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If you’re trying to build your vocabulary in preparation for a test, you should set a schedule for yourself and work methodically from beginning to end. If you’re simply trying to improve your vo cab u lary, you may find it more in terest ing to dip into the text at ran dom. You can also use the book as a companion to your dic tio nary to help you zero in on the meanings of new words you’ve en coun tered in your reading or in conversation. A BOUT W ORD S MART II If you’re like most people, you’ll want to learn words as efficiently and as rapidly as possible. The list of words that forms the main portion of this book will provide a foun da tion on which you can build your own educated vo cab u lary. Word Smart II picks up where this book leaves off. So many of you finished this book and looked up from your plate, demanding, “More words!” So we compiled a second list. In Word Smart II we place more emphasis on pro nun ci a tion, and we also extend our SAT and GRE Hit Parades. The words in Word Smart II are some what more diffi cult, and they don’t appear quite as fre quent ly, but oth er wise they are just as important for you to know. When you finish this book, and certainly when you finish Word Smart II, you will have a working vocabulary better than that of most college grad u ates. But don’t stop there. Continue to expand your vocabulary by mas ter ing the new words you encounter. Start reading! 6 WORD SMART

CHAPTER 1 LEARNING NEW WORDS

B UILDING A V OCABULARY I S C HILD ’ S P LAY Y oung children learn new words by imitating the speakers around them. When a three-year-old hears a new word that catches her interest, she may use it repeat ed ly for a day or two until she feels comfortable with it. She es tab lish es its meaning from context, often by trial and error. She adds new words to her vocabulary because she needs them to make herself un der stood. Children have an easier time learning new words than most adults do. As we grow beyond childhood, our brains seem to lose their magical ability to soak up language from the environment. But adults can still learn a great deal from the way children learn new words. H OW C HILDREN D O I T Young children don’t learn the meanings of new words by looking them up. Sometimes they ask grown-ups directly, but more often they simply infer meanings from context. They figure out what new words mean by paying attention to how they are used. You need to do the same. You need to make your mind receptive to new words by actively seeking to understand them. When you encounter an unfamiliar word in the newspa per, don’t skim over it. Stop and try to figure out what it means. The words that surround it should provide a few clues. Put your mind to work on it. 8 WORD SMART

A W ORD I S U SEFUL O NLY I F Y OU U SE I T Children learn words by using them. Adults who want to build their vo cab u lar ies must do the same. You can’t in cor po rate a new word into your vocabulary unless you give it a thorough workout, and then keep it in shape through reg u lar exercise. We tell our students to use new words over and over—at the dinner table, at school, among their friends—even at the risk of making them selves annoying, even at the risk of mak ing mistakes and appearing fool ish. If a word isn’t useful to you, you’ll never remember it. Our stu dents have a powerful incentive for learning the words we teach them: If they learn them carefully, they’ll do better on the SAT or GRE and improve their chances of being admitted to the schools they want to attend. An added bonus is that their writing and speaking skills improve along with their vocabulary, often leading to better grades. Adults and other non stu dents may have other vocabulary needs, but the same general rule applies. With vo cab u lary, as with many other things in life, you have to use it if you don’t want to lose it. Remember that the size and quality of a person’s vocabulary correlate powerfully with his or her success in school, at work, and beyond. R EAD , R EAD , R EAD ! The best way to build a solid, sophisticated vocabulary is to read vo ra cious ly. Careful reading not only brings you into contact with new words, but it also forces you to use your head to figure out what those new words mean. If you read widely enough, you will find that your vocabulary will build itself. New words are contagious if you give yourself enough exposure to them. Reading any good book is better for your vo cab u lary than watching television. Reading well-written mag a zines and newspapers can help, too. LEARNING NEW WORDS 9

