The AMERICAN HERITAGE» Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style The AMERICAN HERITAGE* Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY Boston ' New York Words included in this book that are known to have current trademark registrations are shown with an initial capital and are also identified as trademarks. No investiga­ tion has been made of common-law trademark rights in any word, because such investigation is impracticable. The inclusion of any word in this book is not, howev­ er, an expression of the Publisher's opinion as to whether or not it is subject to pro­ prietary rights. Indeed, no word in this book is to be regarded as affecting the valid­ ity of any trademark. American Heritage® and the eagle logo are registered trademarks of Forbes Inc. Their use is pursuant to a license agreement with Forbes Inc. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 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PE1464.A46 2005 423M- -dc22 2005016513 Manufactured in the United States of America QUM 10 987654321 Contents Editorial and Production Staff vi Usage Panel vii Introduction xii Pronunciation Key xvi The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style 1 Editorial and Production Staff Vice President, Publisher of Dictionaries Margery S. Berube Vice President, Executive Editor Vice President, Managing Editor Joseph P. Pickett Christopher Leonesio Senior Editors Database Production Supervisor Steven Kleinedler Christopher Granniss Susan Spitz Art and Production Supervisor Editor Margaret Anne Miles Catherine Pratt Editorial Production Assistant Associate Editors Katherine M. Getz Erich Michael Groat Uchenna Ikonné Administrative Coordinator Patrick Taylor Kevin McCarthy Assistant Editor Intern Nick Durlacher Tracy Duff Contributing Editor Text Design David Pritchard Catherine Hawkes, Cat & Mouse The American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel Geoffrey Nunberg, PhD Chair Edwin Newman Chair Emeritus Researcher, Center for the Study of Language and Journalist; lecturer; author Information, and Consulting Professor, Department of Linguistics, Stanford University Diane Ackerman John Baugh The Hon. William W. Bradley Poet; author Professor of Linguistics, Stanford Author; former US Senator from University New Jersey; former professional Sherman Alexie basketball player Poet; fiction writer Carolyn Bell Susan Duval Adams Professor of Leo Braudy Eric Alterman English, Randolph-Macon University Professor and Bing Historian; author Women's College Professor of English, University of Southern California Roger Angell Daniel Bell Writer; editor Scholar; Henry Ford II Professor Rachel M. Brownstein Natalie Angier of Social Sciences Emeritus, Professor of English, Brooklyn Science journalist; recipient, Harvard University; Scholar in College and the Graduate Center, Pulitzer Prize Residence, American Academy of City University of New York Arts and Sciences Kwame Anthony Appiah William F. Buckley, Jr. Harold Bloom Laurance S. Rockefeller Writer; Editor-at-Large Sterling Professor of Humanities, University Professor of Yale University; MacArthur Stephen Budiansky Philosophy and the Uni­ Fellow Writer versity Center for Human Values, Princeton Uni­ Roy Blount, Jr. Gabrielle Burton versity Writer; Contributing Editor, The Writer Atlantic Monthly James Atlas Lorene Cary Writer; editor KalliaH.Bokser Author Housing Consultant Margaret Atwood Walter C. Clemens, Jr. Writer The Hon. Julian Bond Writer; Professor of Political Formerly Georgia state legislator; Science, Boston University; Kathryn H. Au Professor, American University Associate, Harvard University Dai Ho Chun Professor of and University of Virginia; lec­ Center for Science and Education, University of turer; host, public affairs televi­ International Affairs Hawaii sion program Pat Conroy Louis Auchincloss Charles P. Boren Novelist Writer Newspaper editor (retired) Claire Kehrwald Cook Letitia Baldrige Marisa Bowe Editor; author; former Editorial Author; lecturer Writer; editor; Executive Director, Modern Language Producer, SpencerStuart.com Association of America Jacques Barzun Writer; educator; author of Barbara Taylor Bradford Robin Cook, MD works on English usage Writer Physician; writer The American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel vm Maureen Corrigan Anne Edwards Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Writer; book reviewer; professor Biographer; novelist; past