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100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know

houghtonmifflinbooks.com — BOSTON, MA — The editors of the American Heritage® dictionaries have compiled a list of 100 words they recommend every high school graduate should know.

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  • spinchange, on 10/11/2007, -3/+295I was at first lugubrious that I couldn't circumnavigate this lexicon. It occurs to me though that it's a bit supercilious to expect it all to be within even the most loquacious high school grad's acumen. Such circumlocution should be abstemious, lest one cast an unctuous appearance which would be socially deleterious.

    Translation: At first, I felt bad that I didn't know many of the words. Really though, It's pretty elitist to think that even the most wordy high-schooler would know them all. Such ***** with them should done rarely, unless you want to look like your full of *****, which probably won't make you very many new friends.


    • zlintux, on 10/11/2007, -1/+47My favourite word to say on a plane describes most of them, and fits amongst them: Bombastic
    • Foliot, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10Dude, please. China-man is not the preferred nomenclature.
    • WeBuiltThisCity, on 10/11/2007, -9/+2Someone please post this list with a definition for each. I didn't know quite a few of them.
    • esotericguy, on 10/11/2007, -8/+2OW.OW.OW.MY HEAD!!!!
    • BicBall, on 10/11/2007, -7/+33"unless you want to look like your full of *****"

      you're
    • halavais, on 10/11/2007, -17/+16That was painful.

      "...lugubrious that..."

      You are either lugubrious or not. There is no "that."

      "...circumnavigate this lexicon."

      Suggest that you did not dive right in. Enough beating around the bush.

      "Such circumlocution should be abstemious..."

      Come now! How on earth can circumlocution abstain? People abstain. You could have said "Such circumlocutors should abstain..."

      Finally, ***** is spelled with a double T, unless you are affecting a particular regionalism, which I tend to doubt.
    • CanIGetAWitness, on 10/11/2007, -2/+28Indeed. While some of those words are common, I can sum up the list with:

      Pompous
    • drafhk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I knew none of those words except lugubrious. It actually means "insincerely mournful." So, in fact, you weren't actually sorry you didn't know the list at first, you were just putting on a facade, weren't you? You deceived us. For shame.
    • capiCrimm, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Ah, bon vive to my bon vivant. I'm adamant any polymath seeking the zenith of elucidation -- dissatisfied by the carnal tributaries born from our world's sophomoric ideologies anathema -- must bowdlerize all puerile hubris and odious to transmute the onus probandi to themselves. Remain fast animus through the tribulations, comminate the yuppie and scud past matriculation , an argumentum ad populum. Abeunt studia in mores for I speak of an awful, comely moral imperative. Or qua juxtaposition in the franca lingua of the uncouth abecedarian miei; ***** the bourgeoisie and live! ;)



    • avihappy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Control-Apple-D
    • Fedge, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9*Golf Clap*
    • expliquezvous, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8@halavais

      you had me until the end, because i'm pretty sure that '*****' is actually spelled with a double L as well.
    • KyleGoetz, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4In this thread, we try to make fun of this word list by using the words, but still end up misusing them despite having a dictionary at our fingertips. your you're they're their there its it's hi i forgot how to use words i learned in 3rd grade
    • bimtott, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Hooray for Shift+F7.
    • unloud, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6"you were just putting on a facade, weren't you? "

      I'd like to think he was actually putting on a façade.
  • coltrane68, on 10/11/2007, -1/+85Note that many of the words are adjectives for which there are much simpler synonyms in common use. I would rather hear a h.s. grad use "talkative" or even "chatty" than "loquacious", which sounds stilted and pretentious.
    • tidu, on 10/11/2007, -1/+24I am usually a taciturn person until you get to know me.
    • halavais, on 10/11/2007, -1/+24But that is also the beauty of English. These are *not* equivalent words, they are merely similar in meaning. It's a little like saying that an artist has no need for sage or mint when they are all forms of green. It's true that they are all green, but saying that a person is "chatty" and saying that they are "loquacious" conveys two different sorts of things.
    • fatejudger, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7Well I, being a supercilious person myself, welcome the chance to further my linguistic skills as well as my elitist attitude.
    • ujjwal, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2@halavais - could you please explain the differences between loquacious and talkative (this is an honest question)?
    • Mast3rDigg3r, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1not true

      tantamount = equivalent
    • RockSlice, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4@ujjwal:
      Talkative: talks a lot
      Loquacious: a good talker, speaks well
    • KyleGoetz, on 10/11/2007, -5/+6Loquacious is stronger than talkative. It's kind of like incensed, infuriated, mad, angry, pissed off, and hopping mad. They're all variations on a theme. Criticising people for using the word "loquacious" is like a really, really low-class guy getting mad that you use the word "angry" instead of "***** pissed."

