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: Just over 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: hobbledehoy… I thought I knew the meaning of the word ‘hobbledehoy,’ but it turns out I was only partly right. I encountered …
What does ‘hobbledehoy’ 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: augury…. Sometimes, if I’m struggling with a word, I’ll stop to see if there’s anything in the root of it that seems …
What’s an ‘augury’? 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: lambrequin… One of the great — and simultaneously annoying — aspects of historical novels is that they may use words no longer …
What is a lambrequin? 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: catamount…. I had heard or seen the word catamount, before I read it recently, but I had never taken the time to …
What is a ‘catamount’? 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: cicatrix…. I had heard extremely positive reviews of a new novelized account of the meeting of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, written …
What is a cicatrix? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 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: deimatic… I was sick with a bad cold last week so I took the chance to watch lots of mostly bad Netflix …
What does ‘deimatic’ 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: masstige… I would never have predicted that fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi would give me more than one new word in his chatty …
What’s the meaning of ‘masstige’? 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: brindle…. Todd Haynes is an American independent film director, screenwriter, and producer. He first gained public attention in 1987 with his controversial …
What does ‘brindle’ 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: marled…. My adult children tease me about being a fashion disaster. Sure, I can “clean up” for speeches and meetings with clients, …
What does ‘marled’ 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: bawn When I read the book The Innocents by Newfoundland writer Michael Crummey, I sometimes felt as though I was reading a …
