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.
Word count: 221 words 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: punim. I hope to spare you the misery of watching the HBO special Behind the Candelabra — a […]
Word count: 326 words 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: raiment. Have you ever observed that when you learn a previously unknown word, the newcomer starts appearing all
What does raiment mean? Read More »
Word count: 241 words Reading time: About 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: cudgel. I have to confess: I’ve never been a Star Trek fan. (Nor a Lord of the Rings fan,
Word count: 208 words 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: spruiking. I had never before heard the word spruiking. I won’t pretend I stumbled across it in my
What is spruiking? 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: carmine. I’ve known for decades that the word carmine means “red.” But I didn’t know any more than that. So, I decided
What, exactly, is carmine? Read More »
Word count: 272 words 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: recrudescence. In 2010, I read the marvellous novel Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. It won the Pulitzer in
What does recrudescence mean? Read More »
Word count: 338 words 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: sybaritic. I haven’t met Jan Wong in person, but I did hear the talk about her when I worked
What does sybaritic mean? Read More »
Word count: 240 words 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: mishegoss. Somehow, when I saw the word mishegoss, I knew it was Yiddish, even though I didn’t know
What is mishegoss? Read More »
Word count: 195 words 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: maculations. I don’t reach much poetry but whenever I do, I always regret not reading more. A friend
What are maculations? Read More »
Word count: 246 words Reading time: 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: rapacity. I’ve always enjoyed the acting of Gerard Depardieu. I saw him first in the film My American Uncle in 1980.
