salve is related to curative


salve means "semisolid preparation (usually containing a medicine) applied externally as a remedy or for soothing an irritation"
curative means "a medicine or therapy that cures disease or relieve pain"

preventative is related to cure


preventative means "remedy that prevents or slows the course of an illness or disease"
cure means "a medicine or therapy that cures disease or relieve pain"


Ooff! And as always I managed to get it wrong, how is anybody to tell the difference?

Don't match the ones with the same ending - remember the game's joy of matches that aren't the same form but mean the same thing. But it's a guess, admittedly. Mind Melt is better than Word Wizard in matching things that are at least the same part of speech.

The opposite of lucidity is unclearness

You said: unintelligibly

lucidity means "free from obscurity and easy to understand"
unclearness means "incomprehensibility as a result of not being clear"



The opposite of clearly is unintelligibly

You said: unclearness

clearly means "in an intelligible manner"
unintelligibly means "in an unintelligible manner"

Oh! Clear as mud!

But look at the actual words, not their definitions - the two adverbs are matched, as are the two nouns.

Sorry, I lack the education to be able to ignore definitions.

But when you played the game, you didn't have the definitions in front of you, only the words. The definitions, which are supplied after you have played, often seem to me to add little useful information when you don't already see why they matched the way they did, since those are most often words that are similar in meaning.

That's a very good tip from L_T. I've never gone wrong when following it.

Yes but surely the closest antonym to unclearness would be clearly.

Yes, I know one is a noun, the other an adverb, but I've found plenty of instances in the past where Mind Melt hasn't minded mixing them up.

These two are very confusing when they appear in the same set, since the definitions for "piece of land" and "parcel of land" are exactly the same.

Yep. I'm with you, but as LT says, ignore the definitions. Who are we to query the experts?

The database used for this game is not a definitive, professional dictionary produced by experts. I understand that it is one which some of those who use it are encouraged to modify, and it often has strange definitions. The other day in Word Wizard (which uses the same database) I got hammock defined as a small hill, which is a hummock. Every time I get that, I giggle at the mental image I get of someone buying a hammock for their back yard, and discovering that they have brought home a pile of dirt. But it is what it is. All we can do as players of the games is to become familiar with its eccentricities, and try to apply the learning from past experiences in future games.

suppression is related to growth
You said: rejection

suppression means "(botany) the failure to develop of some part or organ of a plant"
growth means "(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically"

Mind you -- this was NOT in the opposites section.

But it was in the related section, and opposition is a type of relationship. Both terms probably have a word or phrase in common elsewhere in their definitions, which is what Part III looks for to select related terms.

It doesn't matter whether or not I see a problem, as I have no control over any aspect of the game. I do try to help people see that the game is not simply randomly nonsensical or mystifying - frustrating as it can definitely be! Most of the issues raised are related to the definitions used in the database used by the game, and that is not on the site, nor is it controlled by its administrators. The algorithms Terry has set up to create the three sections might be somewhat adjustable, so it could be useful to post that the same word came up twice in the same batch of ten, and the pairing had to be a blind guess. He has also set up filters to block types of words that are unsuitable for use on a family-friendly site, or (as I recall reading ages ago) a whole range of technical words that would only be familiar to specialists in a certain field. Most of the time, however, the issues posted do not relate to those aspects, but to the actual information in the database.

The theory of the words being exactly the same never being matched with each other did not play out in today's match. Pay out was matched with "pay out".

Ha ha.

I guess there's an exception to every rule.

Sue

hereditary condition is related to disease
You said: illness
hereditary condition means "a disease or disorder that is inherited genetically"
disease means "an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning"

collapse is related to illness
You said: disease
collapse means "an abrupt failure of function or health"
illness means "impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism"


Any suggestions on remembering the distinction for this one? (They are both nouns.)

Collapse and illness both have two L's and end in E.

I doubt that's what Mind Melt had in mind though. I also know that for grammar purists there should not be an apostrophe after L. Autocorrect insists on an apostrophe and I'm not up to the fight right now.

morn is related to period
You said: period of time

morn means "the time period between dawn and noon"
period means "an amount of time"
======================================================
silly season is related to period of time
You said: period

silly season means "a time usually late summer characterized by exaggerated news stories about frivolous matters for want of real news"
period of time means "an amount of time"
=======================================================
You pays your money and you takes your chances . . .

Question Set 13



sport utility is related to motorcar

You said: automobile

sport utility means "a high-performance four-wheel drive car built on a truck chassis"
motorcar means "4-wheeled motor vehicle"



taxicab is related to automobile

You said: motorcar

taxicab means "a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money"
automobile means "4-wheeled motor vehicle"

Am I the only person who finds this pairing ambiguous?

spatchcock is related to machinate
You said: dining-hall

spatchcock means "prepare for eating if or as if a spatchcock"
machinate means "arrange by systematic planning and united effort"
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Looking forward to someone explaining this one . . .

Hmmm yeah even with full Mind Melt goofytown license that one seems to be a stretch. I mean obviously you can make it make sense from an angle, but it matches better as you had it out of just those two options.

Out of curiousity, what was the other item that it wanted dining-hall paired with instead?

I just had this no win situation pop up! Of course, it was a 50/50 shot but I only get those right about 20% of the time! :-)

electric automobile is related to motorcar

You said: auto

electric automobile means "a car that is powered by electricity"
motorcar means "4-wheeled motor vehicle"

gas guzzler is related to auto

You said: motorcar

gas guzzler means "a car with relatively low fuel efficiency"
auto means "4-wheeled motor vehicle"