Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles from 2013
I had a lot of fun asking my social media community, friends and family about their word quirks, specifically words they've misread (and, thus, mispronounced). Everyone seems to have one or two — maybe more — of these. I found that they can sometimes be quite revealing.
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Dept. of Word Lists
Don't Be "Flummoxed" by Tolkien's "Outlandish" Words: A Hobbit Vocab List
Learn the list before you see the film
As Bilbo tracks his dragon, tame the vocabularian beasts that block your path with our List of the Week: Vocabulary from The Hobbit. Learn them before you see the film!
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Tips & Tricks
Want to Understand "Unscrupulous"? We've Got Your Back
Our richer approach helps avoid mistakes in learning subtle distinctions among words.
Merriam-Webster can only take you so far with subtle words like "unscrupulous." Vocabulary.com is set up to teach you the nuances of meaning, so that you don't make mistakes when you use new words for the first time.
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Blog Excerpts
For Jane Austen's Birthday: Words She First Used
Then check out vocabulary lists from her novels
For Jane Austen's 238th birthday, read lexicographer Orin Hargraves on words Austen is cited for first having used. Then check out vocabulary lists from her novels.
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Under the HoodThe science of vocabulary building
Three Schools: Three Ways to Use Vocabulary.com
Exemplar Schools Try District Wide List Learning, Differentiation, Subject-Specific Vocabulary Learning
As teachers experiment with Vocabulary.com, they're finding new ways to use the tool. Check them out here!
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Blog Excerpts
In a Revamped SAT, What Counts as Vocabulary?
Quotes Vocabulary.com's Ben Zimmer and Georgia Scurletis in the process
In a piece out in The Atlantic today, "The Case for SAT Words: High-schoolers should know what 'unscrupulous' means," journalist and SAT tutor James S. Murphy quotes Vocabulary.com head of curriculum development Georgia Scurletis and executive producer Ben Zimmer.
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Behind the DictionaryLexicographers Talk About Language
A Tolkien Tangle: What Does "The Desolation of Smaug" Mean?
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was just released today. You can tell from the title that in this movie, someone's going to get desolated, and desolated but good. But who? Does Smaug desolate someone, or does someone desolate Smaug? What does desolate mean, anyway?
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