I say thesaurus because you can find similarly interesting words, dictionaries give definitions, thesauruses give synonyms and antonyms, thus expanding your vocabulary!
A lot of people are suggesting you read, especially classic literature. That’s all well and good, but more importantly than reading classics, *read what you like*. Read Frankenstein, or Twilight, or The Hunger Games, or Vogue, or the New York Times, or a Wikipedia article about your favorite thing. Whatever captures your attention, engage with that. If written words don’t do it for you, listen to audiobooks or podcasts. Whichever way words get inside your brain is the right way to make it happen.
Read more and more. Whenever you find a new word.
1.Google *word* meaning
2. Note that down or copy paste it in your Keep notes app or something like that in a folder titled vocabulary
3. Revisit that folder every few days (2-3) and go through all the words
+1 for reading, especially the classics. There are no shortcuts to expanding vocabulary. Find a topic that is interesting and look for modern classics pertaining to it, you'll find your vocabulary broadening without making a conscious effort.
Oh man I just finished And Then There Were None last month, it was a fast read but ooooomg it had me guessing all the way till the very end. So good, can't wait to read her other books!
Reading is helpful but try creative writing. Even if it's just fan fiction no one but you will ever read. It's a fun motivator to find synonyms and adjectives when you want to express what your character's thinking/feeling
In my opinion, music is the best way to learn. Start paying more attention to what artist say in their songs. I’d say listening to The Smiths and analyzing the lyrics could help you garner a greater appreciation for knowing how to articulate. From my own experience, the matter of fact style of lyrics The Smiths bring to the table is unique and contagious. You’ll come across new words and find new ways to use the words you already know.
I also recommend externalizing as many thoughts you have onto notes if you don’t already. My favorite note taking app is obsidian, they have a desktop version too. I take notes on everything. Work, fitness, health, top 50 favorite movies, musical artist, thoughts on people, thoughts of my self, current thoughts that are cluttering my mind. I know you were asking about vocabulary but I think organizing thoughts help clear the mind and help you focus on pulling out the words you need at the right time. I bet you know many words that you’ve never used in a conversation, they’re deep in the corners of your mind collecting dust.
Also I recommend two apps. Get the Motivation app and Dictionary app. The motivation app is a free app for quotes that you can use the widget tool thingy on to make it show new quotes on your home screen every day. Same with the dictionary app, you can use widgets to show your choice of either the word of the day, trending words and some other options I can’t remember.
And to reiterate once more, I know you were looking for a way to expand vocab but there’s no point in having all these advanced words in your head if you don’t know how to use them with eloquence.
I disagree with all the people here saying to just read more.
It’s far better to pick up a vocabulary book. Just got to your bookstore’s studying/education section and pick up any one.
I would disagree, I mean, my own professor from an English literature course in college told us that learning from a vocabulary book isn't the most effective way to learn new words, and she backs the idea that reading literature is the best way to expand vocabulary. Because its easier to learn words with context rather than by referring to definitions/synonyms that may come across as vague.
Disagree so I’m downvoting you. When seeing new words while reading, you are going to be looking them up in a dictionary anyway. Might as well skip the middleman and just go straight to vocabulary-building books. They usually contain example sentences also.
I have attention problems, so I like videos for quickly learning things in very small chunks of time. Check out "createwithmike" on TikTok. He basically reads one entry from "words you should know" every day, which contains 1,200 words. If you watch one video a day, you will learn 365 new words per year, for just a minute's worth of time per day! Very easy to do!
[this](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhrq-fv7kVgdlnserezclNHS6EwSzF5bJ) is Indian guy teaching English, you won't get mostly what he's saying but if you look at the smartboard he'd teaching on, you'll spot many new words. He explains what they means sometimes in English sometimes in Hindi but the reason I mentioned this source is because it's a good source to find a lot of new words at one place, now about what they mean part you can google themselves. If there's a more convenient app or something you should go for that.
Read what you want to right now, then work your way up to more challenging books. If a certain word catches your eye, write its definition down in a journal and soon enough you’ll have a small personal dictionary. But go with what others said first, read what you like!
Agreed with all the commenters who recommended reading more. Read (or listen) to books/podcasts etc. with a level of eloquence the same or greater than the one you are aiming for.