      It's not pedantic unless you're trying to show off; in fact, there's a benefit -- if you use the big words, you are sending subconscious clues to your fellow converesants that you have a good education and therefore may be open to different types of conversations. For example, if you're in a bar and some guy says, "My, what a provocative concept!" you know that he may be more willing to discuss Kierkegaard's philosophy with you, while someone who says, "Stop ***** with my head!" may not be down with discussing 20th-century philosophy.

      Note that I didn't say it makes one person better than the other; it merely signals a person's proclivity for a certain type of conversation.
  • shuuy, on 10/11/2007, -6/+31lugbrious?! jejune?! ziggurat?!!?!

    I'm sure 99% of the population doesn't even know the definitions of "common words" like these
    • kevir, on 10/11/2007, -1/+71Warcraft 3 players know what a ziggurat is. "Need more ziggurats!" "Not enough mana!"
    • eaasness, on 10/11/2007, -1/+14I learned what a ziggurat was while playing Diablo ][.

      Edit: FYI Digg's spell check didn't even know ziggurat.
    • jub0r, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3A Ziggurat is an ancient Sumerian temple. IIRC
    • nycmac247, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5what ***** college did you go to!?!?!?

      what ***** college did I go to!?!?!?

      who cares -- but listening might be the key, not big words
    • drafhk, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2"The Tower of Babel" in the Bible was a ziggurat. Chalk that one up to worthless knowledge.
  • wonderchemist, on 10/11/2007, -4/+91You only need to know 100 words to graduate from H.S. now?
    • ZPWeeks, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I've seen illiterate kids graduate from my public high school (we're in a middle-class suburban neighborhood with fairly well-funded public schools.)
      Nothing made me feel more worthless at my graduation than seeing the illiterate kid next to me get one. This is what happens when athletics take precedence over academics.
      My best friend was passed out of English twice when he should have failed - both on accounts of teacher sympathy.
  • bobabot1, on 10/11/2007, -2/+82Shouldn't the focus be on teaching kids how to figure words out in context rather than memorizing them?

    I'd rather have a small vocabulary and the ability to use context rather than a vast but meaningless vocabulary of words.
    • HunterTV, on 10/11/2007, -2/+56"Context" isn't on that list. You fail.
    • mikesty, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12Amen to that, and that's why the majority of my graduating class can't ***** talk properly. For years we had vocab lists where we were to memorize the definitions of the words and then spit them back out on to a test a week later. Some teachers tried to act like they were doing their job and made us do massive vocabulary projects. Then of course there is an after-school SAT vocab prep course. That's right, an entire extracurricular dedicated just to memorizing words that will be on the test.

      Rarely do we ever have to try speaking these words, or using them in a decent context. This is why our speech (and I'm guilty of it too, it's even gotten worse when I do not speak consciously) is peppered with the word 'like'.
    • barryiggins, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8as far as I can tell, its never been about figuring things out in context; that's what we call "thinking"--and can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if everyone was actually thinking?
    • tehtopher, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2I'm graduating this coming Saturday and I knew the majority of these words just from their context in classes I took. Also, there's quite a few science-related words that you'd know from a basic overview of biology, chemistry, and physics. That said, you'd sound like a pretentious prick for using half of the words on that list in everyday conversation.
  • JayyMan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+32How about we worry about people graduating first.
    • shaunmadams, on 10/11/2007, -2/+110LET ARE KIDS WALK
    • eaasness, on 10/11/2007, -1/+24@JayyMan

