affront, zenith, devour, concise, ruminate: meanings and examples

Learn these 5 words from Advanced Plus set 50. Each entry includes a definition, example sentence, pronunciation, and synonyms. Use the interactive cards above to practice them.

1. affront · noun/əˈfrʌnt/

   an action or remark that causes outrage or offense

   His rude comment was a great affront to her feelings.

   Synonyms: insult, offense, slight

   Origin: From Old French 'afronter', meaning 'to confront or face up to'.

2. zenith · noun/ˈziː.nəθ/

   the highest point or peak

   The athlete reached the zenith of his career when he won the Olympic gold medal.

   Synonyms: peak, summit, apex

   Origin: Middle English, via Old French from Arabic 'samt' meaning 'path' or 'direction.'

3. devour · verb/dɪˈvaʊɚ/

   to eat something eagerly and in large amounts

   After the game, the players devoured the big pizza in just a few minutes.

   Synonyms: gobble, consume

   Origin: from Old French 'desvorer', from Latin 'devorare', meaning 'to eat up, consume, swallow down'

4. concise · adjective/kənˈsaɪs/

   expressing much in few words

   The teacher gave a concise summary of the book, which helped us understand it better.

   Synonyms: brief, succinct, short

   Origin: from Latin 'concisus', meaning 'cut up or shortened'

5. ruminate · verb/ˈruː.mə.neɪt/

   to think deeply about something

   Sometimes, I like to ruminate on my life choices before making big decisions.

   Synonyms: ponder, contemplate, reflect

   Origin: from Latin 'ruminari', meaning 'to chew the cud', from 'rumen' meaning 'throat'