20 Common Words That Will Boost Your Scrabble Score

Scrabble lovers take different approaches to playing the game. Some memorize admissible two-letter words that come in handy as the game nears its end and the tiles run low. The all-too-often elusive prize in Scrabble is the "Bingo," when a player uses all seven tiles at once to make a word. Here's a list of 20 relatively common seven- and eight-letter words with high point totals. The fact that these words are somewhat familiar should make memorizing them that much easier, and your next game of Scrabble that much more winnable.
(Note: All point totals include the 50 point bonus for using all the tiles.)
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. quixotic
    not sensible about practical matters
    Google is doubling down on the most quixotic research project in its Google X research lab: driverless cars.
    —BusinessWeek May 28, 2014
    76 points
  2. maximize
    make as big or large as possible
    Following these successful strategies will help maximize your profit and minimize your risk.
    —Forbes Jun 16, 2014
    78 points
  3. oxidized
    combined with or having undergone a chemical reaction with oxygen
    As water levels dropped, the metal cladding around the fuel reacted with steam and oxidized, producing hydrogen gas.
    —Seattle Times Jun 14, 2014
    76 points
  4. wheezily
    with a wheeze
    But there is also a lightness of touch to his wheezily conversational delivery, which is punctuated by small shrieks of laughter.
    —The Guardian Nov 21, 2010
    76 points
  5. equalize
    make uniform, corresponding, or matching
    Mr. Piketty’s preferred mechanism for equalizing incomes is to institute a global tax on wealth.
    —Washington Times May 26, 2014
    76 points
  6. chutzpah
    unbelievable gall; insolence; audacity
    Hobby Lobby is hoping the Supreme Court will swallow pseudo-science as medical fact, which, put politely, requires some serious chutzpah.
    —Salon Mar 25, 2014
    77 points
  7. exorcize
    expel through adjuration or prayers
    If you could reach deep enough into your repressed memories, it was argued, you could exorcize your demons.
    —New York Times Apr 30, 2010
    76 points
  8. whizbang
    a small high-velocity shell
    He was hearing again the heavy "crash" of the trench mortar, the earth shaking "crumph" of the high explosive, the swift rush of the whizbang.
    —Ralph Connor
    76 points
  9. jezebel
    a shameless impudent scheming woman
    According to the biblical accounts, Jezebel incited her husband King Ahab to abandon the worship of Yahweh and encourage worship of the deities Baal and Asherah instead.—Wikipedia
    75 points
  10. squeeze
    press tightly between the fingers
    Then, suddenly, she squeezed his knee, right where he had always been most ticklish.
    —Ender's Game
    75 points
  11. jukebox
    a cabinet containing an automatic record player
    He mentioned the cafe where they used to dance to the jukebox on summer nights.
    —Washington Post
    77 points
  12. flapjack
    a flat cake of thin batter fried on both sides on a griddle
    It was a good supper, flapjacks, bacon, bread, and applesauce, but they ate sitting about in the parlor instead of around a table.
    —Tuck Everlasting
    76 points
  13. quickly
    with little or no delay
    A pipeline to the Pacific could transport large volumes of crude to Asia quickly and profitably.
    —BBC Jun 17, 2014
    75 points
  14. cazique
    black-and-red or black-and-yellow orioles of the American tropics
    The highest ever recorded score at Scrabble was 392 for the word "caziques" at a tournament in Manchester.
    —BBC Nov 8, 2013
    77 points
  15. quantize
    apply quantum theory to
    The difficulty of quantizing gravity has led to radical theories such as string theory, with its bold predictions of higher space dimensions and parallel universes.
    —Scientific American Jul 14, 2011
    76 points
  16. schmalzy
    very sentimental or emotional
    The late newsreader Charles Mitchell, for years the most famous man in Ireland, was paid a schmalzy tribute.—Sunday Times 2002
    77 points
  17. highjack
    take arbitrarily or by force
    Jealous ministries have been known to swoop in and highjack such successful independent ventures and transform them into meaningless self-congratulatory circuses.
    —Salon Jun 8, 2013
    78 points
  18. quetzal
    the basic unit of money in Guatemala; equal to 100 centavos
    Just three years ago, one quetzal — about 15 cents — bought eight tortillas; today it buys only four.
    —New York Times Jan 5, 2013
    75 points
  19. pirozhki
    a small dumpling that is boiled, baked, or fried
    The savory baked pies known as pirozhki appeal to me no matter the season.
    —Washington Post May 9, 2014
    76 points
  20. zymurgy
    the branch of chemistry concerned with fermentation
    Zymurgy magazine, published by the American Homebrewers Association, has released its rankings of the best beers and best breweries in America for 2012.— ohio.com
    75 points
Created on Tue Jun 17 22:36:41 EDT 2014 (updated Wed Jul 30 16:05:16 EDT 2014)

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