W.E.B. DuBois Professor of President, Authors Guild Humanities; Chair, Department Robert W. Creamer of Afro-American Studies, Writer; biographer; former Gretel Ehrlich Harvard University Senior Editor, Sports Illustrated Writer; Guggenheim Fellow J. Edward Gates Gene D. Dahmen Louise Erdrich Lexicographer; editor; Professor Attorney; past President, Boston Author Emeritus of English, Indiana Bar Association Carolly Erickson State University Lois DeBakey Historian; writer James Gleick Writer, lecturer, and consultant; Author; columnist Professor of Scientific James Fallows Writer; national correspondent, Communication, Baylor College Philip Gourevitch The Atlantic Monthly of Medicine Writer Frances FitzGerald Frank Deford Francine du Plessix Gray Writer; recipient, Pulitzer Prize Writer and commentator Writer Maria Irene Fornes Vine Deloria, Jr. Georgia M. Green Playwright Professor of Law, Religious Professor of Linguistics; writer Studies, Political Science, and Elizabeth Frank Stephen Greenblatt History, University of Colorado Writer; Joseph E. Harry The Harry Levin Professor of Professor of Modern Languages Joan Didion Literature, Harvard University Author and Literature, Bard College; recipient, Pulitzer Prize Linda Gregerson Annie Dillard Poet; critic; Frederick G.L. Reuven Frank Writer; recipient, Pulitzer Prize Huetwell Professor of English, Former President, NBC News; University of Michigan Mark Doty former television news producer Poet; Professor, University of Alma Guillermoprieto Ian Frazier Houston Writer; staff writer, The New Writer Rita Dove Yorker John Kenneth Galbraith Writer; Commonwealth Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn Economist; writer; former US Professor of English, University Novelist; poet of Virginia; recipient, Pulitzer Ambassador to India; Paul M. Prize; Poet Laureate of the Warburg Professor Emeritus of Patricia Hampl Commonwealth of Virginia Economics, Harvard University Writer; Regents' Professor of English, University of Catherine Gallagher William K. Durr Minnesota Professor Emeritus of Education, Eggers Professor of English Michigan State University; past Literature, University of Liane Hansen President, International Reading California, Berkeley Radio correspondent Association Sara Games Robert Hass Esther Dyson Linguist; Director of First Year Former US Poet Laureate President, EDventure Holdings; Composition and Associate The Hon. Mark O. Hatfield Chair, Electronic Frontier Professor of English, Ohio State Former US Senator from Foundation; Member, US University Oregon National Information Michael G. Gartner Infrastructure Advisory Council William Least Heat-Moon Language columnist; former Writer Freeman J. Dyson President, NBC News; past Writer; Professor of Physics, President, American Society of Mark Helprin Institute for Advanced Study, Newspaper Editors; past Writer; editor; Senior Fellow, Princeton, New Jersey Chairman, Pulitzer Prize Board Hudson Institute IX The American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel Oscar Hijuelos Emeritus of Economics, Cornell New York University; recipient, Author; recipient, Pulitzer Prize University; former Economic Pulitzer Prize and Rome Prize Adviser to the President of the The Hon. Jeremy K.B. United States Douglas R. Hofstadter Kinsman Professor of Cognitive Science Roger Kahn Canadian Ambassador to the and Computer Science; Director, Author; journalist European Union Center for Research on Concepts Wendy Kaminer The Hon. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick and Cognition, Indiana Univer­ Writer Diplomat; writer; educator; for­ sity; recipient, Pulitzer Prize mer US Ambassador to the Alice Kaplan Jenny Holzer United Nations Artist; writer Gilbert, Louis, and Edward Lehrman Professor of Romance Ed Koren Gloria Horn Studies and Professor of Literature Cartoonist/captionist, The New Educator and consultant; and History, Duke University Yorker Professor of Economics, Mission Jane Kramer College; member, California Justin Kaplan Writer, The New Yorker; author State University Board of Writer; recipient, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award Trustees; member, Board of Marine Kumin Trustees, Dominican College of Stanley Kauffmann Writer; former Consultant in San Rafael Film critic for The New Poetry, Library of Congress; recipient, Pulitzer Prize Garrett Hongo Republic Writer; Distinguished Professor Trudy Kehret-Ward Robert Kuttner of Arts and