R EADING I SN ’ T E NOUGH , T HOUGH We aren’t the only people who think that avid reading is the key to building an educated vocabulary. You’ve probably heard the same thing from your parents and teachers, and with good reason. But reading isn’t enough. In reading, you will come across words you don’t know, and some will be critical to the meaning of the passages in which they appear. If you’re serious about un der stand ing what you read, as well as improving your vo cab u lary, you’ll have to use the dic tio nary. T HE D ANGERS OF R ELYING ON C ONTEXT A LONE The natural way to learn words, as we observed earlier, is to see how other people use them—that is, to see or hear the word in context. While context may tell you how to use the word, relying on context is not without pitfalls. First, when you encounter a new word, you can’t be cer tain how to pronounce it unless you hear it spoken by some one whose pro nun ci a tion is authoritative. You also can’t be certain the word is being used correctly. Even skillful writ ers and speakers oc ca sion al ly misuse language. A writer or speak er may even misuse a word intentionally, perhaps for dramatic or comic effect. Even more important, most words have many different mean ings or shades of meanings. Sometimes the difference between one meaning and another can be tiny; sometimes it can be enormous. Even if you deduce the meaning from the context, you have no way of knowing whether the mean ing you’ve deduced will apply in other cases. Finally, context can be misleading. Below is an example of what we mean. It’s a dialogue we find ourselves having over and over again with our students. The dialogue con cerns the meaning of the word formidable, al though you can substitute just about any me di um-difficult word. Us: Student: Us: Student: 10 Do you know what formidable means? Sure, of course. Good. Define it. Okay. A for mi da ble opponent is someone WORD SMART

Us: Sorry to cut you off. We want the def i ni tion of for mi da ble, not an example of how to use it in a sentence. Can you please define the word for mi da ble for us? Student: Sure. Ummm, let’s see (The student is still thinking of the phrase for mi da ble opponent.) For mi da ble means good or skillful. Maybe big, ag gres sive. What about tre men dous? Us: Nice try, but it means frightening. Student: Really? I didn’t know that. I thought it meant some thing else. Us: Well, it also means awe-inspiring. W HAT ’ S THE P OINT ? The point is that context can be misleading. Have you ever played the game Mad Libs? In it, one player is given a text from which a number of words are missing, and the other player is asked to supply those missing words with out look ing at the text. The results are often funny. Something similar—and much less funny—can hap pen when you rely ex clu sive ly on context to supply you with the mean ings of new words. You may hit upon a mean ing that seems to fit the context only to discover later that your guess was far wide of the mark. To keep this from happening, use a dic tio nary. T HE B IG B OOK Some ambitious students try to build their vocabularies by sitting down with the dictionary, opening to the first page (A, a), and reading it! Most students who embark on this seldom get beyond the first page. Then they give up all attempts at learning words. Trying to learn new words in this way is virtually im pos si ble. Besides, there are easier and more effi cient ways. Like starting with this book. W HICH D ICTIONARY S HOULD Y OU U SE ? Like cars, not all dictionaries have the same features. Dic tio nar ies can range from children’s editions with lots of pic tures to humongous, unabridged dictionaries with lots of LEARNING NEW WORDS 11

entries in tiny type. (By the way, abridged means short ened. An unabridged dictionary is one that in cludes almost every single word in the English language!) And then there’s the twenty-volume Oxford En glish Dictionary. For most people, however, a good college-edition dictionary is sufficient. I F Y OU ’ RE A S TUDENT , Y OU S HOULD C ARRY D ICTIONARY WITH Y OU A P ORTABLE .and maybe even if you’re not a student. Carrying around a large hard cov er dictionary isn’t prac ti cal. So buy yourself a small paperback dictionary to carry with you wherever you go. That way, whenever you encoun ter a new word, you can look it up on the spot and increase the like li hood that you will remember its meaning. By the way, the definitions in even the best small pa per back dic tio nar ies are not always exact or complete. It’s a good idea to verify the definition of a word in a college dictionary when you have access to one. W HAT F EATURES S HOULD H AVE ? A G OOD C OLLEGE D ICTIONARY We used several dictionaries in verifying the definitions and usages that appear in Word Smart, including: The Amer i can Her i tage Dic tio nary, Webster’s Third New In ter na tion al Dic tio nary, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and The Ran dom House Webster's College Dictionary. (A “college” dic tio nary is not for use in col lege only; the phrase “col lege dic tio nary” is simply a rough in di ca tion of the vo cab u lary level of the readers for whom the dictionary is appropriate.) Let’s take a look at a sample entry from The Random House Webster's College Dic tio nary: a bridge ( Ŷ brij'), v.t., a bridged, a bridg ing. 1. to short en by con den sa tion or omis sion while retain ing the ba sic con tents: to abridge a long novel. 2. to reduce or lessen in duration, scope, etc.; di min ish, cur tail. 12 WORD SMART

