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You can make change the meaning of some words by adding prefixes (extra letters at the beginning of words).
For example, you can change the meaning of 'excited' to mean 'too much' or 'too excited' by adding 'over' to the beginning of it to make overexcited.
Here are some of the most common prefixes and their meanings:
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too much - over
excited (adj) - overexcited
spend (v) - overspend
confident (adj) - overconfident
more than - super
market (n) - supermarket
natural (adj, n) - supernatural
hero (n) - superhero
many - multi
layered (adj) - multilayered
tasking (n) - multitasking
purpose (n) - multi-purpose
do/be more than - out
run (v) - outrun
sell (v) - outsell
grow (v) - outgrow
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not - non
verbal (adj) - non-verbal
smoking (adj) - non-smoking
returnable (adj)- non-returnable
opposite - in
competent (adj)- incompetent
convenient (adj)- inconvenient
expensive (adj)- inexpensive
opposite - im (before 'p')
possible (adj) - impossible
patient (adj) - impatient
perfect (adj)- imperfect
opposite - il (before 'l')
legal (adj) - illegal
legible (adj) - illegible
logical (adj) - illogical
opposite - ir (before 'r')
replaceable (adj)- irreplaceable
responsible (adj) - irresponsible
relevant (adj) - irrelivant
Most words which are created with prefixes don't use hyphens. However, some prefixed words do use hyphens, for example, the prefixes co (co-operate), pro (pro-
government
) and non (non-starter).
Some words with prefixes are hyphenated and other words with the same prefix aren't. For example multilayered and multi-purpose There's no hard and fast rule why this the case.
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prerogative:
right or privilege
Do I hear wedding bells?:
Are you going to get married soon?
to jinx something:
to cause bad luck or to turn good luck into bad luck
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