      Yeah we should lower the qualifications so everyone graduates. "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND"
  • jaredpariah, on 10/11/2007, -1/+22It's great to have a good vocabulary, but if you define a list of words as "the words to learn" then students will try to memorize those and not learn how to become persuasive speakers. It's more important to learn how to speak effectively and intelligently, than to learn the definitions for a bunch of synonyms that make you sound like a prick.
  • cactus476, on 10/11/2007, -14/+6101: Boobies
  • bergur1, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5A lot of the words to the right had to do with biology/math so it should have been easy to recognize if you took algebra and biology in highschool.
  • trisquit, on 10/11/2007, -47/+3abjure
    abrogate
    abstemious
    acumen
    antebellum
    auspicious
    belie
    bellicose
    bowdlerize
    chicanery
    chromosome
    churlish
    circumlocution
    circumnavigate
    deciduous
    deleterious
    diffident
    enervate
    enfranchise
    epiphany
    equinox
    euro
    evanescent
    expurgate
    facetious
    fatuous
    feckless
    fiduciary
    filibuster
    gamete
    gauche
    gerrymander
    hegemony
    hemoglobin
    homogeneous
    hubris
    hypotenuse
    impeach
    incognito
    incontrovertible
    inculcate
    infrastructure
    interpolate
    irony
    jejune
    kinetic
    kowtow
    laissez faire
    lexicon
    loquacious



    lugubrious
    metamorphosis
    mitosis
    moiety
    nanotechnology
    nihilism
    nomenclature
    nonsectarian
    notarize
    obsequious
    oligarchy
    omnipotent
    orthography
    oxidize
    parabola
    paradigm
    parameter
    pecuniary
    photosynthesis
    plagiarize
    plasma
    polymer
    precipitous
    quasar
    quotidian
    recapitulate
    reciprocal
    reparation
    respiration
    sanguine
    soliloquy
    subjugate
    suffragist
    supercilious
    tautology
    taxonomy
    tectonic
    tempestuous
    thermodynamics
    totalitarian
    unctuous
    usurp
    vacuous
    vehement
    vortex
    winnow
    wrought
    xenophobe
    yeoman
    ziggurat
    • Aeaus, on 10/11/2007, -4/+26The site belongs to a large corporation, there's no need for such a senseless "mirror."
  • kingvik, on 10/11/2007, -29/+3I'm in high school and I'm smart but i don't know a lot of those words.
    • Satanael, on 10/11/2007, -1/+38Well then maybe you're not smart.

      Oh that was so cruel...
    • xstarsprinklesx, on 10/11/2007, -3/+23That's because you haven't graduated yet.
    • biochem, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11Little piece of advice for life. Dont tell people u think ur smart. Even if u are, its not a smart thing to do. Youll come off conceited and youll be a target and get shot down pretty quickly. And people wont want to be your friend.
  • nymphetamine, on 10/11/2007, -6/+63***** that *****.
    • Roger, on 10/11/2007, -2/+43Shakespeare couldn't have said it better.
  • gfair, on 10/11/2007, -4/+78I'd be happy if they just got "they, their, they're" and "you, your, you're" correct. That alone would be a major improvement.
    • KloroFormd, on 10/11/2007, -5/+48For some reason you're getting dug down, but I agree completely.

      EDIT: Isn't it strange that as soon as someone asks why someone else is getting dug down... they get dug back up? You're all a bunch of tools.
    • Rooster99, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11You forgot "There".
    • Verdanic, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8I hate that people still can't figure that out. It makes my insides itchy when people ***** that up, really.
    • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9"I'd be happy if they just got "they, their, they're" and "you, your, you're" correct. That alone would be a major improvement."

      Oh man, I hate when people do that. Some people are such loosers.
    • Ac1d, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I hate when people get "then" and "than" mixed up the most, I mean.. come on!
    • thesquire, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1In my high school English class misspelling your, you're, yore, there, their, or they're would get you an automatic D on the paper. It would seem unfair, but it was a great lesson on the importance of details in writing.
    • usemanzana, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1I, for one, hate "looser"

      I may be a loser, I may fail at life, but as far as I can tell I'm pretty tight.

      (Oh gawd, the proon connections....)
  • spamly, on 10/11/2007, -3/+53"fries" "with" "that" "order"...
    • Dmatias, on 10/11/2007, -4/+33No your mistaken those are from that other list "4 Words Every High School Drop-out Should Know"
    • jimmiss, on 10/11/2007, -9/+6No, that'd be high school graduate. College Dropout is what your thinking of.
  • jersey, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4It's context. Don't just give them a list of words to memorize, give them a book that contains these words. Then they are much more likely to learn the word(s), and use the word properly in conversation.
    • geminitojanus, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6I think a book containing all of those words would be a fairly interesting one indeed.

