When logophiles Henry and Catherine Petroski were first falling in love, they passed each other "word stumper" notes in lieu of flowers and candy. Want to replicate their game? Here are ten word stumpers to enjoy or share. Continue reading...
If Argentina had prevailed against Germany in yesterday's World Cup final, you couldn't really have called it an upset. Germany had dominated during the past weeks of World Cup play, but Argentina had gone in as a strong contender. It was a hard fought game decided by a single goal scored in extra time. Neither an upset nor its opposite. Which brings up an interesting vocabulary question: What would a word for the opposite of an upset be? Do we have one in English? Continue reading...
They could have called it a dustup. A run-in. Fisticuffs. A kerfuffle. (Or even the sequipedalian batrachomyomachia.) But the BBC chose to use fracas in describing the event that led to the the suspension of Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson, sending many of us to our dictionaries with the question, "What does that mean?" Continue reading...
If you're a teacher using Vocabulary.com, a great way to bump up your students' word learning is to take Vocabulary.com schoolwide. Class-to-class competition will create a word learning culture within your school, and your students' Words Mastered numbers will climb. Here's how one teacher made that happen within her school. Continue reading...
You know the drill. June hits, students turn in their textbooks and take home their summer reading lists. Then, in the final week of August students hastily read the assigned book's front and back covers (and possibly an online plot summary) in order to write the required book report by the time they report back to class. Continue reading...
Summer may be a time of relaxation and great beach reading, but here at Vocabulary.com, we've been hard at work. We love this time of year because it's the time when we get to roll out all of the great features we've been planning for and implementing throughout the school year.
That's why we're so excited to announce that the next major release of our website is rolling out today. What's new? Everything. Continue reading...
Vocabulary.com announces new custom leaderboards. Now you can create your own mini-version of the Vocabulary Bowl with up to 50 schools of your choosing. Continue reading...
Want a better way to support independent reading this summer? Here's how to use Vocabulary.com so that instruction is easier for you, and learning is more engaging for your students. Continue reading...
Explore our comprehensive selection of memoir resources and learn how to create engaging activities to boost your students' comprehension. Continue reading...