Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles about Vocabulary
The pope gets to wear nice red shoes, and a friend said, "I'm really jealous of those!" But, technically, she couldn't be jealous, unless she thought the shoes were hers, and the pope had stolen them. Instead, she "envied" the shoes, and was "envious" that he gets to wear them.
Continue reading...
Scalawag, "a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel," is a fun word to say. It sounds like something a pirate on the high seas might call a rival. In fact, it originated in western New York in the 1830s, and a young genealogy buff recently turned up some fascinating early evidence on the word when he was investigating an ancestor.
Continue reading...
This is a topical word: the cardinal electors have just spent two days locked into their pressure-cooker, the Sistine Chapel, to determine who will bear the keys of St. Peter. They were all sequestered in the Vatican, that enclave in the middle of the Eternal City, locked in debate and prayer and voting. Literally locked in: the doors of the Sistine Chapel were locked.
Continue reading...
Etymology — the roots (or, etymologically speaking, seeds) of words — can sound like a pretty dry pursuit if you aren't a word farmer by trade. But knowing a word's derivation has all kinds of benefits. It can make you a better, more nuanced communicator, of course, and if you happen to find words fascinating and beautiful, it can heighten your, ahem, textual pleasure.
Continue reading...
Under the HoodThe science of vocabulary building
Vocabulary Instruction in School: Too Willy-Nilly?
Common Core Requires Comprehensive Approach
Career educator and senior curriculum specialist at the Northwest Evaluation Association John Wood writes about the Common Core and vocabulary instruction: "Schools must continue to address vocabulary development across the grades through high school...through an intentional program that has vocabulary development as one of the instructional goals."
Continue reading...
WordshopVocab activities for your classroom
Staring, Glancing and Glaring Through Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight"
Despite its popularity among teens, you're not going to find class sets of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series in the English department book rooms across the country. Even if most teachers don't incorporate trendy literature into their class syllabus, it doesn't mean that they can't take advantage of the excitement of the fad and harness it to teach some valuable lessons about writing, editing, and word choice.
Continue reading...
Tasty MorselsGood stuff from Vocabulary.com
Joseph Gordon-Levitt "Reinforces" Word Meaning
With Murray Monster on Sesame Street
When he's not singing "High Hopes" with Daniel Radcliffe at the Oscars, you can find Joseph Gordon-Levitt exploring the meaning of reinforce with the "Sesame Street" muppet Murray Monster.
Continue reading...
Sign up now (it’s free!)
Whether you’re a teacher or a learner,
Vocabulary.com can put you or your class
on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.