At first I was adverse to posting this fulsome list of 58 commonly misused words and phrases, due to its sheer enormity, but I decided to proscribe it anyway because it is pretty bemusing. They are from Harvard linguist Steven Pinker's book, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.
Adverse means detrimental and does not mean averse or disinclined.
Fulsome means unctuous or excessively or insincerely complimentary and does not mean full or copious.
Enormity means extreme evil and does not mean enormousness. [Note: It is acceptable to use it to mean a deplorable enormousness.]
Proscribe means to condemn, to forbid and does not mean to prescribe, to recommend, to direct.
Bemused means bewildered and does not mean amused.
Harvard linguist points out the 58 most commonly misused words and phrases
