As an avid football fan, I try to see every game the Jets play. Whenever I can cajole my father
into accompanying me, I try to do so. He has only a rudimentary knowledge of the game, and
since I am steeped in it, I enjoy explaining its intricate details to him. It certainly does
enhance your appreciation of football when you are aware of every nuance of the sport.
Avid usually means very eager or enthusiastic. If you’re an avid reader, it means you read as much as you can, whenever you can.
But this adjective can also mean wanting something so much that you can be thought of as greedy. For example, a person can be avid for success or power. Avid is from French avide, from Latin avidus, from avere “to desire, crave.”
To cajole someone is to persuade them by using insincere compliments or promises. If you say “Please, pretty-please, I’ll be your best friend,” when asking for a stick of gum, you are cajoling the gum holder.
The origin of this word is probably a blend of two French words meaning “to chatter like a jaybird” and “to lure into a cage.” When you cajole that guy into lending you some money, picture him as the bird going into the cage. In fact, the word cajole may be associated with another French word meaning “to put in jail.”
No matter how you plead, cajole, beg, or attempt to stir my sympathies, nothing you do will stop me from placing you in a steel cage with gray bars.
I have cajoled,I have begged them, now I’m begging you.
That took quite a bit of cajoling, but I think I was able to convince him.
Rudimentary means basic, or at a very early stage. The test should be easy: it requires only a rudimentary understanding of the materials.
The word rude means simple or offensive — and people with only rudimentary understanding of good manners might not know how that belching is rude. If you remember that the word rude is the foundation of rudimentary, you’ll have a rudimentary understanding of the word.
It’s a little rudimentary, butyou’re on the right track.
I only have a rudimentary idea of what his reasoning might be.
Intricate things are complex and have many elements: they’re not simple. Think of the intricate wiring of a computer’s motherboard, or the intricate plot of a movie that you have a hard time following.
Anything intricate is complicated. Chess is a very intricate game that you could study your entire life and still not know everything about. On the other hand, a game like Connect Four is not very intricate. The more details and parts something has, the more intricate it is. A two-part plan isn’t very intricate. A 2000-step plan is intricate; it’s harder to wrap your head around.