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: 206 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute If you increase your vocabulary, you’ll not only benefit your own reading, you’ll also become more precise in your writing. Here is my word of the week. Whenever I encounter a word that interests me I jot a quick note about it in my iPhone. Usually, […]
What does prosaic mean? Read More »
Word count: 226 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute If you increase your vocabulary you’ll not only help your reading, you’ll also make your writing more precise. Here is my word of the week, timorously. One of my readers recommended to me the novel The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. I really enjoyed
What does timorously mean? Read More »
Word count: 264 words Reading time: About 1 minute If you increase your vocabulary you’ll not only help your reading, you’ll also make your writing more precise. Here is my word of the week. I’ve just finished reading the enthralling book, Moonwalking with Einstein, by Joshua Foer, it presents a riveting description of how the author trains
What does apposite mean? Read More »
Word count: 240 words Reading time: About 1 minute If you increase your vocabulary you’ll not only help your reading, you’ll also make your writing more precise. Here is my word of the week, squib. I have heard the word “squib” dozens of times — almost always with the adjective “damp,” in front of it.
Word count: 283 words Reading time: Just over 1 minute Building your vocabulary is always a good idea. It benefits your reading and it also helps you be more specific and precise in your writing. Here is my word of the week. I was in a coffee shop recently, where I read an interesting newspaper
What does nugatory mean? Read More »
Word count: 253 words Reading time: About 1 minute If you increase your vocabulary you’ll not only help your reading, you’ll also make your writing more precise. Here is my word of the week. I have little interest in and certainly no aptitude for fashion. But I found a great deal of pleasure in the book
What does louche mean? Read More »
Word count: 305 words Reading time: Just over 1 minute Building your vocabulary is always a good idea. It benefits your reading and it also helps you be more specific and precise in your writing. Here is my word of the week, doyen. The vocabulary used in the magazine The New Yorker does not typically
Word count: 232 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute If you increase your vocabulary you’ll not only help your reading, you’ll also make your writing more precise. Here is my word of the week. I had always thought that disgraced newspaper baron Conrad Black had the largest vocabulary of anyone I’d ever heard. Then
What does deliquescence mean? Read More »
Word count: 233 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute Building your vocabulary is always a good idea. It benefits your reading and it also helps you be more specific and precise in your writing. Here is my word of the week: palimpsest. I love going to theatre. And when I can’t go — either
What’s a palimpsest? Read More »
Word count: 200 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute If you increase your vocabulary you’ll not only help your reading, you’ll also make your writing more precise. Here is my word of the week. Here is a word I’ve used many times without ever being 100% sure of its meaning (embarrassing, I know!) Preternaturally.
He was preternaturally shy… Read More »
