C-Suite Vocabulary — Precision Pairs flashcards
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Twenty-five pairs that trip up senior speakers, from discrete and discreet to refute and rebut: choose the word one line from working life calls for, then see why the other fails (where it also fits, the back says so).
Learn deck · part of C-Suite Vocabulary · written against: The precise words of senior leadership: board, strategy and negotiation; extends the Willys app's Executive Register list; our own word selection. Updated 2026-10-10.
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Choose: “The board is risk-tolerant but deeply (adverse / averse) to surprises.”averseJudgment & Prudence
Averse, usually followed by to, describes a strong dislike. Adverse means harmful or unfavorable, and describes conditions or effects, not a board's attitude. -
Choose: “The board is (restive / restful): three missed quarters, and two directors now want the CEO's plan in writing by Monday.”restiveJudgment & Prudence
Restive means impatient and uneasy, or resisting control; restful means calm. Merriam-Webster notes some usage guides still object to the "impatient" sense. -
Choose: “The absence of any written record (mitigates / militates) against their version of events.”militatesArgument & Evidence
To militate against is to weigh against. Mitigate means to take the edge off a harm or hardship, and Merriam-Webster says mitigate against is usually considered a mistake. -
Choose: “Our customer survey uses a (discrete / discreet) one-to-five scale: no half points, no sliders.”discretePrecision & Nuance
A scale of separate whole steps with nothing in between is discrete. Discreet means tactful about keeping private things quiet, which no rating scale can be. -
Choose: “Filing the expense report a day late was a (venal / venial) lapse: small, careless and easily forgiven.”venialScale & Consequence
A venial fault is minor and forgivable. Venal means open to bribery, and a late form involves no one's price. -
Choose: “The timing was (fortuitous / fortunate): two resignations in one week by pure coincidence, and a headache for the press team.”fortuitousChange & Trajectory
Fortuitous means happening by chance; fortunate needs good luck, and a headache isn't. Merriam-Webster notes the "lucky" sense of fortuitous is standard but disdained by some critics. -
Choose: “The new travel policy (deprecates / depreciates) red-eye flights: staff are urged to avoid them unless no daytime flight exists.”deprecatesConcession & Diplomacy
To deprecate a practice is to disapprove of it openly. Both words can mean "belittle," but depreciate otherwise means to lower or lose value, and neither sense urges staff away from red-eye flights. -
Choose: “His question sounded (ingenuous / ingenious), but the wide-eyed innocence was an act.”ingenuousVagueness & Weak Thinking
"The innocence" names how the question sounded: ingenuous, innocent and candid. Ingenious means clever and inventive, the opposite of how he wanted to come across. -
Choose: “Two executives (flouted / flaunted) the quiet period, posting about the results before they were announced.”floutedForce & Obligation
To flout a rule is to treat it with contempt. Merriam-Webster notes flaunt the rules is common informally but considered by many to be incorrect. -
Choose: “Cut the (penultimate / ultimate) slide; the second-to-last one adds nothing.”penultimateScope & Restraint
Penultimate means next to the last. Merriam-Webster notes its use as a stronger ultimate ("the penultimate challenge") seldom appears in edited prose.
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About these cards
Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Senses, parts of speech and pronunciations checked against Merriam-Webster.com, the American Heritage Dictionary and the Oxford Learner's, Longman and Cambridge learner's dictionaries; all definitions, notes and example sentences are original.
- Includes and extends the Executive Register word list first published with the Willys app; word selection is our own.
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