      "The sanguine quasar, impeaching the hegemony that is facetiously gerrymandering, lingering in the hemoglobin of the gods of the totalitarian media..."
  • endustry, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6I think this list should be called "100 Words We Wish That Don King Did NOT Know."
  • TULKUP, on 10/11/2007, -13/+1male biological clock http://how-old-is-too-old.blogspot.com/
  • Me1on, on 10/11/2007, -5/+33More like "100 words nobody ever uses."
    • geminitojanus, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3I think it's the exact opposite of that, words that are used commonly this year throughout the media ("impeach" being the glaringly obvious one).
  • EnP24, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6:: sits on dictionary.com for an hour ::
  • gregharmon, on 10/11/2007, -2/+19So a company that sells dictionaries, puts out a list of words that 99% of all people will not know, unless they use a dictionary to figure it out ... what could they ever be up to!
    • Firehed, on 10/11/2007, -2/+241. Drive traffic to wiktionary.org.
      2. Don't sell dictionaries
      3. ???????
      4. "*****. Well, that backfired."
  • RonPaulPres2008, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8Would be nice if you can click on each one to get the definition... soooo lazy.
  • r5a2k3, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1That was pretty *****, I was expecting sweet street terms or somthing, slang.

    NOT EDUCATION.
    • rnwen2750, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I know, god forbid something on digg help us learn something! ;)
  • JusticeAK, on 10/11/2007, -6/+2I know about 30.
  • Roger, on 10/11/2007, -6/+8I'm pretty sure half those "words" are made up.
    • Dichotomic, on 10/11/2007, -5/+1Just because you don't understand them doesn't mean that they aren't real... Is everything that you don't understand fake?
    • Roger, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8('Twas a joke)
  • grevvvvvv, on 10/11/2007, -9/+7IMPEACH - It's your duty to know this one.
  • rboyce, on 10/11/2007, -1/+15nihilism:
    WE BELIEVE IN NOTHING, LEBOWSKI!
    • jimmiss, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Yeah, they used the word fatuous too. Also in that movie:-) Didn't have "parlance" of our times though!
  • squareyard, on 10/11/2007, -9/+1"IMPEACH"

    that was the whole purpose of the list.
  • xstarsprinklesx, on 10/11/2007, -5/+2There are a few there that I don't think even the average "intelligent" high school graduate would necessarily know (like maybe "unctuous" or "abstemious"), but probably most of them you'd learn contextually in high school classes anyway. "Chromosome," "hubris," "impeach" — those are words you learn in science, literature, and goverment classes. Most of the other words on the list are the same way.
  • albatross5000, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9Dugg for the grammatically incorrect intro sentence. Redundant: "recommend every high school graduate should".
  • BayAreaKing, on 10/11/2007, -5/+3it says "recommend"..that means your not a retard if you dont know all of em...whew..
  • fronta1, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2...nnnope
  • Raidenwolf, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1Damn, another regret in life. I should have learned Latin.

  • noahhoward, on 10/11/2007, -4/+3I wish they'd teach 'well regulated' to the 'right to bear arms' crowd when they start bitching.
  • Scaryclouds, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Use all those words in a job interview and see if you get it...
    Sad truth be told, one does so much need to know stuff any more as know how to find it. That is how to properly use Google/ the internet to find the information they need to know.
  • eaasness, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4Is this the King's English?
  • rabidjade, on 10/11/2007, -3/+0There are bigger things to worry about in the educational system than words that children might use outside of the classroom maybe once.
  • Kakou, on 10/11/2007, -9/+4buried for having the word "evanescent". Words related to ***** bands should be slashed from the dictionary in the way brand names are added as verbs.
  • pnmoore, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2I believe that I have a very extensive vocabulary and I only knew 75 of these words for sure. I have seen some of the others, but am not positive of their meaning. I agree that being able to speak well and infer the meaning of words from context are much more valuable skills for grads to have. Sounds to me like they are trying to sell dictionaries.
  • berb, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1I didn't know a bunch of those words. Some of them should be obvious to everybody who went through high school (photosynthesis, respiration, plagiarize, etc...) but I can't remember the last time (if ever!) I came across "yeoman" or "bowdlerize" or "abstemious".
  • buff01, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Terrible list... who writes this stuff?
  • Radiohead84, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Ok great those a words...some of them are used once and a while but most of those are used....oh yeah...never.

