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To accentuate something is to emphasize it or make it more noticeable.
If you describe someone as articulate, you mean that they are able to express their thoughts, arguments, and ideas clearly and effectively.
If you belabor a point, you keep emphasizing an idea or fact repeatedly in a way that is annoying.
When a person is speaking or writing in a bombastic fashion, they are very self-centered, extremely showy, and excessively proud.
Something that is clandestine is hidden or kept a secret, often because it is illegal.
If you commune with something, you communicate without using words because you feel especially close to or in tune with it.
Covert activities or situations are secret and hidden.
Someone who is effusive expresses happiness, pleasure, admiration, praise, etc., in an extremely enthusiastic way.
If you evince particular feelings, qualities, or attitudes, you show them, often clearly.
If someone behaves in a furtive way, they do things sneakily and secretly in order to avoid being noticed.
Grandiloquent speech is highly formal, exaggerated, and often seems both silly and hollow because it is expressly used to appear impressive and important.
If you describe someone as importunate, you think that they are annoying and unreasonable because they keep trying to get something from you.
Something that is inconspicuous does not attract attention and is not easily seen or noticed because it is small or ordinary.
An interlocutor is the person with whom you are having a (usually formal) conversation or discussion.
If you engage in mimetic behavior, you copy the movements or appearance of someone or something else.
An overt act is not hidden or secret but is done in an open and public way.
A patent situation is one that is wide open and unconcealed; it is both evident and obvious.
A pithy statement or piece of writing is brief but intelligent; it is also precise and to the point.
If an activity is punctuated by something, it is interrupted or emphasized by it at intervals.
To remonstrate with someone is to tell that person that you strongly disapprove of something they have said or done.
People who are reticent are unwilling to share information, especially about themselves, their thoughts, or their feelings.
The salient qualities of an issue or feature are those that are most important and noticeable.
A surreptitious deed is done secretly to avoid bringing any attention to it.
A tacit agreement between two people is understood without having to use words to express it.
To be terse in speech is to be short and to the point, often in an abrupt manner that may seem unfriendly.
Something that is unadorned is not made more attractive with ornament or decoration.
If someone acts in an unobtrusive way, their actions are not easily noticed and do not stand out in any way.
Verb
gesticulate
je-STIK-yuh-layt
Context
Outside the glass booth, Herman could see the upset woman waving her free hand and gesticulating during her telephone conversation. She banged her palm against the wall of the booth and pointed aggressively into the air, gesticulating and emphasizing her displeasure with hand and arm motions. After hanging up, the woman tossed her hands over her head and gesticulated her feelings of frustration and helplessness without having to use any words at all.
Quiz:Try again!
Why do people often gesticulate?
They want to use hand movements to help communicate a point.
They want to show respect for someone by bowing their head.
They want to have time to think about an idea before sharing it.
When someone gesticulates, they make movements with their hands and arms when talking, usually because they want to emphasize something or are having difficulty in expressing an idea using words alone.
ArticulateGestures To gesticulate is just to be articulate in your gestures.
Examples
In [a new work choreographed by Doug Vernone,] he and dancer Gwen Welliver carry on a stilted, distant relationship, moving almost mechanically and rarely touching. At times they gesticulate with their arms, almost as if they were speaking.
—
The Washington Post
By waving ThunderStix—those long, skinny balloons that make noise when smacked together—or other implements of distraction, fans sitting behind the basket can unnerve an opposing team's foul shooters and make them miss. But not, a new theory holds, unless the fans gesticulate in a particular way.
—
The New York Times
When one gesticulates, one is using “little” motions or actions of the hands and arms, which is a way of “bearing or carrying” oneself as one speaks.
Word Theater
Telegraph UK Tony Blair gesticulating while talking.
The panel shows a small video clip of either the word in actual use or a scene that represents the meaning of a word. This not only breaks up the monotony of studying words but also provides another avenue to strengthen word meaning. Enjoy!