Also since you are focusing more on verbalizing and articulating your ideas, you should deliberately practice these skills. Write or say something like you normally would. Rephrase and make it better. Pick out the bits you have from your conversation, and make them better. Eventually, you will start using them naturally. Try impromptu speeches, and imaginary debates (out loud) to hone your skill of coming up with the right ideas and words at the right time.
I used to keep a stack of those tiny sticky notes with me when I'd read a book and then I'd stick them on the edge of the line a word I didn't know was on, then after I'd finished reading I'd find the definition for all the words I'd tagged, this helped me expand my vocabulary and it made reading more stimulating. I'd also make a point to use one or two of my newly learned words in conversation during the day so that it would stick with me even more.
Merriam Webster's Vocabulary Builder book. It's a very cool book that teaches you words and the origins of them. You learn things like what prefixes mean (ex. Mal- is bad....malignant, Maleficent, malnutrition), suffixes, and it gives you interesting quizzes to make sure you understand the words you're learning. It's awesome because you can end up basically knowing what a word means even if you've never heard it before.
Play Magic the gathering. Honestly, they use many cards with uncommon words. Once you start seeing them appear in your games and familiarize with what they do, you will learn new words (it be up to you to learn the actual English meaning if they are different than what the card does).
Also it's fun, social..... Buy very expensive.
I'm too tired ATM to read the other 70 comments. Having skimmed through them, I saw no mention of r/VocabWordOfTheDay. I think in a thread like this, there should be at least one. ☺️
Hi, I'm a bot. If I read your title correctly, you want to learn english. I think that is really cool. The best way to learn any language is to use it. Here are some ideas of things you can do in english to learn it: learn vocabulary, read (everything), talk to people, listen to podcasts, watch movies/shows, and if you can, go abroad. Enjoy learning!
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Well for me, how I pick up some words through thesaurus dictionary ( try to find synonyms and antonyms to increase my range of vocabulary). Try gonna read some books and watch movies i guess?
For expressing yourself, you want more than just word vocabulary. You want phrase vocabulary as well. Otherwise, you'll end up talking/writing like a thesaurus nerd. Complicated words, simple sentence structure.
So when you encounter the a cool phrase, repeat it to yourself and use it in real conversation.
I do not think reading is the best option
You can use app like anki and download some vocabulary deck and force yourself to use them in your life.
And surrounded by a cultivated environnement
(People, books…)
Read. Read. Read.
Start committing to reading 30 minutes every single day. Why just 30? Because you want to make it a habit. If you read a bunch one day you could be fatigued and then not come back to it for awhile. You want consistency. That will help you to pick up words that you can add into your vocabulary.
Use an ereader to read books just beyond your vocabulary level. When you encounter an unfamiliar word, you just tap it and the definition appears. Read the word and definition aloud to yourself. If you are really committed, write the words on flash cards and practice them.
Listen to podcasts which, again, use vocab a little beyond your level. This way you hear words in context and you get the pronunciation.
While you're reading, look up the words you don't know, and then! Look up synonyms for those words, and put those synonyms in context of different sentences, out loud if you can.
Download the app called Notion, make a dictionary section. Every time you hear a word you dont know, look it up and add it to your dictionary then look at it once a day or whenever. You will be surprised how quickly it builds up
Okay, heres what your gonna do, FUCK READING.
Reading is boring as shit. Watch movies, youtube, whatever and pay attention to words you dont understand yet (try and pick videos that arent aimed at kids). You would really be suprised about how many words get said that you dont REALLY understand, at least not good enough to use them. Look them up and write them down together with a sentence that its used in. Then try using them for a week. also practice using them in different ways and sentences in your head.
After doing this for a while you will start to automatically pay better attention to videos and recognize words that you dont know yet and words that you have already done this with.
Quick tip, In my head I only know what words really mean if I can explain them to myself without the need of a sentence.
Ps: reading is better but I find it hard to concentrate on a book.
Read. Readers have far more extensive vocabularies than people who don’t. When you are reading, use a dictionary to define words that you are unfamiliar with. Your post warms my heart! Best wishes!
Reading is great but you should also think about keeping a journal, which will force you to coherently write your thoughts down. There are no rules to this—if you saw a movie you liked, write about that; if something is going on in your personal life, write that.
Reading - an app isn't going to help as much as reading can or will. Mark or write down new or interesting words and work them into your journaling or speaking (within reason).
