Recently a math teacher and Facebook friend of Vocabulary.com posted to her Facebook page: Would you rather take a "quiz," "diagnostic," "test," or "evaluation?" Responses to the post were clear. Everyone would rather take a quiz. A quick look at the blurbs for these words on the Vocabulary.com website explains why. Continue reading...
By the time you read this, my babies will have graduated. Yes, Brooklyn Theatre Arts High School, founded in 2007, graduated its first class on June 24, 2011, at 9:30 in the morning in what's got to be one of the largest school auditoriums in New York City. Continue reading...
This Vocabulary Bowl season students across North America vied for vocabulary victory and collectively mastered over 4 million words! The points have been tallied and the official results are in. See which schools and teachers topped the leaderboards. Continue reading...
In January, the American Dialect Society made history by selecting a hashtag, #blacklivesmatter, as its Word of the Year. The choice inspired composition professors at St. John's University in Queens, Professor Sophie Bell and Professor Amanda Moulder to create a lesson plan around the ADS's #blacklivesmatter selection, bringing attention to race and language in a way that feels relevant to students' lives. To kick off Black History Month, we're sharing the lesson plan they created. Continue reading...
Next time you play the Challenge, click "Look Up" when you guess wrong on a word and we'll show you that word's definition, including Usage Examples, without taking you off the Challenge page. The extra few minutes you spend reading will pay dividends later. Continue reading...
The recent discovery of Octlantis, an undersea community of octopuses just off the eastern coast of Australia, is a reminder of how a novel blend can perfectly name a new phenomenon, no matter how wild or multi-tentacled. Continue reading...
If you've been keeping up with the latest Vocabulary.com news, you may have noticed that we've introduced information-rich dashboards for teachers and administrators in schools that have signed up for our Educator Edition. We wanted to share that data-driven goodness with all Vocabulary.com users, and so we've rolled out new features to monitor your progress and identify where you're having trouble. Continue reading...
Ever wonder how much vocabulary matters? Check out this piece in today's New York Times exploring the ways we use the language of guns, even when advocating for gun control. Continue reading...