Make Your Point > Archived Issues > OVERT

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connect today's word to others: Overt basically means obvious. And egregious, manifest, palpable, and patent all basically mean obvious, too, just with some important distinctions. Could you match them to their exact definitions below?    Something that's obvious because it's so bad is...    Something so obvious you can almost touch it with your fingers is...    Something obvious and evident, often in a legal or official way, is...    And something true, real, easy to see, and easy to notice is... (To reveal an answer, click on the underlined link.) make your point with... "OVERT" "Overt" comes from a Latin verb meaning "to open" or "to uncover." Something overt is open, not hidden, not secret, and not covered up. Pronunciation: oh VERT Part of speech: Adjective. (Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late." They can be used in two ways: 1. Right before a noun, as in "an overt thing." 2. After a linking verb, as in "It was overt.") Other forms: overtly How to use it: Because "overt" means "not hidden, not secret," we use it to describe things that we would normally expect to be hidden, secret, or covered up--but this time they're not--so it's remarkable that they're so out there in the open for people to notice, especially in public life. For that reason, overt things are very often negative (like overt racism). But overt things can also be neutral or even positive. We can talk about    overt flavors;     overt references;     overt messages and themes;     overt goals, intentions, attempts, behaviors, actions, and campaigns;     overt efforts and methods;     overt examples and instances of things;     overt roles, stances, beliefs, attitudes, and ideologies;     overt effects and influences;     overt support;     overt bias and lies;     overt hostility;     overt racism, hatred, prejudice, and discrimination;     overt slurs and threats;     overt wrongdoing (such as overt gerrymandering);     and overt violence. examples: In a show of overt defiance, he tossed his name tag on the counter and walked out for good. We call into question a zero-tolerance policy if it punishes a kid for, say, bringing a fork and knife to school in his lunchbox as if he had committed some overt act of violence. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "overt" means when you can explain it without saying "not concealed" or "open to public view." try it out: Fill in the blank: "The hostility between them turned overt as _____." Example: "The hostility between them turned overt as each refused to release their increasingly aggressive handshake." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. Our game this month is "A Vocabulary of Movie Quotes." Jean Picker Firstenberg at the American Film Institute (AFI) says, "Great movie quotes become part of our cultural vocabulary." I believe it! I bet you can recall, verbatim, any of the AFI's "100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time" if all I give you is a single word from the quote. For example, if I give you the word KANSAS, I bet you can recite this: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," from The Wizard of Oz (1939). I'll share each answer in the following issue. And we’ll work our way forward in time, starting with the oldest movies. Let’s play! From the previous issue: From a 1997 film, what's the famous quote that includes the word KING? Answer: From Titanic: "I'm the king of the world!" Try this today: From a 1999 film, what's the famous quote that includes the word DEAD? review today's word: 1. The opposite of OVERT is A. COVERT B. INVERTED C. REVERTED 2. Blink-182's influence on their style is so overt that _____. A. they get mistaken for a Blink-182 cover band B. it's perceptible to only the most devoted fans of both bands C. it's hard to determine whether both bands should be classified into the same genre Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. 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. Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. A