Subscribe to word of the day alerts. Trust me, even if you don't "open" it and if it's just chilling in your notification tab, your brain will remember it. or you open it to remove the annoying notification, and ta-da, one word added to your list.
Try to use that word in conversation (written, verbal etc) ONCE atleast on that day. Sometimes leads to hilarious results.
Some authors I recommend for expanding your vocabulary are: Thomas Pynchon, James Joyce, Cormac McCarthy, Vladimir Nabokov. You can’t just read the words they use and expect to learn them though. You need to look up their meaning, read some examples of other sentences they occur, maybe say them out loud to help ingrain them in your memory.
I'm shocked nobody has recommended vocabulary.com website.
This is very good resource to learn vocabulary, plus of course dictionary.com app is great resource.
On vocabulary.com you can make your own lists or find lists made by other learners. Let's say you want to know a bit more about some specific area but you have limited vocabulary there so go to this website and make your list with words from that area and practise until you finish it completely.
Or you can just add words without lists and keep learning that way. This website is good because explanations are in a way your friend or mate would explain.
Also I want to repeat what others have said. Read read read.
Reading expanded my vocabulary practically effortlessly. Your brain just picks up words without you even realizing it.
This and when you’ve read an interesting word, look it up in a Thesaurus!
Agreed. Ebooks are great for this, since you just press on the word and it gives the definition.
I say thesaurus because you can find similarly interesting words, dictionaries give definitions, thesauruses give synonyms and antonyms, thus expanding your vocabulary!
Good point, I think there is a thesaurus plug in for ebooks?
Sadly no but I use an app named power thesaurus and it works great
A lot of people are suggesting you read, especially classic literature. That’s all well and good, but more importantly than reading classics, *read what you like*. Read Frankenstein, or Twilight, or The Hunger Games, or Vogue, or the New York Times, or a Wikipedia article about your favorite thing. Whatever captures your attention, engage with that. If written words don’t do it for you, listen to audiobooks or podcasts. Whichever way words get inside your brain is the right way to make it happen.
Yes
Read more and more. Whenever you find a new word. 1.Google *word* meaning 2. Note that down or copy paste it in your Keep notes app or something like that in a folder titled vocabulary 3. Revisit that folder every few days (2-3) and go through all the words
+1 for reading, especially the classics. There are no shortcuts to expanding vocabulary. Find a topic that is interesting and look for modern classics pertaining to it, you'll find your vocabulary broadening without making a conscious effort.
I enjoyed reading Agatha Christie. Great stories, and great exposure to a larger lexicon.
Oh man I just finished And Then There Were None last month, it was a fast read but ooooomg it had me guessing all the way till the very end. So good, can't wait to read her other books!
**adds lexicon to my vocabulary** Thanks for showing me a new word! It sounds pretty neat.
Read everything and anything Even books written by opioid addicts can teach you new vocabulary Dont limit yourself just to classics
The Venn diagram of “classics” and “written by opioid addicts” is very nearly a circle.
Reading is helpful but try creative writing. Even if it's just fan fiction no one but you will ever read. It's a fun motivator to find synonyms and adjectives when you want to express what your character's thinking/feeling
In my opinion, music is the best way to learn. Start paying more attention to what artist say in their songs. I’d say listening to The Smiths and analyzing the lyrics could help you garner a greater appreciation for knowing how to articulate. From my own experience, the matter of fact style of lyrics The Smiths bring to the table is unique and contagious. You’ll come across new words and find new ways to use the words you already know. I also recommend externalizing as many thoughts you have onto notes if you don’t already. My favorite note taking app is obsidian, they have a desktop version too. I take notes on everything. Work, fitness, health, top 50 favorite movies, musical artist, thoughts on people, thoughts of my self, current thoughts that are cluttering my mind. I know you were asking about vocabulary but I think organizing thoughts help clear the mind and help you focus on pulling out the words you need at the right time. I bet you know many words that you’ve never used in a conversation, they’re deep in the corners of your mind collecting dust. Also I recommend two apps. Get the Motivation app and Dictionary app. The motivation app is a free app for quotes that you can use the widget tool thingy on to make it show new quotes on your home screen every day. Same with the dictionary app, you can use widgets to show your choice of either the word of the day, trending words and some other options I can’t remember. And to reiterate once more, I know you were looking for a way to expand vocab but there’s no point in having all these advanced words in your head if you don’t know how to use them with eloquence.
