What Words Are Similar to/Opposite of Your One Word?
{One Word 2024 March Linkup}
Link all of your ONE WORD blog posts below. Share an update about your One Word in the comments.
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This is an easy—but beneficial—exercise to do each year with your One Word.
1. DEFINE IT
Look up your word in the dictionary. Does it have more than one meaning? How many of its meanings are you using for your practice this year? Which meaning is most applicable to you?
My word CURIOSITY has two main meanings:
1. A strong desire to know or learn something
2. A strange or unusual object or fact
I’m mostly using definition #1 this year. I wonder about many things, including my own inner healing and outward actions, as well as mysteries all around me. But definition #2—uncommon or exotic novelties (curiosities)—definitely grabs my attention as well.
I also looked up the trending use of CURIOSITY over time. It went down in popularity for quite awhile, but is on an upswing the past few years.
2. SAME AS
List some of your word’s synonyms. If you had to choose one of these as a backup word for this year, which would you choose? Why?
Synonyms of CURIOSITY that I like:
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- Inquisitive
- Concern
- Interested
- Examine
- Question
- Inspect
- Search
Synonyms of CURIOSITY that I don’t want to become:
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- Nosy
- Prying
- Meddlesome
- Intrusive
For a backup word, I’d most likely choose CONNECT. It’s not a direct synonym for CURIOSITY, but one of my main goals for curiosity this year is to connect, in relationships with others and within my own understanding of life.
3. OPPOSITE OF
List some of your word’s antonyms. Understanding what your word does NOT mean might help you understand what it DOES mean. What insights do you gain from its opposite?
A few antonyms of CURIOSITY include:
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- Apathetic
- Disinterested
- Disregard
- Unconcerned
This exercise helps me see CURIOSITY on a continuum: from one extreme of being too curious about things that aren’t my business (i.e., nosy and meddlesome) to the other extreme of not caring at all (even when it’s appropriate to care). I want to be curious in the most healthy ways and avoid harmful curiosity (it did kill the cat after all, lol).
Curiosity for its own sake, or as just an intellectual tool, isn’t my goal. Instead, I want to pair curiosity with kindness, mindfulness, and in a manner that values human dignity, including my own.
This One Word linkup will remain open for two weeks, closing at midnight on Sunday, April 7. Link as many posts as you’d like about your One Word. Each link will also be shared in our One Word Facebook group.
Our April One Word linkup will open on Wednesday, April 24 (and on the 24th of each month for 2024).
If you’d like to receive our monthly One Word emails and ideas, .
How are you engaging with your One Word 2024? Leave a comment here telling us about your One Word.
When we dig into our WOTY, God is faithful to show us new things.
When we dig into THE WORD, God is faithful to show us new things.
Hmmm…Lesson learned!
I’ve been really enjoying the many new things I’m learning as I dig more into Curiosity this year! I know you’re doing the same this year with Renewal.
When I looked up stillness, here are the definitions I found:
calmness without winds, (poetic) tranquil silence, a state of no motion or movement. Some synonyms are calmness, serenity, restfulness, tranquility, and peacefulness. The only one I found as an opposite was the word motion. I’m learning to find new ways to apply stillness to my life, and it doesn’t always mean having no motion. Blessings to you! Thank you for hosting and leading us, Lisa! xo
I felt such a sense of peace fall over me even as I simply read your words. It’s amazing how stillness often equates to calmness for me. But also interesting to hear you say that stillness doesn’t always mean having no motion. I love this word you’ve chosen, Gayl!
Curiosity has great depth, Lisa, especially the healthy way you are approaching your word.
Cultivate definition: to improve by labor or study; to advance growth; to refine & improve faults paired with enlargement of good qualities; to foster, cherish, nourish, or increase as in cultivate excellence.
Cultivate Synonyms: develop, nourish, encourage.
Cultivate Antonyms: neglect, abandon, destroy/reject.
This year, I am processing my WOTY with an emphasis on relationships – my relationship with God and my relationship with people.
I love that we’re both using our WOTY to focus on relationships! I appreciate the positivity I hear in your definition and synonyms of Cultivate. Such a great word choice again this year, Lisa!
Careless. Disloyal.Disobedient. These are just a few of the opposites of FAITHFUL. Yikes!
I understand your “yikes”, Horace! 🙂 Those words are indeed quite frightening. It’s interesting to see the opposite of our words to better understand how important a choice it is!
I didn’t know words had trending graphs! How curious! Now I’m curious about the trending graph for my word which is “relax” for 2024. Thanks for keeping on on track to focus on our word this year, and all that God has to teach us through our word.
I would look up the trend for your word Relax if I only knew how, Lynn. ha. I can’t remember how I found it for my word Curiosity. I think it just popped up on a Google search page when I looking for something about curiosity. 🙂