Make Your Point > Archived Issues > UNREMITTING
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Today's "unremitting" has some close synonyms:
- Undet_____, meaning "continuing without stopping, slowing down, or being discouraged."
- Unmit_____, meaning "not made any less bad or any less troublesome."
- Unfl_______, meaning "continuing at the same strong, steady pace."
For each word above, can you explain whether you use it to talk about positive things, negative things, or both? And can you explain whether each word describes things, people, or both?
make your point with...
"UNREMITTING"
When something remits, or goes into remission, it stops, or it becomes less intense.
So, something unremitting continues on without stopping and without becoming any less intense.
Pronunciation:
un ruh MID ing
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 "unremitting effort."
2. After a linking verb, as in "Their effort was unremitting.")
Other forms:
Unremittingly.
Also, the noun is "unremittingness," which sounds awful. Let me suggest "persistence" instead.
How to use it:
Talk about an unremitting process, an unremitting activity or feeling or quality, or an unremitting condition or situation: "an unremitting cycle of blame and guilt," "this play's unremitting bleakness," "her unremitting determination," "the island's unremitting warmth and peace."
You can also say that a person is unremitting in some particular activity, quality, or feeling: "They're unremitting in their frugal habits."
The adverb is handy, too: "unremittingly energetic," "unremittingly dull."
As you've probably noticed, with this word, your tone can either be positive, as you describe good things that don't remit ("unremitting hope") or your tone can be negative, as you describe bad things that don't remit ("unremitting pain.")
examples:
It's hard to put this novel down. The tension in it is unremitting.
If I succeeded, it had little to do with talent and much to do with unremitting focus.
study it now:
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "unremitting" means when you can explain it without saying "not at all in remission" or "continuing with the same intensity."
try it out:
Think of something in particular that really annoys you, and fill in the blanks: "I can't deal with the unremitting (particular quality) at/on/in/of_____."
Example: "I can't deal with the unremitting smell of chemicals in nail salons."
before you review:
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game and quote below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
Playing With Words:
We're playing with clichés this month, examining the origins of some colorful ones. I’ll give you a cliché (some of which you might also call a proverb and/or an idiom) and pose a multiple-choice question about its origin. (I used this nifty book as a reference!)
Yesterday's question: Hopefully this cliché is self-explanatory to even our youngest readers: “Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.” Did we get this one from a 1697 play, a 1758 dating advice pamphlet, or an 1892 letter from one politician to another?
Answer: Sorry if I made those last two options sound like more exciting stories. We got this cliché from the 1697 play The Mourning Bride, by William Congreve, who also noted that “Heav’n has no rage, like love to hatred turn’d.”
Try this one today: When something “hits the spot,” it totally satisfies you. Was this cliché originally a reference to archery, map-making, or pin the tail on the donkey?
A Point Well Made:
W. Somerset Maugham: “Tradition is a guide and not a jailer.”
review today's word:
1. The opposite of UNREMITTING is
A. WAVERING
B. BADGERING
C. HAMMERING
2. From _____, the book was unremittingly _____.
A. the prologue to the epilogue .. slapdash
B. one reader to another .. passed
C. one class period to another .. hauled
Answers are below.
a final word:
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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. A
2. A
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