Importante y sus vecinos
Four adjectives do most of the work in a weak essay: importante, bueno, malo, difícil. Each family here starts from one of them and shows what to reach for instead, with the opposite alongside.
importante
adjetivoimportantrelevanteformal
matters to the question at hand
significativoformal
matters enough to be measurable
claveneutro
without it the rest does not hold
fundamentalformal
at the base of everything else
decisivoformal
settles the outcome
crucialformal
matters at the moment it matters
Lo contrario
- irrelevante · does not bear on the question
- secundario · matters, but less
- prescindible · could be removed without loss
bueno
adjetivogoodadecuadoneutro
fits the purpose
sólidoformal
holds up under scrutiny
acertadoformal
turned out to be the right call
excelenteneutro
far above what was needed
idóneoformal
the best possible fit
Lo contrario
- deficiente · falls short of what was needed
- cuestionable · open to serious objection
- inadecuado · does not fit the purpose
difícil
adjetivodifficultcomplejoformal
has many parts, not necessarily hard
complicadoneutro
hard because it is tangled
exigenteneutro
demands a lot of you
arduoformal
long and wearing
inviableformal
cannot be done at all
Lo contrario
- sencillo · has few parts
- factible · can be done
- asequible · within reach, of a price or a task