Tuesday, February 17, 2015

enumerable, innumerable

Enumerable or enumerable describes something that can be counted, or named specifically, as when listing items--
Let's write down the ideas that are enumerable, so that we can discuss them in an orderly way.
This warehouse is immense, but a team of inventory specialists will render the contents enumerable."

Innumerable or innumerable describes something that cannot be counted, as grains of sand, because there are too many to count--
The documents in this warehouse are innumerable; we count only the boxes they're packed in.
The stars seem innumerable, and yet astronomers have counted them.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"The details of this project are innumerable; let's talk about the enumerable, larger goals."

1 comment:

  1. I never use either of these words. Now I can. with confidence.

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