Commonly mis-used words

English is a fluid language, and in fact the terms 'standard' and 'non-standard' are generally preferred to 'right' and 'wrong'. But right now I think there are still clearly incorrect uses of words, although this may change in the future. Here are a few examples:

Refute. This means to prove wrong, but is often mis-used to suggest denial. “The senator absolutely refutes the allegations against him”, is correct only if the senator has proven the accusations to be false.  Otherwise it is non-standard, and his spokesperson should specify that he denies them.

Correct: The theory that the sun orbits the Earth was refuted

Incorrect: She refutes the outrageous suggestion that she is a man, and is collecting evidence to show that this is not true.

Decimate.  The word comes from a practice of the Roman army where 1 from every 10 men of a military unit was killed as punishment. Nowadays it is commonly used to mean complete destruction: “the opposing army was utterly decimated”.  In a pure sense this means that he opposing army lost only 10% of its strength. The modifier, utterly, suggests that common usage is being employed; decimation - a 10% reduction - is neither partial nor complete, it is simply a numerical measure.

To abrogate means to do away with a law or formal agreement. It does not mean to decline or fail to fulfill a duty.  A common incorrect example is, “he abrogated all responsibility for the catering”.  The more suitable word here would, in fact, be abdicate – in the sense of not fulfilling his duty.  An interesting similar word is arrogate, which means to take or claim something for which one is not entitled, as in “she arrogated to herself the ability to determine the best interests of the club”.

Disinterested is often misunderstood to mean uninterested. The former means to be neutral about an issue, and have no personal stake in it. The latter means a lack of interest or intrigue about something.

Correct: As a disinterested party, he was invited to mediate the dispute

Incorrect: In order to pique her curiosity he tried to appear disinterested in her.

To prevaricate means to lie. To procrastinate means to delay. The two are often mistakenly interchanged.