Word: apprise (verb)

Associations

"Apprise" means to inform or tell someone about something. It is often used in formal or professional settings when you want to let someone know important information.

• Example 1: "Please apprise me of any changes to the schedule." Here, it means "inform me."
• Example 2: "The manager apprised the team of the new company policy." This means the manager told the team about the policy.
• Example 3: "We will apprise you once the results are ready." This means we will inform you later. A well-known synonym is "inform." The difference is that "apprise" sounds more formal and is less common in everyday speech, while "inform" is more general and used everywhere.

Substitution

You can replace "apprise" with:

• inform (more common, less formal)
• notify (used when giving official or important information)
• update (used when giving the latest information) Each substitution slightly changes the tone or formality but keeps the meaning close.

Deconstruction

"Apprise" comes from French "appriser," meaning "to value, estimate, or inform." It has the prefix "a-" which can mean "to" or "toward" and the root "prise" from Latin "prehendere," meaning "to grasp or take." So originally it meant "to take knowledge" or "to inform."

Inquiry

• When was the last time someone apprised you of important news? How did it feel?
• Can you think of a situation where using "apprise" sounds better than "inform"?
• How would you apprise a friend versus a boss? Would the tone or words change?