    There is a much more useful list that could be created while not tooting your own horn "OH I A SMARTZ"
  • chenkersthecat, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2What a useless publication. It's how you use the words that you know that's important, not the extent of your vocabulary. After all, simplicity in language use and expression is key to effective communication.

    Why use the the word "belie" (which is on the list) when the more common and widely used synonyms contradict, misrepresent and negate are available?

  • shortarabguy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Awesome, 52/100 and a few weeks left to learn the rest!

    To be perfectly honest, a large vocabulary is completely unnecessary and often deleterious for common discussion. It's the correct use of that vocabulary, be it 100 or 1000 words, which makes all the difference in the world. If you throw huge, unnatural words into a sentence, you'll look like a completely pretentious ***** who's spent too much time with his thesaurus. When one hears more common language, even on formal documents, it makes the reader more comfortable with what is being presented. No idea is too complicated to be described in easy, short words.

    "To get your ideas across, use small words, big ideas, and short sentences."
    -John H. Patterson
  • kahnartizt07, on 10/11/2007, -5/+1Omnipotent is what i call my hard drive lol!
    • shortarabguy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1What does that even mean?
    • silverchrysalis, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1all powerful

      must be a better hd than mine...
  • Dipster, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6What? No Embiggens or Cromulent?
  • moin1097, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Judging the way our liberal education system is adjusting the curriculum to cater to the lowest common denominator, the only words our current crop of graduates need to know are:
    you
    want
    fries
    with
    that
  • patkirkrick, on 10/11/2007, -2/+69Well, I'll probably get in trouble for the length of this but I resolved to learn them all.

    abjure - to renounce, repudiate
    abrogate - to abolish by formal or official means
    abstemious - paring or moderate in eating and drinking
    acumen - shrewdness
    antebellum - before the war, esp. the Civil War
    auspicious - promising success
    belie - contradict
    bellicose - aggressively hostile (haven't seen that word since reading DPRK's news wire)
    bowdlerize - to censor passages in a written work
    chicanery - trickery by quibbling or sophistry
    chromosome - bodies that carry genes
    churlish - boorish; rude
    circumlocution - roundabout way of speaking
    circumnavigate - to navigate a circuit
    deciduous - transitory
    deleterious - harmful
    diffident - reserved in manner
    enervate - to destroy vigor
    enfranchise - to endow with rights
    epiphany - a revelation or sudden perception
    equinox - astronomical start of autumn and spring
    euro - new European currency
    evanescent - vanishing; fading away
    expurgate - to purge of moral offensiveness
    facetious - lacking serious intent
    fatuous - foolish
    feckless - incompetent
    fiduciary - trustee or relating to a trustee
    filibuster - impeding legislation by monopolizing the floor
    gamete - a mature reproductive cell (sperm or egg)
    gauche - lacking social grace
    gerrymander - to finagle election districts to give a political party an advantage
    hegemony - society that seeks to exert dominance
    hemoglobin - oxygen carrying part of blood
    homogeneous - containing the same quality or property everywhere
    hubris - excessive pride
    hypotenuse - side of right triange opposite right angle
    impeach - to accuse
    incognito - concealed identity
    incontrovertible - indisputable
    inculcate - to teach persistently
    infrastructure - underlying framework
    interpolate - to estimate/insert between two points
    irony - meaning contradictory to that expressed
    jejune - juvenile/dull
    kinetic - of motion
    kowtow - to show deference
    laissez faire - noninterference (esp of govt)
    lexicon - dictionary
    loquacious - chatty
    lugubrious - mournful
    metamorphosis - complete change of form
    mitosis - normal cell division
    moiety - half, or indefinite share
    nanotechnology - nanometer-scale technology
    nihilism - anarchy or denial of any real existence
    nomenclature - system of names
    nonsectarian - no specific religious affiliation
    notarize - to legally witness and certify
    obsequious - complete deference
    oligarchy - government by the few
    omnipotent - infinite power
    orthography - correct writing and spelling
    oxidize - to combine oxygen or remove electrons
    parabola - pattern formed by intersection of plane parallel with a cone
    paradigm - a model or set of forms
    parameter - a constant or variable
    pecuniary - pertaining to money
    photosynthesis - producing organic materials using light
    plagiarize - to steal another's thoughts and words
    plasma - ionized gas, liquid part of blood without suspended elements
    polymer - using smaller molecules to build a complex molecular compound
    precipitous - extremely steep
    quasar - hyper-distant, hyper-old primordial soup of galaxies
    quotidian - recurring daily, customary
    recapitulate - summarize
    reciprocal - mutual, or 1 divided by a number
    reparation - amends
    respiration - process of providing oxygent to tissues
    sanguine - hopeful
    soliloquy - talking as if alone
    subjugate - enslave
    suffragist - one who advocates giving a right to vote
    supercilious - contemptuous
    tautology - needless repetition
    taxonomy - science of classification
    tectonic - of construction, of earth's crust
    tempestuous - turbulent
    thermodynamics - of heat and energy
    totalitarian - authoritarian, no tolerance
    unctuous - excessive piousness, oily
    usurp - to use or serve wrongfully
    vacuous - without contents
    vehement - zealous
    vortex - a whirling mass
    winnow - to separate impurities
    wrought - that which has been worked on
    xenophobe - fearing outsiders
    yeoman - clerical naval officer, farmer owning own land
    ziggurat - pyramidal Sumerian temple
    • drafhk, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Damn. You're my hero dude.
    • moin1097, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11OK, fine. But you forgot to label which ones were "across" and which were "down".
    • t1andonlywall, on 10/11/2007, -5/+3lol, half of those definitions have words that i don't understand.
    • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9About 1/3 of those I haven't seen in over 10 years, and I read a lot, just not novels. I have a big vocabulary, but I'm not going to waste time learning words that only appear every few years. Ziggurat (pyramidal Sumerian temple) is a top 100 word that every one should know???? I call *****.

