The Suffix -ic: The Suffix -ic, Part 4

These lists are arranged in order of difficulty, from easiest to most challenging. Learn them all and you’ll feel terrif-ic!

Here are links to our lists for the collection: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. cryptic
    having a secret or hidden meaning
    He only knew—or at least strongly suspected—that, if he could read this cryptic alphabet, he could unlock the secrets of the citadel. Strange the Dreamer
    Kryptikos means "hidden" in Greek. You can also see it in the words encryption and cryptocurrency.
  2. emetic
    a medicine that induces nausea and vomiting
    Vincent takes her to Louis, and gets him to give her an emetic so she will vomit more. Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers
    If something makes you barf, literally, that's an emetic.
  3. kinetic
    relating to the motion of material bodies and their forces
    Electric vehicles also use regenerative braking, in which the motor slows the vehicle down by working in reverse, putting kinetic energy back into the battery. Washington Times (Oct 15, 2020)
    Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. Fun fact: the Greek root kinema is also the source of the French cinématograph, literally "moving picture," which was shortened into cinema.
  4. statistic
    a datum that can be represented numerically
    Forty percent of food in the United States goes uneaten, a statistic that has been widely circulated since the Natural Resource Defense Fund issued a report on the subject in 2012. Washington Post (May 22, 2015)
  5. psychotic
    characteristic of or suffering from a severe mental disorder
    His prison records revealed that he often experienced psychotic episodes in which he would scream for hours. Just Mercy
    Psyche means "mind" in Greek, and -osis is a suffix for medical conditions. Someone psychotic is seriously mentally ill, often disconnected from reality.
  6. telepathic
    communicating without apparent physical signals
    “We’re telepathic! We can talk to each other in our freaking heads!” The Maze Runner
  7. mimetic
    exhibiting or characterized by imitation
    For neoclassical writers like Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson, writing in the 18th century, the essence of poetic creation was mimetic, or imitative. New York Times (Apr 22, 2015)
    The Greek mimetikos means "imitative," and you can see the root in words like mimic and mime. In the X-Men comics, Mystique is mimetic: she can take the form of anyone she sees.
  8. prosthetic
    relating to or serving as an artificial body part
    Some walked on prosthetic legs, others needed canes or crutches. Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
  9. sycophantic
    attempting to win favor by flattery
    He said something and the others laughed a little too heartily for it to be anything but sycophantic. Scythe
  10. logistic
    relating to necessary details of operation
    The simple logistic instructions—where to go, and when—were expected. The Giver
  11. empathetic
    showing ready comprehension of others' states
    Habitually putting himself in other people’s shoes, he was in his private life charming and engaging, generous and genuinely empathetic. Seabiscuit: An American Legend
    The Greek root pathos means "feeling," or "suffering." We see it in sympathy, pathetic, and pathological. To be empathetic is to understand others' feelings and feel them as if they were our own.
Created on Fri Oct 23 11:15:59 EDT 2020 (updated Thu Apr 21 10:00:45 EDT 2022)

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