Stephen Spignesi - 499 Words Every College Student Should Know: A Professor’s Handbook on Words Essential to Great Writing and Better Grades

Copyright 2017 by Stephen Spignesi

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Rain Saukas

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-2387-0

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-2388-7

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my dear former students, all of whom now (I hope) know what abrogate means

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Mike Lewis, John White, Rachel Montgomery, Lee Mandato, and Janet Spignesi Daniw, as well as Mike Campbell and all the fine folks at Skyhorse Publishing, word lovers all, who have always been helpful, generous, and supportive.

Also, especial gratitude to all the fine folks at these websites for doing an extraordinary job and for making their efforts available to the world:

1. CollinsDictionary.com

2. DailyBeast.com

3. Definition.org

4. Dictionary.Cambridge.org

5. Dictionary.com

6. Fun-with-Words.com

7. IMDB.com

8. LiteraryDevices.net

9. MacmillanDictionary.com

10. MerriamWebster.com

11. NYTimes.com

12. OxfordDictionaries.com

13. Quodb.com

14. TheFreeDictionary.com

15. Thesaurus.com

16. Vocabulary.com

17. WordsinaSentence.com

18. YourDictionary.com

as well as the myriad dictionary and thesaurus sites online, many of which were extremely helpful in the compiling of this book.

Foreword

Words equal credibility.

The more articulate a person is in their writing and speaking, the more seriously they will be takenby everyone.

This book teaches 499 words every student should know and focuses on the classroom-tested Trinity of Vocabulary Use : For each word, the vocabulary-enriched and educated student should be able to:

understand the word when they read it or hear it

use the word in their speaking ,

make good use of the word in their writing

I tried to provide easy-to-understand, informative and, on some occasions, humorous explanations of every word, and explore how to use them in sentences, and in proper context. The majority of these words were chosen because they are fairly commonplace in media, books, online, and elsewhere, and students need to be able to understand them. I come across many of these words all the time.

A student came into class one day and said, You taught my father something last night. He explained that he was watching cable news with his father and the commentator remarked that a particular candidate was a demagogue. His father asked, Whats a demagogue?, and because we had just learned the word in class, my student was able to explain it to him so that he understood what the cable anchor was saying. This was a wonderfully gratifying moment for me.

Thus, the idea for this book. The people who know these words and use them routinely are intelligent and eloquent. Their communication is also coherent because they know the right word to express the right message. In the Oxford English Thesaurus, there are 380 synonyms for good. Knowing which synonym describes precisely what the writer is trying to express is the product of knowing vocabulary words. Words are a tool and a good craftsman possesses and uses quality tools.

For each word, the following information is provided:

Correct spelling of the word.

What the word is ; i.e., verb, noun, adjective, etc.

Pronunciation : This book uses real-world pronunciation rather than traditional linguistic pronunciations (yknow, with the upside down e and all that.) The syllables are spelled out the way they sound, and the syllable that gets the emphasis is in italics.

A few informative facts about the word that are both instructive and entertaining, which also provide some context when relevant. They appear in gray sidebars next to the word.

Several examples of the word Used in Context , often citing pop culture sources such as TV shows and movies, as well as classic literature, encyclopedias, and contemporary writings.

A few synonyms for the word.

Regarding Citations

Movies are in italics ;

Books are in italics , followed by the author;

Newspaper, Web, and Magazine Articles are in quotes, followed by the author;

TV Shows are in italics , followed by the title of the episode in quotes.

Stephen Spignesi

New Haven, Connecticut

Words transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.

Ursula K. Le Guin

Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs.

Pearl Strachan Hurd

Dont ever diminish the power of words. Words move hearts and hearts move limbs.

Hamza Yusuf

Good words are worth much, and cost little.

George Herbert

If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative.

Betty Eadie

The 499 Words

A

Abdicate

verb ( ab dihkate)

To give up a royal title; to fail to satisfy a responsibility

King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne in 1936 in order to marry Wallis Simpson.

A common topic of discussion in the United Kingdom is whether or not Queen Elizabeth II will ever abdicate and turn the crown over to her son Charles. The Queens biographer said the monarch would never abdicate because she feels its her duty to remain Queen until her death.

Used in Context

I refused to abdicate and declared that I would gather troops together and return with them in order to help the Government to maintain order in the land. The Kaisers Memoirs , Wilhelm II

Phillipe knew that my firstborn, his brother Pierre, wanted to abdicate , which he did, eventually, to join the church. The Princess Diaries

Should your brother continue to ignore the advice of His Government, He must abdicate . The Kings Speech

On behalf of my country, and in the name of the other leaders of the world with whom I have today consulted, I hereby abdicate all authority and control over this planet to General Zod. Superman II

Synonyms : abandon, abjure, abnegate, cede, relinquish, renounce, resign, retire, step down, surrender, vacate

Aberration

noun (abuh ray shun)

An event that is not normal or not what is expected

Abnormal chromosomes are known as aberrations.

The fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons has creatures known as aberrations. They have bizarre anatomies and paranormal abilities.

A cardiac aberrancy is an aberration of the electrical function of the heart.

Used in Context

The heatwave that has already killed hundreds across Eastern Europe is no aberration . New Scientist , August 3, 2007