‘Appraise’ or ‘apprise’? Are you confident about which you should use?
As an editor, I frequently correct errors in the use of these similar sounding words. Sometimes, predictive text is to blame; the tools don’t always know the difference and often seem to prefer ‘appraise’…
‘Appraise’ or ‘apprise’. What’s the difference?
‘Appraise‘ is a verb. It means ‘to estimate or determine the price, value or worth of something, as in:
The agent appraised the house before the sale process began.
The expert arrived to appraise the damage to the vehicle.
The noun is ‘appraisal‘, meaning a determined value, as in:
Each employee went through a formal process of appraisal after the probationary period.
He examined the jewellery, before giving the client an honest appraisal of its value.
‘Apprise‘ is a verb that means ‘to inform, or report the facts’:
I was apprised of all the relevant details.
Their duty was to apprise the authorities of the spread of the disease.
The noun is ‘apprisal‘, which means a factual report:
The committee gave a full apprisal of the current conditions.
She received a notice of apprisal, which contained all the necessary facts of the case.
There’s no real trick to help you remember the difference between ‘appraise’ and ‘apprise’. Just make sure you know it, and always double check your predictive text tool.
Check out more ways to Be Word Wise.