What's the difference between scupper and thwart?

Scupper


Definition:

  • (v.) An opening cut through the waterway and bulwarks of a ship, so that water falling on deck may flow overboard; -- called also scupper hole.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Given how Bank forecasts have been all over the shop, it is possible that the Old Lady's spreadsheet wizards could scupper Mr Carney's plans by spying a speck of price pressure and panicking about it turning into a giant inflationary boulder.
  • (2) First, there are major vested interests, such as large corporations, foreign billionaires and libel lawyers, who will attempt to scupper reform.
  • (3) In public Cameron and others trumpet the benefits of regulation while behind the scenes the government uses Machiavellian manoeuvres to scupper the regulations and silence the concerns of other member states."
  • (4) Blatter and Platini are also subject to investigation over the same payment by Fifa’s ethics committee, meaning both could imminently be suspended, which would scupper Platini’s candidacy to be elected Fifa president when Blatter steps down in February .
  • (5) His arrival is likely to conclude the bulk of José Mourinho's incoming business in this window, scuppering the Colombia international Fredy Guarín's hopes of joining from Internazionale.
  • (6) Republicans, who have majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, could scupper Obama’s plan to close Guantánamo Bay by the end of his second term.
  • (7) I've been ultra-critical of her in recent days, dismissing Abbott as one of the unreconstructed Labour tribalists who had scuppered any prospects of a post-election deal with the Liberal Democrats and a new "rainbow coalition" of the centre-left.
  • (8) The lack of consensus in the opposition Liberal party stymied Friday's Senate vote on the issue, scuppering the government's aims.
  • (9) While the BBC tie-up has been championed by Thompson, in an attempt to scupper other options such as top-slicing the licence fee, some within the corporation have expressed reservations.
  • (10) The idea of a carbon tax will also garner support among progressives who were left deflated after Obama’s initial attempts to institute a national cap-and-trade carbon system were scuppered by Republican opposition.
  • (11) Security sources told the Guardian that at least three rescue attempts had been scuppered.
  • (12) The deal immediately raised questions about Mr Malone's plans - some analysts have speculated as to whether he is planning a takeover bid and whether the move could scupper Mr Murdoch's succession plans involving his sons James and Lachlan.
  • (13) Soon she could return to the front pages in a more controversial role – when she stands up in court to represent Muammar Gaddafi's notorious spy chief in a case that could scupper the reputation of the international criminal court.
  • (14) Mayer writes: “Sources say internal conflicts scuppered the scheme after it was already significantly advanced, wasting money instead of saving it.” The cost was between £100,000 and £200,000, the Times reported.
  • (15) Schneiderlin saw a move to Tottenham scuppered last year as Southampton refused to sanction the transfer, insisting he stay on for another season.
  • (16) It's almost funny when you think about it – all those European bureaucrats beavering away over the minutiae of the trade deal, and then along comes Putin with a sack of cash and scuppers the whole thing in a matter of minutes.
  • (17) Sources involved in the talks, which broke down on 29 January, claim that the BMA scuppered a deal that would have ended the dispute by failing to agree that only Saturday mornings up until 1pm would become part of the working week.
  • (18) The UK must "show some backbone" and push for a strong global arms trade treaty even if that means standing up to Washington and America's powerful gun lobby, which is determined to scupper an agreement, campaigners have urged.
  • (19) But the most dramatic rebellion was staged two months later on July 22 when the Tory outcasts attempted to scupper the treaty by voting with Labour in favour of the European social chapter.
  • (20) Either I left or Interpol would scupper my platform, they said.

Thwart


Definition:

  • (a.) Situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique.
  • (a.) Fig.: Perverse; crossgrained.
  • (a.) Thwartly; obliquely; transversely; athwart.
  • (prep.) Across; athwart.
  • (n.) A seat in an open boat reaching from one side to the other, or athwart the boat.
  • (v. t.) To move across or counter to; to cross; as, an arrow thwarts the air.
  • (v. t.) To cross, as a purpose; to oppose; to run counter to; to contravene; hence, to frustrate or defeat.
  • (v. i.) To move or go in an oblique or crosswise manner.
  • (v. i.) Hence, to be in opposition; to clash.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The disappointing weather at Easter left beaches deserted but some Britons, who were determined to enjoy the outdoors this time round, have already had their plans thwarted by the weather, taking to websites such as ukcampsite.co.uk to swap tales of woe, such as farmers calling to cancel bookings because sites were waterlogged.
  • (2) Bryan Hopkins Sheffield • David Cameron says he wants to tackle segregation between schools ( Four steps to thwart creation of ‘a barbaric realm’ , 21 July).
  • (3) As for the speaker in parliament Thura Shwe Mann, a former general, he has formed an improbable alliance with Aung San Suu Kyi, on the assumption that she might help him thwart the plans of his former cronies.
  • (4) In the recent local and European parliament elections, Labour gained 300 councillors and boosted its number of MEPs, but saw Ukip thwart its progress in key target areas, make gains in traditional party heartlands and top the European poll.
  • (5) But concerns about a slowing economy, jobs, civil rights and a lack of progress in the Kurdish peace process appear to have combined with worries that Erdoğan could assume quasi-dictatorial powers to thwart the president’s ambitions.
  • (6) A standoff between the two houses of parliament threatens to thwart a government-backed crackdown on multinational tax avoidance and a Labor-backed plan to increase tax transparency.
  • (7) So President Mujica may be thinking: "why not take the risk and embrace the possibility of becoming the first marijuana hero and the man who thwarted drug dealers?"
  • (8) The cataractogenic effect of oxyradicals, however, can be thwarted by nutritional and metabolic antioxidants such as ascorbate, vitamin E, and pyruvate.
  • (9) However, the over-riding view is that with Global's plan to buy GMG Radio outright all but thwarted, senior executives at German-owned Bauer will be breathing a sigh of relief.
  • (10) Experts say there are other arms of the federal octopus that could be squeezed in a bid to thwart Obama’s deferred action schemes, but even that would not affect the directive that tells immigration officials to focus on deporting “felons, not families”.
  • (11) The solution is for Hathaway to spend a year in sarky Manchester, where her attempts to go jogging will be thwarted by 324 days of rain, and if she so much as thinks about telling a Mancunian barmaid that she has poured those lagers fantastically well, she will swiftly learn an aloofness not taught in any American drama school.
  • (12) The report finds the company "deliberately" tried to "thwart" the 2005-6 Metropolitan police investigation into phone hacking carried out by the tabloid.
  • (13) But imperial Britain was not thwarted in any of these wars – however questionable we may now judge those conflicts to have been.
  • (14) This year the weather has tended to thwart these hopes, although after "the summer of sport" we might all need a break.
  • (15) Qerdaha is the heart of Alawite Syria , a hub for senior army officers and Shabiha, the pro-Assad militia accused of tremendous brutality in their three-year campaign to thwart the rebel uprising.
  • (16) 1.44am BST Rangers 2-1 Kings, 12:50, 2nd period Lewis stick handles towards the net but is thwarted by McDonagh, who is all over the place this game.
  • (17) The secret vote was an attempt to thwart the bill before it is put to a general vote.
  • (18) Part of the problem is procedural: that the will of the church’s parliament, the General Synod, is easily thwarted by a tiny minority of its members.
  • (19) Chloro substituents in the ring of other methoxylated benzoic acids also arrested their normal metabolism by the Nocardia: an ortho-chloro substituent thwarted both demethylation and ring-opening.
  • (20) The Liberal Democrat input is the second time they have helped thwart Gove's policies.