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  • LAVA Moderator: Shinji Ikari

Best way to expand vocabulary?

I think the more well-read you are the more expansive your vocabulary. So just read books by highly regarded authors.

One really good way to learn more words would probably be to learn a good grasp of Latin seeing as how many of our words come from that language.

I think the dictionary approach wouldn't bee too useful as you'd be too bored, but if you do it with the attitude that you are greatly sharpening your vocabulary it might work out.

Another method could be to use a thesaurus as you are writing posts or whatever else.
 
When I was a kid, I loved to read, but my adoptive family was very anti-reading. "It's a waste of time! People don't like smart people!" So I started memorizing the dictionary b/c I that was a book I had. I was very young and the challenge appealed to me. If your brain is fresh enough and retains rote information, I would think that memorizing the dictionary would work ok. It did for me.

But once I got good at sneaking out to the library and checking out a lot of books, I got a lot more out of reading a shitton of books. The benefit of reading books to expand vocabulary is that you're learning all your new words in different contexts and therefore you get a better sense of the multiple uses of a word. And I think you retain the new words better in the long run.

I had a photographic memory when I was young (6-20 y.o.) so it was ok for me to just memorize the dictionary, but I don't think it was the most effective method for retaining vocabulary in the long-term.

Plus, it's a lot more fun to read a lot of different books than it is to memorize the dictionary. I do think at that period of my life I felt a real sense of accomplishment from memorizing huge chunks of information. Much like the kids who memorize Torah and the Koran. It feels great to assign yourself Aa-As/As-Br and so on and master it, but I think that memorization has its limits.

Eventually, you just feel like you have a huge database of definitions in your head, but no full understanding of the words. Rote memorization may be good for the SAT but in the long run, the definitions will leak from your head as you fill it with more complicated knowledge, ie. that which you gain in university.
 
^^
What he said.

Read a lot. Don't read the dictionary, that is stupid. Rote learning is meaningless on its own. Read interesting, smart books. You'll learn a wide variety of things and words in context and you'll be able to use them properly and flexibly. The way to expand your vocabulary is to read heaps.
 
Like everyone else is saying, read. I read a lot as a kid. I often find myself pulling words out of nowhere that I can't really define, but fit in situations perfectly.


Explaining words with more words.. aldasgasgadfsgaf
 
I took the GRE a few months ago to get into grad school and in the book I used to study for the test, they said the BEST way to expand your vocabulary is to read a large quantity of good books over the course of a lifetime.

I emphasized "best" because it's not the only way to expand your vocabulary.

I'm not really adding anything new to this thread, only backing up what everyone else has already said.
 
I seem to recall getting this list of "Million Dollar Words for the SAT Exam". Something like 2,500 or so big money words I memorized for the test. It paid off come test time (I got something in the 700's), but two days later I didn't know "disinterested" from "uninterested".
 
reading the dictionary will not stay in your memory. Start by reading books and going up on the reading level of the book each time you start a new one. You will be engaged and pay more attention to the words.
 
Binge, being able to recall all those words for the SAT didn't demonstrate a measure of verbal aptitude? Or doing well on reading comprehension passages?

To the question, aside from reading widely, which I agree is great but not always the most realistic way to increase vocabulary, nor, I'd imagine, the most time-efficient.

Instead I'd mix the rote and reading approaches. Focus deliberately on a number of words for the day, but imagine them vividly in context, and use them. So, for example, let's say you wanted to learn "vicissitude," an unexpected obstacle. Vividly imagine someone, anyone, a nude playmate, walking along and then suddenly being confronted with a boulder that has erupted from the ground for no apparent reason. Vicissitude. Have the playmate shriek the word if it makes the word more salient. Identify instances of the word throughout the day.

After a few days, mix in words you've already learned in this way with new words on each new day's list, to provide continuous recall.

Finally, repeat the exercise before going to sleep.
 
Heuristic said:
Binge, being able to recall all those words for the SAT didn't demonstrate a measure of verbal aptitude?
Click to expand...


Nope, I don't see it like that.

Case in point: Thanks to both your last post and Google, I *now know what the word "vicissitude" means. However, I'm still the exact same moron I was ten minutes ago.


See what I mean?



Heuristic said:
Or doing well on reading comprehension passages?
Click to expand...


I think reading comprehension is a better test of verbal aptitude than vocabulary. But that's exactly the part of the SAT I did terribly on. Of course, I think the douchebags that wrote the test completely missread the passages themselves, but that's neither here nor there.


*BTW, I've already forgotten what "vicissitude" means.
 
just read lots of books. when you find a word you don't know, write it down on the inside cover. look the words up using el internet.
 
Whenever I come across an interesting word while I'm reading, I'll usually scribble it down--sometimes on the back cover if I don't have any paper handy--then look up the definition later. I then add it to a list of 50-cent word definitions that I can possibly use in my own writing sometime. :)

Some of my best words came from Wallace Stevens's poems. Needless to say, his work is a bear...
 
Here are the best ways enlarge your vocabulary:
-Read older books, at least older than 50 years. The reading level was higher and they use many words which are uncommon in daily speech. Read with a dictionary and look up any word you don't know the true definition and be honest about it
-Try reading the newspaper as fast as possible. Most local newspapers are written at about a 6th grade level and bigger ones slight above that. Newspapers include many words you may not hear daily
-Set a homepage for a word of the day definition on your Internet browser
-Practice giving speeches and always think about synonyms
-Do this your entire life.

A good education doesn't hurt either.
 
I agree with what others said about reading a lot , as kids my best friend and I could tell who read for their own entertainment and who saw it as a chore by the way they talked.


Also: Refuse to dumb down your conversation with anyone, children included. I suspect a lot of drug users do this, I've done it.
 
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