Make Your Point > Archived Issues > OUTBULK
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pronounce
OUTBULK:
Say it "out BULK."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
I love how easily we can take English and bend it to our creative will. We can toss prefixes and base words together however we please, and everyone else knows what we mean.
You can talk about people outdoing, outsmarting, or outfoxing each other. And you can outcharm them, outbabble them, outglitter them, and--this last one I find especially funny--outbulk them.
Yes, all those words appear in the Oxford English Dictionary. But if you've invented one that isn't there yet, by all means, use it! Even if some of your listeners find it out__, or shockingly weird, really "out there." (Can you recall that word?)
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
Fun fact: some of the oldest meanings of the word "bulk" are "a big pile of fish" and "the hull of a ship."
But in general, something bulky, or something with a lot of bulk, is just big: it takes up a lot of space, and is often, as a result, awkward as all get-out.
Like a surfboard, when you're trying to take it on a plane.
(I really want to see him take it as a carry-on, don't you?)
So, like it sounds, to outbulk something is to be bulkier than it: to "beat" it or "win" against it by being bigger or more impressive.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech: verb, the transitive kind: "it outbulked the earlier design," "it outbulks the other planets."
Other forms: outbulked, outbulking. Sometimes you'll see it with a hyphen for clarity: "out-bulk."
how to use it:
You could pick a more familiar word, like "outweigh" or "outnumber," but you can be both funny and precise by picking "outbulk."
It's rare, but instantly understood.
Say that one thing outbulks another: "The footnotes outbulk the text itself;" "The Hummer outbulks just about every other car on the road."
You might also say that one thing outbulks the other by a certain amount or ratio: "He might not be the most graceful player on the field, but he outbulks the rest by fifty pounds of muscle." "The chunky cell phones from the nineties outbulk today's, nine to one."
examples:
We dropped our Costco membership. Too many things were too pricey. They didn't, you know, out-frugal your standard grocery store items; they just outbulked them.
"Left-wing poetry represents a rise in the price of bread,
And starving workless peasants, a bread queue, a stricken field.
Represents is right, i.e. Protests against! -- not causes.
That is the proud prerogative of Right-wing poetry
And since in Britain and America at least
The latter outbulks the former by ninety-nine to one,
Surely it could nullify the one per cent..."
— Hugh MacDiarmid, Hugh MacDiarmid: Selected Poetry, 2006
has this page helped you understand "outbulk"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "outbulk" without saying "overpower" or "exceed in amount."
try it out:
Think of something you'd call junk food, either literally (something to eat or drink) or figuratively (something to watch, read, listen to, or otherwise enjoy).
Fill in the blanks: "_____might not (outweigh or outrival) _____, but it sure does outbulk it."
Literal example: "The Cheetos Puffs might not outweigh the mandarin oranges in our pantry, but they sure do outbulk them."
Figurative example: "The romance novels might not outrival the classics, but they sure do outbulk them."
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
This month, our game is "Caption These!"
In each issue this month, caption the images below (A, B, and C) by matching them to the vocabulary words they illustrate (1, 2, and 3). Need a closer look? Give the images a click. And, if you can, explain the exact meaning of each word. I'll share the answers in the following issue. Good luck!
From the previous issue:
Answers:
A: citadel, B: rictus, C: claque.
(To review a word, give it a click.)
Try these today:
1: piebald
2: daguerrean
3: ebullient
review this word:
A. OUT-MARVEL.
B. OUT-MANEUVER.
C. OUT-MINIATURIZE.
2. It's a deep-dish pizza, gustatory heaven. The cheese outbulks _____.
A. the bread, seven to one
B. any concerns about gluten
C. the diet of a rational human
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
I love how easily we can take English and bend it to our creative will. We can toss prefixes and base words together however we please, and everyone else knows what we mean.
Fun fact: some of the oldest meanings of the word "bulk" are "a big pile of fish" and "the hull of a ship."
Part of speech: verb, the transitive kind: "it outbulked the earlier design," "it outbulks the other planets."
You could pick a more familiar word, like "outweigh" or "outnumber," but you can be both funny and precise by picking "outbulk."
We dropped our Costco membership. Too many things were too pricey. They didn't, you know, out-frugal your standard grocery store items; they just outbulked them.
Explain the meaning of "outbulk" without saying "overpower" or "exceed in amount."
Think of something you'd call junk food, either literally (something to eat or drink) or figuratively (something to watch, read, listen to, or otherwise enjoy).
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
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