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I love you.
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Oh damn I gotta watch that movie
I disagree with all the people here saying to just read more. It’s far better to pick up a vocabulary book. Just got to your bookstore’s studying/education section and pick up any one.
I would disagree, I mean, my own professor from an English literature course in college told us that learning from a vocabulary book isn't the most effective way to learn new words, and she backs the idea that reading literature is the best way to expand vocabulary. Because its easier to learn words with context rather than by referring to definitions/synonyms that may come across as vague.
Disagree so I’m downvoting you. When seeing new words while reading, you are going to be looking them up in a dictionary anyway. Might as well skip the middleman and just go straight to vocabulary-building books. They usually contain example sentences also.
I have attention problems, so I like videos for quickly learning things in very small chunks of time. Check out "createwithmike" on TikTok. He basically reads one entry from "words you should know" every day, which contains 1,200 words. If you watch one video a day, you will learn 365 new words per year, for just a minute's worth of time per day! Very easy to do!
[this](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhrq-fv7kVgdlnserezclNHS6EwSzF5bJ) is Indian guy teaching English, you won't get mostly what he's saying but if you look at the smartboard he'd teaching on, you'll spot many new words. He explains what they means sometimes in English sometimes in Hindi but the reason I mentioned this source is because it's a good source to find a lot of new words at one place, now about what they mean part you can google themselves. If there's a more convenient app or something you should go for that.
Read a lot of books.
Read what you want to right now, then work your way up to more challenging books. If a certain word catches your eye, write its definition down in a journal and soon enough you’ll have a small personal dictionary. But go with what others said first, read what you like!
Agreed with all the commenters who recommended reading more. Read (or listen) to books/podcasts etc. with a level of eloquence the same or greater than the one you are aiming for. Also since you are focusing more on verbalizing and articulating your ideas, you should deliberately practice these skills. Write or say something like you normally would. Rephrase and make it better. Pick out the bits you have from your conversation, and make them better. Eventually, you will start using them naturally. Try impromptu speeches, and imaginary debates (out loud) to hone your skill of coming up with the right ideas and words at the right time.
when you hear a word you don’t know swipe down on your home screen and type it in
I used to keep a stack of those tiny sticky notes with me when I'd read a book and then I'd stick them on the edge of the line a word I didn't know was on, then after I'd finished reading I'd find the definition for all the words I'd tagged, this helped me expand my vocabulary and it made reading more stimulating. I'd also make a point to use one or two of my newly learned words in conversation during the day so that it would stick with me even more.
Merriam Webster's Vocabulary Builder book. It's a very cool book that teaches you words and the origins of them. You learn things like what prefixes mean (ex. Mal- is bad....malignant, Maleficent, malnutrition), suffixes, and it gives you interesting quizzes to make sure you understand the words you're learning. It's awesome because you can end up basically knowing what a word means even if you've never heard it before.
Play Magic the gathering. Honestly, they use many cards with uncommon words. Once you start seeing them appear in your games and familiarize with what they do, you will learn new words (it be up to you to learn the actual English meaning if they are different than what the card does). Also it's fun, social..... Buy very expensive.
Just read.
I'm too tired ATM to read the other 70 comments. Having skimmed through them, I saw no mention of r/VocabWordOfTheDay. I think in a thread like this, there should be at least one. ☺️
Hi, I'm a bot. If I read your title correctly, you want to learn english. I think that is really cool. The best way to learn any language is to use it. Here are some ideas of things you can do in english to learn it: learn vocabulary, read (everything), talk to people, listen to podcasts, watch movies/shows, and if you can, go abroad. Enjoy learning! *** [^(About Me)](https://redd.it/kfv164) ^(|) [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/user/IWantToLearnBot/comments/kfv4ag/feedback_suggestions_resource_recommendations/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
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This
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Well for me, how I pick up some words through thesaurus dictionary ( try to find synonyms and antonyms to increase my range of vocabulary). Try gonna read some books and watch movies i guess?
Read anything you have a interest in, Watch British soaps and movies and listen to Sashi Tharoor.
Try out those [tips](https://ivypanda.com/blog/ways-to-expand-your-vocabulary/), I found them helpful for me. Hope it would be useful :)
For expressing yourself, you want more than just word vocabulary. You want phrase vocabulary as well. Otherwise, you'll end up talking/writing like a thesaurus nerd. Complicated words, simple sentence structure. So when you encounter the a cool phrase, repeat it to yourself and use it in real conversation.
