# What's a good way to actually develop a stronger vocabulary for general uses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-way-to-actually-develop-a-stronger-vocabulary-for-general-uses/548770 "2010-08-01T04:35:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-way-to-actually-develop-a-stronger-vocabulary-for-general-uses/548770/21 "2010-08-02T03:05:49Z")
I second what everybody else says; read, read and read again, and in particular read works which do not come from the milieu that you are already familiar with. Read classic novels. Read novels from other English-speaking cultures. And, of course, read poetry. Reading definitions of words, outside the context of regular use, will only get you so far. You need to encounter words being used, and repeatedly used. If you can, listen to radio broadcasts from other English-speaking countries. (And you can. That’s what the Internet is for.) And, if you’re really committed to this, move to Ireland. I’ve read - sorry, no cite - that, of all the Anglophone communities, Irish speakers of English have the largest vocabulary of words in daily/regular use . ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-way-to-actually-develop-a-stronger-vocabulary-for-general-uses/548770/22 "2010-08-02T07:03:24Z")
If you have iron discipline, get a guide for the SAT verbal section: it will have a list of vocabulary words. But that’s a drag. An entertaining way to improve your vocabulary by a small amount is to borrow or purchase [Word Power Made Easy](http://www.amazon.com/Word-Power-Made-Norman-Lewis/dp/067174190X). The author provides both memorable discussions and exercises; he has a nice sense of balance. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-way-to-actually-develop-a-stronger-vocabulary-for-general-uses/548770/23 "2010-08-02T12:12:28Z")
I credit the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic Monthly for teaching me most of my “advanced” vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-way-to-actually-develop-a-stronger-vocabulary-for-general-uses/548770/24 "2010-08-02T17:09:42Z")
Just make up words. Worked for Shakespeare and Lisa Simpson. It’s perfectly cromulent and will embiggen your vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-way-to-actually-develop-a-stronger-vocabulary-for-general-uses/548770/25 "2010-08-02T17:13:24Z")
As others have mentioned, read read read. Read all sorts of stuff. Branch out, read modern stuff, read stuff from other English speaking countries, read Victorian works, read Elizabethan/Jacobean stuff like Shakespeare and the King James Bible, prose, poetry, everything. Victorian poetry seems quite good for vocabulary building. I personally like Tennyson. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-way-to-actually-develop-a-stronger-vocabulary-for-general-uses/548770/26 "2010-08-02T17:22:45Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Yeah, but how often do you need “carious” and “caliginous”? > > ETA - and how can you forget crepitation? The point is, it makes Donaldson look like an asshole. Someone once used “chiaroscuro” in a conversation and I thought “I know that word! I learned that from Lord Foul’s Bane!” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-way-to-actually-develop-a-stronger-vocabulary-for-general-uses/548770/27 "2010-08-02T17:39:59Z")
Yeah, but that’s a word you use with some regularity, especially about art. I have never needed “caliginous” elsewhere. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-way-to-actually-develop-a-stronger-vocabulary-for-general-uses/548770/28 "2010-08-02T21:03:58Z")
Another tip: if reading definitions doesn’t “stick,” then read some books on word origins (etymology). Having the story–or stories–behind the word can help plant it firmly in your brain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-way-to-actually-develop-a-stronger-vocabulary-for-general-uses/548770.md?page=1)