Make Your Point: CONCOCT

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pronounce CONCOCT:

kun KOCT

connect this word to others:

The word concoct, along with cook, cuisine, kiln, culinary, ricotta, charcuterie, and possibly kitchen, traces back to the Latin coquere, meaning "to cook, to prepare food; or, to ripen; or, to digest food." You can even spot coquere in the word precocious, which describes people who "ripen" early. Don't overthink that one or it starts to sound cannibalistic!

But while we're talking about cooking, see if you can recall these words for certain dishes:

1. Any jumbled assortment, or a certain French stew, is a b___ll_b_____.

2. Any mixture of various things, or a certain Spanish or Portuguese meat and vegetable stew, is an o___.

3. Any well-planned collection, or a plate of chopped and seasoned meats, eggs, and veggies, is a s_lm____d_.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

The word "concoct" has Latin bits that literally mean "to cook together." For hundreds of years in English, it meant "to cook," "to digest," and "to digest in the mind: to think over."

Today, to concoct something is usually either to cook it by using many ingredients, or to create or invent it by planning out many parts or steps. That is, today we're just as likely to talk about concocting a soup as we are to talk about concocting a plan.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "They're concocting a veggie stew;" "They're concocting an elaborate plan."

Other forms:

The other verb forms are "concocted" and "concocting."

Things can be "concoctible," and things that you concoct are "concoctions."

People doing the concocting are "concoctors" or "concocters." (I prefer the "-or" spelling, but both are acceptable.)

how to use it:

Pick the clear, common word "concoct" when you want to add a whiff of excitement to your sentence, implying that someone is in the kitchen cooking up something complex, strange, new, or mysterious.

Talk about people concocting recipes, ideas, lies, tricks, stories, plans, and excuses.

Concoctions are often bad or deceptive, but they don't have to be.

examples:

"You aren't the only one who can concoct lies at the drop of a hat."
— Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees, 2001

"The [Bill and Ted] duo concocts the idea to time-travel to the future and simply steal the song from their future selves in what promises to be a final excellent adventure for the franchise."
— Chaim Gartenberg, The Verge, 9 June 2020

has this page helped you understand "concoct"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "concoct" without saying "cook" or "devise."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) concocted (a lie, a story, or a rumor of some sort)."

Example 1: "A pseudonymous poster on X (formerly Twitter) was the one who concocted a bizarre (and icky) rumor about J.D. Vance."

Example 2: "Most reporters left her alone, but a few still concocted glitzy stories that were riddled with fake facts."
— Amy Butler Greenfield, The Woman All Spies Fear, 2021

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for August is "Degrees of Venndom."

I'll give you a pair of terms, and you decide how Venn-diagrammable they are. It's harder than it sounds! To see my suggested answer, scroll all the way down. Your response doesn't need to match mine; you should just be able to defend yours.

Try this today: At what degree of Venndom do VIVID and VIBRANT exist?

4th degree: these terms never overlap, like DOG and CAT.

3rd degree: these terms are nested, with one term always the other but not vice versa, like KITTEN and CAT.

2nd degree: these terms sometimes overlap, like PET and MAMMAL.

1st degree: these terms always overlap, like CAT and FELINE.

review this word:

1. The precise opposite of CONCOCT is DECOCT, meaning

A. to lure something down into a trap.
B. to fall downward from a position of prosperity.
C. to cook something down into its essence or its various parts.

2. If, like Jimmy Buffett, you refer to your margarita as a "frozen concoction," you're implying that it _____.

A. has its origins in black magic
B. blunts both your physical and emotional pain
C. seems a bit mysterious and contains several ingredients

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > CONCOCT

See this issue on Make Your Point, Jr.

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.