3. to de prive; cut off [1350–1400; ME abregge, abrigge MF abreg(i)er ML abbreviare to short en. See ab bre vi ate] —a bridg'a ble; esp. Brit., a bridg'á ble, adj.— a bridg'ér, n. —Syn.1. con dense, ab stract. See shorten. 2. con tract. Some of us may have developed a fear of dictionaries at about the age when we formed a fear of dentists. “Dad, what does abridge mean?” “Look it up!” A D ICTIONARY R EALLY C AN H ELP If you know how to decipher the entry. Let’s examine the above entry part by part: a bridge The main entry—the dot separates the words into syl la bles. Some times the main entry includes stress marks to tell you which syllables to stress when pronouncing the word. ( Ŷ brij') The pronunciation—every dictionary includes a pro nun ci a tion key up front to explain symbols like the upside-down e known as a schwa, and pro nounced “uh.” If a word has more than one ac cept able pro nun ci a tion, the entry will list them. Always observe the pronunciation of a word when you look it up. If you know how to pro nounce a word, you’re more likely to use it. (If you don’t know how to pronounce a word, you’re more likely to embarrass yourself at cock tail par ties.) And the more you use a word, the more likely you’ll be able to remem ber it. LEARNING NEW WORDS 13

v.t. Part of speech—this abbreviation means that abridge is a verb, spe cif i cal ly a transitive verb. A transitive verb is one that carries action from a subject to a direct object. For example, in the sentence The dog ate the book, the verb ate car ries action from the dog to the book. Sim i lar ly, in The editor abridged the book, the verb abridged car ries action from the editor to the book. An example of an intransitive verb is to sleep. In The dog sleeps, the verb does not carry any ac tion from the subject (dog) to any other thing. a bridged, a bridg ing Forms—these entries let us know that we should note the spell ings of different forms of the word abridge. Notice, for example, that we drop the e before adding ing. 1. to shorten by condensation or omission while retain ing the basic contents: to abridge a long novel. The most common definition of the word—The Random House Webster's College Dictionary is one of the few that include helpful phras es or sen tenc es to show you how to use the word in con text. This feature is quite useful. The example tells us that we would not use abridge this way: The tailor abridged Susan’s long skirt to make it a mini. 2. to reduce or lessen in duration, scope, etc.; diminish, curtail. 3. to deprive; cut off. Other def i ni tions, generally in order of im por tance—some times a def i ni tion will include close synonyms. [1350–1400; ME abregge, abrigge MF abreg(i)er ML ab breviare to short en. See ab bre vi ate] The et y mol o gy—some dic tio nar ies include the et y mol o gy be fore the def i ni tions. 14 WORD SMART

