Vocabulary.com Blog
Articles from May, 2015
Word RoutesExploring the pathways of our lexicon
2015 Spelling Bee: Co-Champions Triumph Again, as Vanya and Gokul Prove Unbeatable
Last year's Scripps National Spelling Bee saw the first tie since 1962, with co-champions hoisting the big trophy together. This year it was déjà vu all over again, as Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam battled to the finish, exhausting the championship word list and finishing as co-champs.
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Before you head to a theater this weekend to check out the new disaster movie San Andreas (or while you're waiting in line for tickets), add 12 earthquake- and movie-related vocabulary to your word learning with "San Andreas" Vocabulary. (Science teachers, this one's for you!)
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It's time once again for the nationally televised semifinals and finals of The Scripps National Spelling Bee! As in past years, our own Ben Zimmer will be live-tweeting the competition from the @VocabularyCom Twitter account and reporting on the results here in his Word Routes column.
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Announcements
Students Abandon "Call of Duty" for Vocab Learning
A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Uncovers Why
Writing in Sunday's Houston Chronicle, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Lisa Falkenberg shone a spotlight on the hundreds of Houston students who got hooked on Vocabulary.com, as one "campus-wide obsession" turned into a recipe for academic success.
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Behind the DictionaryLexicographers Talk About Language
"Dadbod": A Word That Let Itself Go... All Over the Internet
It's a little early to know what the 2015 Word of the Year will be, but I'd say we have a contender: dadbod (or dad bod). After appearing in an essay by Mackenzie Pearson, this term went viral, then nuclear, then possibly intergalactic. Dadbod has become so commonly used that I wouldn't be surprised if, somewhere near the Mars Rover, the term is validating the flabby physiques of retired Martian warlords.
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Vocabulary.com celebrated the first-place finish of Houston's Chavez High School in the 2014-2015 Vocabulary Bowl with a special ceremony on Friday, May 15. Students, teachers, and staff were presented with the Vocabulary Bowl trophy, medals for the top 100 students, and a special proclamation from the Texas State Senate commemorating the students' impressive achievement.
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Teachers, we've got great news. Now, when you sign up as an educator on Vocabulary.com, you can create classes for every period you teach, monitor the performance of each class, gain insight into where you need to focus your instruction, and use class leaderboards to light a competitive fire among your students.
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