Thinking about using a big word at your family Christmas gathering? That’s fine, but make sure you know what you’re saying.
For example, a pariah is an outcast, while a piranha is a carnivorous fish from South America.
fish
Your cousin who got his girlfriend pregnant then left her for someone else cannot be a piranha.
If you and your family are talking about him and his gambling debts, his propensity for grain alcohol, and his friends from the bus station, then he is a pariah.
outcast
