Your vocabulary naturally grows throughout your life. But if the ASVAB is staring you in the face, you may not want to wait for life’s natural process. Here, you descry omnifarious contrivances to expedite progression of a comprehensive phraseology…or learn how to increase your vocabulary.
Read more to learn more
People who read a lot have larger vocabularies than people who don’t read much. It doesn’t matter much what you read, as long as you make it a regular, daily practice. Your reading choices may be action-adventure or romance books for enjoyment, the daily newspaper, magazines, Internet articles and blogs, or even comic books.
When reading online, get into the habit of keeping an extra browser window open and pointed to an online dictionary site, such as Dictionary.com. If you run into a word you don’t know, you can quickly copy and paste it to the online dictionary.
Talk to people
Other people have vocabularies that differ from yours. If you speak to a variety of people, and you do it often, you’re exposed to a variety of different cultures and occupations, all of which expose you to new words.
Carry a small pocket notebook with you so you can write down new words and look them up in a dictionary later.
Add words to your vocabulary
Make a goal to learn at least one new word per day. A great way to meet that target is to visit or subscribe to one of the many Internet word-of-the-day websites. Here are a few suggestions:
Dictionary.com: You can visit the site daily or subscribe to the word of the day via e-mail.
Merriam-Webster Online: A new vocabulary word appears every single day.
A.Word.A.Day: Provided by Wordsmith.org, this free service presents a new word for you to check out every day, or you can subscribe to its e-mail list.
The New York Times Word of the Day: The New York Times offers a new word every day, along with an example of how the word was used in a recent New York Times story.
The Oxford English Dictionary: In addition to definitions, the page also provides pronunciation, spelling, etymology, and a date chart that shows when the word was first used. The word of the day is also available by e-mail subscription and RSS feed.
Use puzzles and games to improve your vocabulary
A fun way to increase your word knowledge is to do crossword puzzles or play word games. Scrabble and Mad Libs, for example, are great ways to reinforce new vocabulary words. Many online games are available as well, such as Scrabble and Words With Friends. You can improve your vocabulary while having fun playing online games! It’s a win-win.
Work with word lists
Learning a new word every day doesn’t do you much good if you forget it a week later. Learning often requires repetition, and that’s especially true when it comes to memorizing new words.
Just to get you started, here are 50 free words.
Word | Part of Speech | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Abrupt | Adjective | Beginning, ending, or changing suddenly |
Acrid | Adjective | Harshly pungent or bitter |
Becalm | Verb | To make quiet |
Buffoon | Noun | A clown |
Chaos | Noun | Utter disorder and confusion |
Cognizant | Adjective | Taking notice of something |
Defer | Verb | To put off or delay to a later time |
Derision | Noun | The act of ridiculing or making fun of something |
Effulgence | Noun | Great brightness |
Enmity | Noun | Hatred |
Famish | Verb | To cause extreme hunger or thirst |
Fealty | Noun | Loyalty |
Generalize | Verb | To draw general inferences |
Grotto | Noun | A small cavern |
Habitual | Adjective | According to usual practice |
Hideous | Adjective | Extremely ugly or appalling |
Ichthyic | Adjective | Fishlike |
Icon | Noun | An image or likeness |
Illusion | Noun | An unreal image |
Irritate | Verb | To excite ill temper or impatience in something |
Jovial | Adjective | Merry |
Juxtapose | Verb | To place close together |
Kernel | Noun | A grain or seed |
Kinsfolk | Noun | Relatives |
Laggard | Adjective or noun | Falling behind; one who lags behind |
Laud | Verb | To praise |
Maize | Noun | Native American corn |
Malevolence | Noun | Ill will |
Nestle | Verb | To adjust cozily in snug quarters |
Novice | Noun | Beginner |
Obese | Adjective | Exceedingly fat |
Obtrude | Verb | To push or thrust oneself into undue prominence |
Pare | Verb | To cut, shave, or remove the outside from anything |
Pedagogue | Noun | Teacher; one who is fussily academic |
Quadrate | Verb | To make square; to make conform or agree with |
Quiescence | Noun | Quietness |
Rancor | Noun | Malice |
Raucous | Adjective | Loud and rowdy |
Sanguine | Adjective | Cheerfully optimistic; having the color of blood |
Sepulcher | Noun | A burial place |
Teem | Verb | To be full to overflowing |
Tenacious | Adjective | Unyielding |
Umbrage | Noun | Injury or offense |
Vacillate | Verb | To waver |
Valid | Adjective | Founded on truth |
Velocity | Noun | Speed |
Wile | Noun | An act or a means of cunning deception |
Wizen | Verb | To become or cause to become withered or dry |
Yokel | Noun | Country bumpkin |
Zealot | Noun | One who is enthusiastic to an extreme or excessive degree |
Flashcards
As far back as 1885, a psychologist named Hermann Ebbinghaus, who specialized in memory research, published a study that detailed the effective use of flashcards. According to his rules, you should follow these steps:
Review all the cards in the set, looking at each front and back.
Go through the set several times.
Test and sort.
Read the front of the card. Try to say what’s written on the back. If you’re wrong, put the card in a “wrong” pile. Do the same for each card until the cards are sorted into “right” and “wrong” piles.
Review the “wrong” pile.
Read each card in the “wrong” pile, front and back. Go through the “wrong” pile several times.
Test and sort with the “wrong” pile.
Go through the cards of the “wrong” pile, testing yourself with them and sorting them into “right” and “wrong” piles just as you did with all the cards in Step 2. Keep working with the cards of the “wrong” pile until they’re all in the “right” pile.