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: syncretic… You may find it odd to see a Halloween type of photo on top of a post running in July, not […]
What does ‘syncretic’ 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: blag…. As soon as I heard about the 2018 book with an almost irresistible title — My Sister, the Serial Killer —
What does the word ‘blag’ 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: gadabout… When I read Gail Caldwell’s marvellous book, Let’s Take the Long Way Home — a remarkable paean to friendship — one
What’s the origin of the word ‘gadabout’? 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: geschrei… When I read the very funny and urbane book Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dryer, I was expecting to be both amused
What does it mean to ‘geschrei’? 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: faffing…. I had heard that a recent book by Benjamin Dryer was a delightful, amusing read and that it was about, of
What does ‘faffing’ 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: luffing… I have sailed fewer than a dozen times in my life. And while I enjoyed the sport — particularly one outing
What does ‘luffing’ 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: asymptote… I am drawn to stories on the coronavirus the way some people are drawn to car accidents. Whenever I pass a
What’s an ‘asymptote’? 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: demesne…. Mark Haddon is a fine novelist with one bestseller behind him, and a new book in the offing. The celebrated 2003
What does the word ‘demesne’ 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: hornswoggle… When I encountered the word hornswoggle in Elizabeth Gilbert’s new novel City of Girls, I knew exactly what it meant: to
What’s the origin of ‘hornswoggle’? 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: slewed…. The verb slewed strikes me as rather British, although I can’t say why. Perhaps it’s because it carries the whiff of
What does ‘slewed’ mean? Read More »
