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: aesthetic… I’m exceedingly grateful that none of my three children ever took up smoking. My father smoked, obsessively, for more than 60 […]
What’s the origin of the word ‘aesthetic’? 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: sycophant… My word-of-the-week column doesn’t just address new and unusual words. It also focuses on ones that many of us know and
What are the roots of the word ‘sycophant’? 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: fissiparous… From time to time, I like to read books that I’d describe as unchallenging but engaging. Political thrillers fall into that
What does ‘fissiparous’ 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: katabatic… I had heard of the book The Golden Spruce, by John Vaillant, more than 10 years ago but for reasons I don’t
Why does ‘katabatic’ 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: ossified…. I finished a book that made many top 10 reading lists and was a New York Times bestseller: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn
What does ‘ossified’ 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: irenic…. I feel especially happy whenever I discover a word I’ve never seen before. What can it possibly mean, I wonder? And
What does ‘irenic’ 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: gouache… My late mother, Ethel, was an artist. Her medium was pastel chalks so I never heard her mention the word gouache
What is ‘gouache’? 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: quondam…. I always enjoy stumbling across words I’ve never before seen. Part of me is always astonished, because I read so much
What does ‘quondam’ 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: chifferobe… I read a number of positive reviews of the novel An American Marriage by Tayari Jones before it scampered to fame
What’s a ‘chifferobe’? 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: obdurate… I never thought I’d describe a novel about Alzheimer’s Disease as “sprightly” but that cheerful adjective certainly applies to Goodbye, Vitamin: A
What does ‘obdurate’ mean? Read More »