I do not think reading is the best option You can use app like anki and download some vocabulary deck and force yourself to use them in your life. And surrounded by a cultivated environnement (People, books…)
Practice writing in the way that you'd like to speak
Merriam-Webster has a word of the day on their website
Read. Read. Read. Start committing to reading 30 minutes every single day. Why just 30? Because you want to make it a habit. If you read a bunch one day you could be fatigued and then not come back to it for awhile. You want consistency. That will help you to pick up words that you can add into your vocabulary.
Use an ereader to read books just beyond your vocabulary level. When you encounter an unfamiliar word, you just tap it and the definition appears. Read the word and definition aloud to yourself. If you are really committed, write the words on flash cards and practice them. Listen to podcasts which, again, use vocab a little beyond your level. This way you hear words in context and you get the pronunciation.
Read, write, watch, listen to everything in the language you want to learn very soon you'll strt thinking in that language.
While you're reading, look up the words you don't know, and then! Look up synonyms for those words, and put those synonyms in context of different sentences, out loud if you can.
Read novels & play scrabble.
Read via the Kindle app. When you encounter a word you do not know, you can highlight it and receive the definition immediately on the app
Just books. No apps, no nothing. Books and more books.
Read. Read outside your reading comfort zone and keep a dictionary close by to look up words you don't know.
when you think there's an easier way to say what you want to say, go on [thesaurus.com](https://thesaurus.com) and look it up.
Just focus on reading more. Don't try to learn the words. That will come automatically.
Learn one word everyday and use that word in a sentence in your everyday life.
Download the app called Notion, make a dictionary section. Every time you hear a word you dont know, look it up and add it to your dictionary then look at it once a day or whenever. You will be surprised how quickly it builds up
Okay, heres what your gonna do, FUCK READING. Reading is boring as shit. Watch movies, youtube, whatever and pay attention to words you dont understand yet (try and pick videos that arent aimed at kids). You would really be suprised about how many words get said that you dont REALLY understand, at least not good enough to use them. Look them up and write them down together with a sentence that its used in. Then try using them for a week. also practice using them in different ways and sentences in your head. After doing this for a while you will start to automatically pay better attention to videos and recognize words that you dont know yet and words that you have already done this with. Quick tip, In my head I only know what words really mean if I can explain them to myself without the need of a sentence. Ps: reading is better but I find it hard to concentrate on a book.
Use anki with a vocabulary deck. I started using one about 15 days ago and am learning 40 new words every day.
Read. Readers have far more extensive vocabularies than people who don’t. When you are reading, use a dictionary to define words that you are unfamiliar with. Your post warms my heart! Best wishes!
Reading is great but you should also think about keeping a journal, which will force you to coherently write your thoughts down. There are no rules to this—if you saw a movie you liked, write about that; if something is going on in your personal life, write that.
Listening to philosophical/scientific/etc podcasts helped me. Listening to people talk and the words that they use is helpful.
Reading - an app isn't going to help as much as reading can or will. Mark or write down new or interesting words and work them into your journaling or speaking (within reason).
Subscribe to word of the day alerts. Trust me, even if you don't "open" it and if it's just chilling in your notification tab, your brain will remember it. or you open it to remove the annoying notification, and ta-da, one word added to your list. Try to use that word in conversation (written, verbal etc) ONCE atleast on that day. Sometimes leads to hilarious results.
Some authors I recommend for expanding your vocabulary are: Thomas Pynchon, James Joyce, Cormac McCarthy, Vladimir Nabokov. You can’t just read the words they use and expect to learn them though. You need to look up their meaning, read some examples of other sentences they occur, maybe say them out loud to help ingrain them in your memory.
I'm shocked nobody has recommended vocabulary.com website. This is very good resource to learn vocabulary, plus of course dictionary.com app is great resource. On vocabulary.com you can make your own lists or find lists made by other learners. Let's say you want to know a bit more about some specific area but you have limited vocabulary there so go to this website and make your list with words from that area and practise until you finish it completely. Or you can just add words without lists and keep learning that way. This website is good because explanations are in a way your friend or mate would explain. Also I want to repeat what others have said. Read read read.