the weight of water displaced indicated the bulk of his body, but that a larger body made of lighter matter might weigh the same but would displace more water. Thus, a crown in which lighter metal had secretly been mixed with the gold would reveal itself in the same way. The story may not be true, but we still shout “Eureka!” when we make a sudden, welcome discovery.

ppaer.'sal

By, of, or in itself; as such. We generally use *per se* to distinguish between something in its narrow sense and some larger thing that it represents. Thus, you may have no objection to educational testing per se, but rather to the way testing is done. An opposition party may attack a president's policy not because they dislike the policy per se but because they want to weaken the president. And when New York's police chief decided to crackdown on small crimes, it wasn't the small crimes per se that were his target, but instead the larger crimes which he believed would be reduced because of this new approach.

r3.ppesi

A creative work, especially a musical composition or set of compositions numbered in order of publication. A literary opus is often a single novel, though the word may sometimes refer to all of a writer's works. But *opus* normally is used for musical works. Mendelssohn's Opus 90 is his *Italian Symphony,* for example, and Brahms's Op. 77 is his Violin Concerto. Since many composers' works were never given opus numbers in an orderly way, they now often have catalog numbers assigned by later scholars. So Haydn's Symphony No. 104 is Hob.104 (Hob. is short for Anthony van Hoboken, the cataloger), and Mozart's *Marriage of Figaro* is K.492 (K. stands for Ludwig Köchel).

rim.ps.tasl

(1) A driving force or impulse; something that makes a person try or work hard; incentive. (2) Momentum. An impetus can be something positive and pleasant, or something negative and unpleasant, but in either case it stimulates action. The need to earn a living provides many people with the impetus to drag themselves out of bed five mornings a week. On the other two days, the impetus might be the smell of bacon cooking, or the idea of an early-morning round of golf. *Impetus* can be used either with *an* or *the* in front of it (“The accident provided an impetus for changing the safety regulations”) or without them (“His discoveries have given impetus to further research”).

(1) An opinion or proposition that a person presents and tries to prove by argument. (2) An extended paper that contains the results of original research, especially one written by a candidate for an academic degree. In high school, college, or graduate school, students often have to write a thesis on a topic in their major field of study. In many fields, a final thesis is the biggest challenge involved in getting a master's degree, and the same is true for students studying for a Ph.D. (a Ph.D. thesis is often called a *dissertation*). But a thesis may also be an idea; so in the course of the paper the student may put forth several theses (notice the plural form) and attempt to prove them. ```