You don’t have to be a linguist, but the word abridge de vel oped from medieval Latin to Mid dle French to Middle En glish: abbreviare (meaning “to shorten”), in medieval Latin be came abreg(i)er in Middle French, which became abregge or abrigge in Middle English, which finally became abridge. The et y mol o gy suggests that we look up ab bre vi ate. If you have the time you should do so. It will re in force your un der stand ing of abridge. We will discuss etymology in more detail lat er, because it is a pow er ful mnemonic. (Look It Up!) —a bridg'a ble; esp. Brit., a bridge'á ble, —a bridg'ér, n. Other parts of speech, along with an alternative (British) spelling. adj. —Syn. 1. condense, abstract. See shorten. 2. contract. An abridged (!) list of synonyms—the numbers refer to the preceding order of definitions. The entry suggests that we look up shorten. Again, this is a feature of The Random House College Dic tio nary. Not all dictionaries include it. D ON ’ T S TOP WITH THE D EFINITION The editors of the dictionary advise us to look up shorten if we want a better un der stand ing of abridge, so let’s do just that: shorten (shôr't Ŷ n), v.t., 1. to make short or short er. 2. to reduce, de crease, take in, etc.: to shorten sail. 3. to make (pastry, bread, etc.) short, as with butter or other fat. —v.i. 4. to become short or shorter. 5. (of odds) to de crease. —short'ener, n. —Syn. Short en, ab bre vi ate, abridge, cur- LEARNING NEW WORDS 15

tail mean to make shorter or briefer. Shorten is a general word meaning to make less in ex tent or duration: to shorten a dress, a pris on er’s sentence. The other three words sug gest meth ods of short en ing. To ab bre vi ate is to make shorter by omis sion or con trac tion: to ab bre vi ate a word. To abridge is to reduce in length or size by con dens ing, sum ma riz ing, and the like: to abridge a doc u ment. Curtail suggests dep ri va tion and lack of com plete ness because of cutting off part: to cur tail an ex pla na tion. This entry distinguishes shorten from a number of syn onyms, in clud ing abridge. The digression took another minute or so, but we’ve come away with a better un der stand ing of the meanings and their nuances (LIU!). We will con sid er syn onyms in detail when we discuss how to use a thesaurus. W HY A REN ’ T E NTRIES E NTRIES ? IN W ORD S MART L IKE D ICTIONARY In the first place, because this isn’t a dictionary. We’ve tried to make Word Smart easier to read and understand than a big dictionary. Don’t get us wrong. We use dictionaries, we rely on dic tio nar ies, but sometimes we wish that lexicographers (those fun-loving peo ple who write dictionaries) would com mu ni cate in basic En glish. We aren’t as sophisticated as lexicographers. So for each word in Word Smart, we give you a basic definition. Some times a close synonym is enough. Then we give you—and this is important—a sentence or two so that you can see how to use the word. Our entry for abridge reads: ABRIDGE (uh BRIJ) v to shorten; to condense The thought ful editor abridged the mas sive book by remov ing the boring parts. An abridged dictionary is one that has been short ened to keep it from crushing desks and people’s laps. An abridgment is a shortened or condensed work. 16 WORD SMART

The problem with most dictionaries is that they don’t tell you how to use the word. You can always spot someone who has learned new words almost exclusively through the dic tio nary rath er than through general read ing sup ple ment ed with a dic tio nary. When you ask such people the def i ni tion of a word, it’s al most as if they fall into a trance—their eyes glaze over as they rattle off the definition almost word for word from a dic tio nary. Use a dictionary, but don’t become a slave to it. Y OU D ON ’ T U NDERSTAND A M EANING U NLESS Y OU C AN D EFINE I T IN Y OUR O WN W ORDS To understand a word completely, to make a word yours, you should try to define it in your own words. Don’t settle for the dictionary definition. For that matter, don’t settle for our def i ni tion. Make up your own definition. You’ll understand the mean ing better. What’s more, you’ll be more likely to re mem ber it. T HESAURUSES : D ON ’ T M ISUSE , A BUSE , E XPLOIT , C ORRUPT , M ISAPPLY , OR M ISEMPLOY T HEM A thesaurus is a dictionary-like reference book that lists syn onyms for many words. A thesaurus can be another use ful tool in your word-building cam paign, but only if you use it properly. Many people don’t. Thesaurus abus

CONTENTS Introduction Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3: Chapter 4: Chapter 5: Chapter 6: Chapter 7: Chapter 8: Chapter 9: Chapter 10: Chapter 11: Chapter 12: Chapter .