A prodigious debt of gratitude goes to Justin Cord Hayes and Katie Corcoran Lytle for the Herculean effort they put forth to ameliorate this book. Thanks also to the following friends, family, and colleagues who suggested words for inclusion in this book: Ilise Benun, Milly Bly, Fern Dickey, Amy and Jonathan Eiten, Don Hauptman, Ken and Teri Karp, Michael Masterson, and Mike Payntner.
INTRODUCTION
A Few Words about a Few Words
A radio commercial for a mail-order course on building your vocabulary states, People judge you by the words you use. Now, with
The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart, people who hear you speak will see you as smartperhaps even smarter than you really are. Some people who want to sound smart have cultivated a large vocabulary, which they unleash with great regularity.
This book can serve as your translator when speaking with these pseudo-intellectuals. Many other people possess a large vocabulary but use it sparingly, preferring to speak and write in plain English. As more than one writing instructor has put it, Your goal is to express, not to impress. Its possible that The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart may even put some money in your pocket. People who have a good vocabulary come off as confident, intelligent, and motivatedqualities necessary for financial success. The late motivational speaker Earl Nightingale liked to tell students about a twenty-year study of college graduates.
The study concluded, Without a single exception, those who had scored highest on the vocabulary test given in college were in the top income group, while those who had scored the lowest were in the bottom income group. Scientist John OConnor gave vocabulary tests to executive and supervisory personnel in thirty-nine large manufacturing companies. On average, test scores for the company presidents were nearly three times higher than their shop foremen. Vocabulary researchers Richard C. Anderson and W. E.
Nagy write, One of the most consistent findings of educational research is that having a small vocabulary portends poor school performance and, conversely, having a large vocabulary is associated with school success. Whether this book helps you get higher grades or advance in your career, its fun to improve your command of the English languageeither to impress or express. Some of the words in The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart can do just that: make you sound educated and intelligent. But you may get pleasure out of knowing them and adding them to your vocabulary quiver, even if you keep most of them in reserve. Its your call.
A Note on the Pronunciation
Pronunciation keys given in this book are rendered phonetically, without using special symbols or systems.
Many of the words in this book have meanings and pronunciationsin addition to those listed herethat are entirely correct. Regional influences can affect pronunciation of certain words. In this book, we use the most commonly accepted pronunciation for each word, recognizing that it is by no means the only acceptable pronunciation.
A Note on the Sources
In his book
The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester observes that there are essentially three sources for the words in any dictionary: (1) words found in existing dictionaries; (2) words overheard in conversation; and (3) words found by a concerted trawl through the text of literature.
The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart is my attempt at a listing of all three sources.
Of course the illusion of art is
to make one believe that great
literature is very close to life, but
exactly the opposite is true.
Life
is AMORPHOUS, literature is
formal.
Franoise Sagan, French novelist
and playwright
A
abatement(ah-BAIT-ment), noun The reduction or elimination of a tax, claim, fine, or debt.
By having her daddy pull strings in the mayors office, Sylvia received a quick ABATEMENT of her traffic ticket.abjure(ab-JOOR), transitive verb To renounce or turn your back on a belief or position you once held near and dear.
Once Jodi tasted my mouth-watering, medium-rare filet mignon, she ABJURED the vegetarian lifestyle forever.abominate(uh-BOM-in-ate), verb When you
abominate something, you really, really hate and dislike it and view it with considerable loathing.
For my part, I ABOMINATE all honorable respectable toils, trials, and tribulations of every kind whatsoever. Herman Melville, American authorabscond(ab-SKOND), verb To leave in a hurry but quietly, so as to escape notice, especially to avoid trouble.
Gandhi led an ABSTEMIOUS life.abstruse(ab-STROOS), adjective Arcane, complex, difficult to understand and learn.
Bob began to wish there was, in fact, a Santa Claus because he found the simple instructions to his sons bicycle far too ABSTRUSE.acculturation(ah-kul-cherr-AYE-shin), noun The process of adapting to a different culture.
Just because sushi makes me queasy, doesnt mean Im opposed to ACCULTURATION.acrimonious(ah-kri-MOAN-ee-us), adjective Angry; bitter; disputed.
Just because sushi makes me queasy, doesnt mean Im opposed to ACCULTURATION.acrimonious(ah-kri-MOAN-ee-us), adjective Angry; bitter; disputed.
There is something about the literary life that repels me, all this desperate building of castles on cobwebs, the long-drawn ACRIMONIOUS struggle to make something important which we all know will be gone forever in a few years Raymond Chandler, American authoradjudicate(ah-JOO-dih-kate), verb To preside over or listen to opposing arguments and help two parties settle their difference and come to an agreement. As my daughters pummeled each other while screaming at top volume, I tried desperately to ADJUDICATE their quarrel.ad nauseam(ad-NAW-zee-um), adverb Something that goes on and on, or is done over and over again, to a ridiculous, even sickening degree. At first we were all impressed that Steve could recite the entire Gettysburg Address, but we all got kind of sickened when he repeated the feat AD NAUSEAM.adroit(ah-DROYT), adjective Skilled or clever in a particular pursuit. Its kind of sad, Betty said to Barbara, that Will thinks his ADROIT opera-singing abilities will impress women.adulatory(ad-JYOO-lah-tore-ee), adjective Complimentary; giving of effusive praise. He includes in his final chapter a passage of ADULATORY prose from Henry James. Jill thinks shes above reproach because shes under the AEGIS of that marketing vice-president with a penchant for younger women.aesthetic(es-THEH-tik), adjective Relating to beauty and the appreciation of beauty. Covering your walls with pictures torn from the newspaper does not constitute a genuine AESTHETIC sense, Harold.affectation(ah-fek-TAY-shun), noun