✅  Weird is the best word to describe something mysterious, uncanny or supernatural (a weird glow in the sky).

✅  Bizarre is the best word to describe something very strange, especially when it’s also whimsical (bizarre costumes).

✅  Both adjectives are also used to mean out of the ordinary. In this sense, bizarre is a more intense word than weird (a weird coincidence; a truly bizarre turn of events).

✅  Weird is more commonly used to describe a person than bizarre. Bizarre usually describes someone’s behavior, manner, or dress, rather than their personality (My friend is a bit weird; Her ideas were bizarre).

How strange do you think these synonyms for bizarre can get?

✅  Avoid means to keep away from something or someone, through skill, planning, or luck (avoid the water).

✅  Escape is the best word to refer to getting out of an often dangerous situation (escape the clutches of smoking).

✅  Escape can sometimes be used synonymously with avoid, especially when the possibility of a situation coming to pass feels dangerous in itself (I escaped having to talk to the host; I avoided giving a presentation).

✅  Avoid implies that you never entered a particular situation. Escape often implies that you entered and may have been harmed in the situation, but that the harm wasn’t as bad as it could have been (I escaped the dragon’s lair with only a singed mustache).

Describe a dangerous scene from which someone escaped with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅  Sympathy is the best word to refer to sharing someone’s emotions, especially negative or difficult ones (He felt sympathy for her pain).

✅  Compassion is the best word to use to refer to sympathy combined with a desire to help a person feel better or to fix a situation (She showed compassion for the victim).

✅  Sympathy and compassion are often used interchangeably, and the plural sympathies specifically refers to feelings of compassion (My sympathies for your loss).

✅  The key difference between compassion and sympathy is that sympathy does not imply the urge to alleviate the distress (While he had sympathy for them, it wasn’t his place to help).

Try writing a sentence describing something you have compassion for, with the help of Grammar Coach.