Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles from 2014
Dept. of Word Lists
Bring on Soviet-Era Nostalgia, Cold War Style
How else did Kermit get put in the gulag?
Putin invades Crimea. Kermit goes to the gulag. The Cold War is hot right now, and so are these words.
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As I was searching Twitter while writing last month's column on bae, I occasionally found tweets saying things like, "Gonna turn up tonight with my bae!" Now why would someone find it newsworthy to announce that they were simply going to appear somewhere? Of course, not everything people tweet is newsworthy, but still, why such excitement over simply showing up?
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Vocabulary Shout-Out
In Defense of "Obsequious"
Friend to "bootlickers," "fawners," "sycophants," and "toadies" everywhere
In an editorial for the Chicago Tribune yesterday, columnist Eric Zorn took issue with the College Board's inclusion of obsequious in a list of "low-frequency words that would be unlikely to be assessed directly as words-in-context questions on the redesigned SAT."
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Tasty MorselsGood stuff from Vocabulary.com
It's Shakespeare's Birthday and We've Got Party Favors!
Resources for celebrating the Bard's Words
It's William Shakespeare's 450th birthday today. What better way to celebrate than with a whole host of learning resources focused on his words?
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The award-winning technology powering Vocabulary.com is now available as an app for Android devices!
Already played by millions online, the uniquely powerful word-learning system can now be enjoyed on mobile devices and tablets. The Vocabulary.com app provides personalized word learning on a big data scale.
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Dept. of Word Lists
Vocabulary from Donna Tartt's Pulitzer-Winning "The Goldfinch"
Word Choice Helps Her Conjure Place and Memory
Take a closer look at how Donna Tartt's word choices help her conjure up a place and wrap the reader in memory with 25 words from the Pulitzer-prize winning The Goldfinch.
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We have occasionally invoked Tom Lehrer when discussing how the simple letter "e" can change the meaning of many words, citing his song "Silent 'E.'" That "e" can also magically change a word into another form, such as a noun into a verb. This being illogical English, there are few "rules" as to what it does, though.
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