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WORDS WORTH KNOWING

PERUSE

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam Posted by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Managing Director, Editorial, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.




Peruse: Some words lose their original meaning while others become so twisted that they end up meaning the opposite what they actually mean.

This victim of definition reversal, peruse, means "to use thoroughly," and its first sense is that of careful steady or attentive reading. However, since so many writers have employed it as a synonym for scan, its second sense is now "to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner."

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