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it has figurative uses, whereas _fracture_ is narrowly literal. "There was a fracture in the chain of mountains." "The break in his voice was distinct." "The fracture of the bones of his wrist incapacitated him." "The fracture of the rope." <Hug, embrace>. To _hug_ is to clasp violently or enthusiastically, and perhaps ludicrously. To _embrace_ is to clasp in a more dignified, perhaps even in a formal, way; the term also means to include, to comprise. "This topic embraces the other." "Did you see that ardent bumpkin embracing his sweetheart?" "Her sister gave her a graceful but none too cordial hug." "The wounded bear hugged the hunter ferociously." <Shorten, abridge>. The two terms overlap; but there is a fairly strong tendency to use _shorten_ for reduction in length, and _abridge_ for reduction in quantity or mass. Both words are used figuratively as well as literally. "The tyrant shortened the privileges of his subjects." "We shortened the rope." "The teacher abridged the recitation." "The report of the committee appears in abridged form in Volume 2 of our records." <LIST I> With the help of the dictionary discriminate between the members of the following pairs. Determine whether the words are correctly used in the illustrative sentences. (Some are; some are not.) <Fiery, inflammable>. "He delivered a fiery address." "The underbrush was dry and fiery." "Your disposition is too inflammable." <Lean, attenuated>. "The fat man had grown attenuated." "Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look." "The hot metal was then drawn into an attenuated wire." "Only a lean line of our soldiers faced the dense masses of the enemy." <Home-like, domestic>. "The scene was quiet and domestic." "It is home-like, inexpressibly dear." "To Waltham, heartsick from his wanderings, the room in all its arrangements was thoroughly domestic." <Vigilant, watchful>. "We must be vigilant if we would maintain our liberty." "He was wakeful, even watchful, though not from set purpose." "He was vigilant for evidences of friendship." <Building, edifice>. "It is a big, barn-like building." "Spare yonder sacred edifice." "This is the most imposing building I ever saw." <Hole, aperture>. "I poked a stick into the aperture which the crawfish had made." "Through the aperture of the partly open door I gazed out on the street." "The hole of the hornet's nest was black with the emerging and angry insects." <Farming, agriculture>. "Two hu
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