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Archive for the ‘Exercises’ Category

My First New Word: Bedizan

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

So, the journey to a wider writing vocabulary begins. My first word of the day is (cue drum roll)

bedizen
\bih-DY-zuhn\ , transitive verb;
1.To dress or adorn in gaudy manner.

I love this word – it’s already got me thinking about my current favorite movie, The Blind Side, which I watched for the first time Sunday night … “I will not wear that gaudy orange!”

And now for my first sentence:

Sports fans unfamiliar with Vol-Nation probably think Vol fans bedizen themselves for football games.

What sentence have you thought of using bedizen?

Do you have a word you think I should learn for my Word of the Day expedition? Be sure the share it with me!

That’s What I Said: Expanding My Vocabulary

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

The word impromptu popped in my head this morning as I was driving to work (I love that word!) which prompted me to consider ways to expand my vocabulary. I have been writing news for 10 years, and news writing is all about simplified words. While I like simple, I love words. When I am writing, I get energized when I find a word that has the exact meaning I wish to convey. Sometimes these words do not work well for news and I have to opt for a simpler synonym, but now that I am an academic news writer in the medical arena by day, I find that using perplexing words is widely accepted. While thesaurus.com and dictionary.com are two of my best friends, I think it’s time to begin some vocabulary exercises.

As I follow @dictionarycom on Twitter and (almost) always read the word of the day, I realize I need a way to get new words to stick. Just reading a “word of the day” is not getting the job done. In high school, I found that I typically learn best by writing something down. So, I have decided that in addition to discovering a new word, I will plan to write a couple of sentences using my new word and then at the end of each week, I will write a paragraph using all of my new words from that week or month. (Writing exercises … bonus!) This should be interesting; definitely stay tuned.

What exercises do you do to expand your vocabulary? Better yet, which words do you like that I should learn? Submissions will be happily accepted via the comments section or on Twitter @kandikreatives.