✅ Pompous describes someone or something that is pretentious or that has an overly elevated tone or manner (The best man gave a pompous speech).

✅ Fustian describes something expressed in pretentious, over-the-top language (His fustian prose put me off reading his book).

✅ Pompous is the most general of these two words: it can describe both people and things (They were a pompous pair, always looking down on their colleagues).

✅ Fustian, however, specifically describes language (I had to stop listening to the fustian podcast).

Try to write the most fustian email you possibly can with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅ Placate means to bring someone back to a state of calmness and peace, often by conceding things to them or by showing them that you want to be fair to them (We have to do something to placate the dragon).

✅ Mollify also means to bring someone back to a state of calmness and peace, especially by softening their temper (She used flattery to mollify the queen).

✅ Placate and mollify suggest different methods of appeasing someone.

✅ Placate suggests compromising with them and emphasizing that you want to be fair, while mollify suggests softening their temper, perhaps through flattery, gifts, or other means.

Write about mollifying a friend with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅ Hazy describes something that is indistinct or unclear, especially something that is vague (A hazy sense of right and wrong).

✅ Nebulous describes something that is vague or indistinct, often in a negative way (The club had nebulous rules).

✅ Nebulous often, though not always, suggests an idea or concept that is poorly defined, though it might sound good on the surface (The politician’s speech was full of nebulous promises).

✅ Hazy generally refers to thoughts, ideas, and memories (I had a hazy memory of the last few days).

We hope that cleared up any nebulous differences!