Music in Our Schools Month: 10 Words that Inspired Taylor Swift

At just 25 years old, Taylor Swift has proven that she is a pop culture phenomenon with staying power. In this list, the heart of Swift's success, her confessional lyrics, are examined. While remaining mainstream and appealing to her fan base, in these selected lyrics the audience can perhaps hear Swift reaching for something more. As is often the case with artists, this striving involves the use of more advanced vocabulary to express new emotions or to shed new light on well-worn territory. Here are ten vocabulary words from the songs of Taylor Swift.
10 words 6611 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. hindsight
    understanding the nature of an event after it has happened
    You see me in hindsight
    Tangled up with you all night
    Burning it down
    Someday when you leave me
    I bet these memories
    Follow you around
    – "Wildest Dreams"
  2. kaleidoscope
    an optical toy in a tube
    Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats
    – "Welcome to New York"
  3. proposition
    a suggestion offered for acceptance or rejection
    And it would be a fine proposition,
    If I was a stupid girl,
    But honey I am no-one's exception,
    This I have previously learned.
    – "Girl at Home"
  4. grace
    elegance and beauty of movement or expression
    All I know is a new found grace
    All my days I'll know your face
    All I know since yesterday is everything has changed
    – "Everything Has Changed"
  5. foyer
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    And your lover in the foyer doesn't even know you
    – "The Lucky One"
  6. reminisce
    recall the past
    I was reminiscing just the other day,
    While having coffee all alone and Lord, it took me away.
    — "Holy Ground"
  7. disposition
    your usual mood
    Oh, your sweet disposition and my wide-eyed gaze.
    We're singing in the car, getting lost Upstate
    – "All Too Well"
  8. treacherous
    dangerously unstable and unpredictable
    This slope is treacherous
    This path is reckless
    This slope is treacherous
    And I, I, I like it
    – "Treacherous"
  9. snide
    expressive of contempt
    Cause I love the gap between your teeth
    And I love the riddles that you speak
    And any snide remarks from my father about your tattoos will be ignored
    'Cause my heart is yours
    – "Ours"
  10. sabotage
    a deliberate act of destruction or disruption
    The story starts when it was hot and it was summer and...
    I had it all, I had him right there where I wanted him
    She came along, got him alone and let's hear the applause
    She took him faster than you could say "sabotage"
    – " Better Than Revenge"
Created on Wed May 20 22:50:42 EDT 2015 (updated Mon Nov 02 10:57:48 EST 2015)

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.