      The latin roots of words are most important to know, because they give the broadest foundation for educated guessing. Another dumb one is "suffragist" (one who encourages voting)... why not "suffrage", the root of the word, which means the right to vote. Everyone understands that adding -ist at the end implies a noun, like "violin-ist".

      That they consider these rarely used words to be significant proves the list is total *****:
      jejune - juvenile/dull
      moiety - half, or indefinite share
      quotidian - recurring daily, customary
      unctuous - excessive piousness, oily
      ziggurat - pyramidal Sumerian temple
    • DopeWeasel, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2@BeyondGoodnEvil

      Agreed... also, what's the deal with "nonsectarian" being on the list? What's wrong with just including "sect" and leaving off the prefix and suffix? Do they really think we are all that dumb that we can't extrapolate the meaning of "nonsectarian" from the root "sect"?

    • mikesbaker, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1ok now how can use the most of them in a sentence
      and @BeyondGoodnEvil
      you use those words to sound smart you troglodyte
    • Angostura, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2 BeyondGoodnEvil

      You pretty much chose the words that I didn't know, except I knew ziggurat and unctuous. Unctuous is a fine word actually, particularly useful if you have to interact with any PR people or marketeers.

      Oh ... I didn't know antebellum, either ... but I'm not sure that it;s a word much used in British English.
    • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2My point is there are like 100,000 words in the English language. Shakespeare had a vocabulary of around 30,000 words which is as high as anyone ever uses. The words they should have had on the list are ones that are spoken commonly by highly intelligent people, that may be more specific/scientific than is ordinarily used among commoners, but most importantly, that are ACTUALLY USED. I don't like knowing synonyms just for the sake of appearing superior. Why would anyone use the word lugubrious, when they could just use "mournful"? I mean to put hypotenuse on the list, which is universally known, and also claim that "moeity" should be known by the same ***** who don't know "hypotenuse"... that's just absurd. The list is unctuous, and a bull's bowels are now vacuous.
  • gr00vy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4Ok, this really reads like an NPR listener's guide to the radio. (And people would call me a liberal).

    I am surprised that ad hominem wasn't in there. Ooops, my bad. There would be NO radio if people knew the definition of that.
  • cwiz7, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1I think I knew less than ten of those. They should make a new list called, "The Words Every Graduate Knows But Shouldn't"
    • mrASSMAN, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Less than 10? ..that's pretty sad.
    • cwiz7, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1Ok I just counted and it's exactly ten. I know that's sad, but vocabulary's not my thing. I'm WAY better with numbers.
  • djvchris, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Well...of course there are going to be words on there that are obscure; we have to go look them up in the American Heritage Dictionary.

    I consider myself a person of good vocabulary (though I don't show it off as blatantly as someone like O'Reilly with is "Opine" and "Bloviate crap") but I agree that this list seems a little pretentious. "An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows." -Ike
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