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Intro to New Vocab
Vocabulary is essential as a writer. How can you fully describe and create a new story if you simply don’t possess the language to make it come to life?
By the end of this blog post, you will have access to new vocabulary words to use in your own writing.
3 Ways to Improve Vocabulary
1. Read More
If you want to be an excellent writer, time and time again, you will hear this tip: read more. Not only are you exposing yourself to new variations/formats of writing, but also to vocabulary!Â
According to Iris Reading’s article “Can Reading Help Your Vocabulary?“, here are the benefits to regular reading as a writer:
- Improves Vocabulary
- Strengthens conversational skills
- Improves comprehension skill
- Strengthens cognitive abilities
- Improves understanding of the language you read
- Makes it easier to express thoughts and feelings accurately
Reading can help you understand new vocabulary, which, in turn, will make it easier for you to continue reading more difficult writing.
Not only that, but reading reduces stress/blood pressure/ heart rate as its own form of meditation and mental stimulant.Â
Find more ways to improve your creativity and writing in the blog post below!
2. Use the Dictionary for New Vocab Ideas
Yes, it can be as simple as that: studying words. While you read through novels and find words you are unfamiliar with, you will look them up in the dictionary. Therefore, why not skip the middleman altogether?
Writers Who Use Dictionaries to Improve Their Vocab
Many writers across various mediums have admitted to using this study tool to expand their vocabulary and improve the quality of their writing.Â
Here are some honorable mentions to show that even the “greats” studied dictionaries to improve their writing:
- Roald Dahl
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- Virginia Woolf
- Agatha Christie
- T. S. Eliot
- George Orwell
- Jane Austin
- Emily Dickinson
Find more examples of writers who use this technique to improve their vocab on Smart Bubblegum’s article “20 Famous People Who Use Dictionaries.“
Note on Dictionary Vocab
While this is a great way to find new vocabulary, be careful that you fully understand how they fit into a sentence.
It actually can be more beneficial to you to see a new vocab word in a sentence and to use context clues to understand its definition; then, you can better incorporate it into your own writing.
Challenging Reading Breeds New Vocab
When you pick up a new book, you need to understand if the vocab challenges you. If you are reading a book that has no challenging words, you are not improving your literacy.Â
However, on the contrary, if you are reading a book that has too many difficult vocab words, you won’t be able to understand the story and improve your reading skills either.Â
Here is the test:
- Grab your book
- Open to a page
- Read through itÂ
- Highlight vocab words you don’t understand
- Count up how many vocab words you highlighted
Then analysis:
- If there are zero vocab words highlighted, you aren’t challenging yourself to the best of your reading level.
- If there are more than three highlighted vocab words, you may be overly challenging yourself. You don’t want to lose track of the story due to your comprehension level; therefore, pick up a slightly more accessible novel.Â
3. Vocab Games to Improve Comprehension
Spelling bees are a great way for you, friends, or students to understand how to replicate words when writing. However, what are some vocab games that are fun and encourage learning?Â
There are a plethora of word-related games to improve vocab that you can play with or without people. There are even apps you can add to your phone to make this routine habitual!
According to 21kschool’s article “How to Improve Students Vocabulary- 17 Effective Strategies,”Â
“Improving vocabulary knowledge is not a one day task. It’s continuous learning that improves with time. For students, vocabulary is not just a way of communication but an understanding of words in a meaningful context.”Â
Let’s look at some examples.
- Vocab games that promote recall/contextual understanding:
- Scrabble
- Boggle
- Wordle
- Pictionary
- Crossword puzzels
- Reading Vocab words in context
- Reading sentences with a new vocab word, to use contextual evidence to conclude their meanings
- Word of the day or vocab list for the week
- Reading outloud with others/discussing vocab words that aren’t clear
- Working with others to use contextual evidenceÂ
- Semantic Mapping
- Writing a vocab word and mapping out its synonymsÂ
- Vocab Review
- Using flashcards/Quizlet for retention
- Making your own handwritten study guides or testing cards
- Keeping a vocab journal/vocab wall
- Keeping lists of new vocab words you find while reading and writing down their definition/sentence example to come back to
- Free Write stories using new vocab
Find some writing prompts below to inspire stories in which you practice using your new vocabulary words in your own writing to improve comprehension.
New Vocab Word List
As you’ve seen above, there are many ways to improve your vocab. One that many writer choose is creating a journal or wall in which to display and compile interesting vocab they wish to assimilate in their own writing.Â
Below you will find a list of words that not only can easily inspire your own motivation to find new vocab on your own, but also can be used in your writing.
- Bahal: obvious/boring from lack of originality
- Indelibly: in a way that cannot be removed/forgotten
- Divested: to deprive of power, rights, or possessions
- Ascendant: rising in power or influence
- Voluble: Speaking fluently
- Acquiescence: reluctant acceptance of something without protest
- Ephemeral: lasting for a short timeÂ
- Accoutrements: things (clothes, equipment, etc.) used for a particular activity
- Panacea: a remedy for all difficulties/diseases
- Impertinence: lack of respect, rudeness
- Officious: assertive of authority in an annoying, domineering way
- Solicitous: characterized by showing interest
- Unheeded: heard/noticed but disregarded
- Redolent: strongly reminiscent of or suggestive of something
- Convalescence: time spent recovering from an illness
- Berth: a ship’s place at a dockÂ
- Rapprochement: establishment of harmonious relations
- Inference: conclusion reached based on evidence/reasoning
- Odious: repulsive
- Retort: snarky quick comeback
- Superfluous: unnecessary, especially through being more than enough
- Exigent: pressing, demanding
- Advent: arrival of a notable person, thing, or event
- Stupor: in a state of near unconsciousness
- Cowed: cause to submit to one’swishes by intimidation
- Pregnant (pause): full of meaning, significant, or suggestive
- Profanation: secular rather than religious
- Contemptible: despicable
- Coveted: yearn to possess
- Divan: low sofa without a back or arms
- Prostrate: lying stretched out on the ground with one’s face downward
- Wantonly: deliberate and unprovoked
- Unerring: always right or accurate
- Impunity: exemption from punishment
- Acumen: ability to make good judgments
- Voluble: speaking fluently
- Vindictive: showing/having strong or unreasoning desire for revenge
- Husband: use, conserve
- Imprecations: spoken curse
- Effaces: erase
- (under the) Auspices: help, protection
- Cavalcade: procession of people walking, on horseback, or in vehicles
- Expostulating: express strong disapproval
- Latent: hidden/concealed/lying dormant
- Augmented: having been made greated in size or value
- Fastidious: careful
- Ignominious: not respectable, notorious
- Pigued: infuriated
- Piquant: having a pungent/spicy taste
- Quiescent: state of inactivity
- Perpetually: constant
- Tactiturn: reserved, saying little
- Imperious: arrogant, assuming they are in power
- Recompense: compensate
- Obstinacy: stubbornness
- Vedette: soldier keeping watch just outside their army’s campsite
- Undulating: move with a wavelike motion
- Declivities: downward slope
- Deference: humble submission
- Pattered: rapid/smooth/continuous talk
- Hemmed: clearing throat to attract one’s attention
- Satiety: being full, fed to satisfaction
- Seething: bubble up from being boiled
- Insensate: lacking sense/reason/sympathy or physical sensation
Grab a journal now and start your own collection of new vocab words!
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