Have you ever completed the Word Power feature in Reader’s Digest? I’m not much interested in such games – I don’t even do crosswords! – but I am committed to increasing my own vocabulary. Why? Because if I know more words, I’ll be able to read more fluently. But even more important, I’ll be able to write better. Knowing lots of words allows me – and you — to be more precise in writing. In my word-of-the-week feature I share a word with you that I’ve discovered in my own reading.
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: sehnsucht… I was being lazy when I read the novel The Italian Party by Christina Lynch. It was an easy, unchallenging book described by The …
What is ‘sehnsucht’? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: epicanthic… Even though there is a doctor in my family, my understanding of medical terminology is weak. (I was always a word …
What does ‘epicanthic’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: androgynous… I think just about everyone knows the term, androgynous means, “partly male and partly female in appearance; of indeterminate sex.” The photo …
What’s the origin of the word ‘androgynous’? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: aesthetic… I’m exceedingly grateful that none of my three children ever took up smoking. My father smoked, obsessively, for more than 60 …
What’s the origin of the word ‘aesthetic’? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: sycophant… My word-of-the-week column doesn’t just address new and unusual words. It also focuses on ones that many of us know and …
What are the roots of the word ‘sycophant’? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: fissiparous… From time to time, I like to read books that I’d describe as unchallenging but engaging. Political thrillers fall into that …
What does ‘fissiparous’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: katabatic… I had heard of the book The Golden Spruce, by John Vaillant, more than 10 years ago but for reasons I don’t …
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: ossified…. I finished a book that made many top 10 reading lists and was a New York Times bestseller: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn …
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: irenic…. I feel especially happy whenever I discover a word I’ve never seen before. What can it possibly mean, I wonder? And …
What does ‘irenic’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: gouache… My late mother, Ethel, was an artist. Her medium was pastel chalks so I never heard her mention the word gouache …
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