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: About one 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: embrassure… While I’m as interested in castles as the next person, I’ve never made a study of the architecture of such buildings. Perhaps […]
What’s an embrassure? Read More »
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: apoptosis… The Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk won won the Man Booker International Prize for her 2018 novel Flights and the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature. I
What does the word ‘apoptosis’ 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: foehn wind…. A literary murder mystery, by Olga Tokarczuk — winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature — contains several interesting
What does the term ‘foehn wind’ 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: pyknic…. Whenever I read an unusual-looking word, I often assume it is of Greek origin. The word pyknic from Olga Tokarczuk‘s marvellous
What does the work ‘pyknic’ 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: everted…. I discovered the writing of Aminatta Forma earlier this year, thanks to the recommendation of a client. Her arresting and multi-layered
What does the word ‘everted’ 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: panopticon…. I’m a big believer in the relationship between writing and music. For that reason, a piece in the New York Times on
What is the meaning of the word ‘panopticon’? 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: clabber…. I had never heard the word clabber until I read the novel The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Here is how
What is ‘clabber’? 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: xeric…. In addition to being a famous and highly successful novelist, Barbara Kingsolver is also a botanist. Her novels tend to incorporate
What does the word ‘xeric’ 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: ouroboros…. I’m a big fan of Geraldine DeRuiter — a travel, food and, really, anything writer — who won a 2019 James
What is an ‘ouroboros’ 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: zoonotic… I read the story in the New York Times because the headline grabbed my attention. “Mothers All Over Are Losing It,”
What does ‘zoonotic’ mean? Read More »
