Learning new difficult words?

Question

Is there such a thing as a "real life" dictionary at the college/adult level? Words that you might hear while watching movies, or as an adult while at work. To the vast majority of adults, these words are not difficult, but a teenager is less likely to know them. Can anyone recommend where to look? I am 26, I went to high school but I did not go to college. Just the other day I had to look up "condescending" because I didn't know the definition of it!! (Yet, the vast majority of adults would...)

Answer 1

Sign up for the word of the day @ miriamwebster.com
Get yourself some vocabulary building exercises...available all over the web, usually for free. Good luck!!

www.ivocabulary.com is a good one.

Answer 2

I am a writer and it is a constant source of amazement and wonder how many words exist.

Don't put yourself down because you stumble once in a while.

There are many good dictionaries. However, I often play a word game with myself when I am having writer's block or simply want to learn new words. (I have a BA in journalism and have been a writer all my life.)

For example, I might take the word condescending and begin building a list of all the synonyms (words that have a similar meaning).

condescending
patronizing
snobby
snobbish
disdainful
lofty
haughty
supercilious

And, I'll think, "Wow, I haven't thought of supercilious in a while." Or even, "What the heck is that word."

Supercilious
pompous
smug
scornful
sneering

All you need is a dictionary and a thesaurus. Google actually has a fairly decent dictionary/thesaurus combination that you can download onto your computer. Then each time you come across a word, look it up.

There are many good dictionaries sold online. Here is the list from Amazon:

http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-1899890-8771810?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=dictionary&Go.x=6&Go.y=7&Go=Go

Also, I might suggest that you find a friend to play Scrabble with you.

Another good way to learn words is to do the crossword puzzle. Make sure you get a good crossword puzzle dictionary because when you first start out, they can drive you crazy.

Good luck.

Answer 3

You'll find words like "condescending" in any standard dictionary, such as Webster's Collegiate or American Heritage. Alternatively, you'll find lots of definitions of recently minted slang terms at http://www.urbandictionary.com/.

Answer 4

I don't know about a "real life" dictionary, but whatever your education there are often words that one doesn't know and it's good that you want to learn them. I like dictionary.com, it has a feature like most search engines that allows for you to make a spelling error and will suggest ("did you mean____?") in case you don't know how to spell the word. It also has a thesaurus feature in case you want synonyms to the word.

Answer 5

My wife got me a little Word of the Day calendar and it's really nice. It uses words that most people would actually know and use, but are still difficult. Try one of those.

Reading also really ups the vocab.

Answer 6

Scrabble dictionaries contain lots of slang words (and interesting profanity!). I like your example word - I hope you didn't run into any condescending attitudes when you were searching for its meaning!!

Answer 7

http://www.etymonline.com/

Etymology- the study of words,

not only does it give definition, it gives origin of said word as well