Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ADVENTITIOUS

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explore the archives: If adventitious is a new one for you, you might be thinking, "Ugh, that looks complicated. I don't need that word." Let me change your mind! Adventitious is really simple--no more complex than, say, the words eventually or inventive. Consider event, invent, and advent. The "-vent" in these words means "to come," as in "to arrive" or "to happen." As far as the words' roots are concerned, an event is something that comes out, to invent is to come upon something, and an advent is an arrival from somewhere else:    event: e/ex (out) + vent = a coming out    invent: in (in/on) + vent = come upon    advent: ad (toward) + vent = a coming toward That brings us to adventitious, the word for things that arrived from elsewhere--for things that aren't naturally a part of something.  A similar relationship exists among adduce, educe, and induce, and it's worth taking a look at it so can we can keep building meaningful links between words we know. In these three words, the "-duc" part means, basically, "to lead." Without looking at the example above, see if you can mentally fill the blanks below.   adduce: ad (____) + duce = __________   educe: e/ex (____)  + duce = __________   induce: in (____)  + duce = __________ I promise this section will be short tomorrow. :) make your point with... "ADVENTITIOUS" Something adventitious is not a natural part of something. Instead, it's a part of something because of random chance or because of outside forces. Pronunciation: ADD ven TISH us Part of speech: Adjective. (Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late." They can be used in two ways: 1. Right before a noun, as in "an adventitious thing." 2. After a linking verb, as in "It was adventitious.") Other forms: adventitiously, adventitiousness How to use it: Talk about adventitious causes, conditions, and circumstances. For example, an adventitious health condition resulted from some outside circumstance or injury (and is the opposite of a hereditary condition, one that arose from your DNA). You can also have adventitious aid, help, and support, which comes to you from outside sources. Just like adventitious income or wealth: you didn't earn it at a job; it arrived from some outside circumstance. Adventitious adventures, tasks, barriers, and challenges are thrust on you from outside sources; they didn't arise naturally from your own plans or abilities. And adventitious concepts, ideas, details, information, and matters aren't naturally belonging to the subject, but they're attached or related to it anyway, due to some random or external force. Less commonly, you can talk about adventitious objects, like adventitious roots of a plant that are growing where you didn't expect them to, or adventitious particles in water that really shouldn't be there. Finally, something with adventitious beauty, joy, or strength takes on that quality from some random, external, outside, foreign, or unnatural cause. examples: I don't envy lawmakers. How would you ever vote a simple "yes" or "no" on a complex bill, especially knowing you'll be judged for either blocking the main proposition or approving the adventitious ones? If a story or poem comes too easily to you as you write it, your inspiration might be adventitious. This happened to Helen Keller; she was heartbroken and ashamed to realize that she had published a story she'd accidentally plagiarized from one she had heard as a child. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "adventitious" means when you can explain it without saying "coming from elsewhere" or "not naturally a part of something." try it out: Think of something that you love (or hate) only because you associate it strongly with something else. Fill in the blanks: "For me, _____ has/have an adventitious (charm, excitement, dread, etc.) because I forever associate it/them with _____." Example: "For me, Hershey Kisses have an adventitious charm because I forever associate them with my grandparents' Christmas ornaments, which opened to reveal those hidden treats." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. This month, we're playing with KWIKORD, an addictive, challenging new word game for solo or group play, created by Wayne Ellice.  We're dipping our toes into the game this month, trying some simple challenges first and working our way toward harder tasks. (Check out my interview with the game's creator here, and order your own copy of the full version of KWIKORD here.) You'll see a sample answer to each puzzle the following day. Enjoy! Yesterday, you took the letters DFSTAEO and arranged them into words to fill the perimeter of a 4x4 grid. Many solutions were possible. Here are two: Try that again today with the letters DGLPEIO. Draw three vertical and three horizontal lines on some scrap paper, and go for it! review today's word: 1. The opposite of ADVENTITIOUS is A. EXPIRING B. INTRINSIC C. INVIGORATING 2. In traditional stories, heroes become heroes adventitiously, through _____. A. long quests full of dangers and daring feats B. missions imposed by uncontrollable forces C. a slow accumulation of successes Answers are below. a final word: To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. B 2. B