CFC English Vocabulary Challenge

Kaitzilla

Kaitzilla

Lord Croissant
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America!
Since I stopped skipping over words that I did not understand, my enjoyment of these forums has grown leaps and bounds.

So!

Every time you come across a word on these forums that you do not understand, look it up and post the definition here.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Not only will you bump up your post count to impressive levels, you will learn something while arguing about ... stuff! :D


HAPPENSTANCE - something that happens by chance
DIATRIBE - an angry and usually long speech or piece of writing that strongly criticizes someone or something
FAUX - imitation, ersatz
-_-
ok, Weber's dictionary failed me on faux.

ERSATZ - copied from something else and usually not as good as the original
DEMAGOGUERY - a political leader who tries to get support by making false claims and promises and using arguments based on emotion rather than reason
(This one is a bit unclear. This definition is for demagogue, so I guess demagoguery is "like a demagogue"? :dunno:)
REACTIONARY - relating to, marked by, or favoring reaction; especially : ultraconservative in politics


I'm averaging to read about 3 posts before ALT-TAB-ing back to this thread :lol:
I will improve! There are only so many words!

CHASSIS - a frame upon which the main parts of an automobile are built
DRIVEL - to talk in a very foolish or silly way
HYSTERECTOMY - surgical removal of the uterus
BASTION - a place or system in which something (such as an old-fashioned idea) continues to survive
EPITOMIZED - to be a perfect example or representation of (something) : to be the epitome of (something)
 
38,300 (I love a test).

Here's what I didn't know, though I recognize some of them, and could make a guess at those.

imbroglio, cenacle, sparge, adumbrate, nostrum, leitmotiv, pabulum, terpsichorean, epigone, clerisy, fulginious, captious, sedulous, vibrissae, cantle, estivation, tatterdemalion, willinaw, funambulist, caitiff, opsimath, pule
Click to expand...
 
English vocabulary makes me feel helpless every time I give it a thought. "As of 30 November 2005, the Oxford English Dictionary contained approximately 301,100 main entries." (c) Ok, I set off learning 10 new words a day, every day, no weekends, no holidays. It will take me 301,100/10/365=82+ years to get through it, and given my age I'm pretty certain to die of natural reasons half-way. Damnit :(
 
jackelgull said:
It isn't as bad as you think, you probably know many of these words already.
Click to expand...

Yeah, right, roundabout 16'700 according to the test mentioned above. Well, it'll take me 80 years then. Still technically unfeasible.

Spoiler :
James-Murray.jpg
 
~10000 in English, according to two different tests.
Found the similar test in Russian, got the result at about 80 percentile for 42yo. Which corresponds to the level of 35000-36000 in English.
 
One of the words I've learned recently:

Malapropism - an amusing error that occurs when a person mistakenly uses a word that sounds like another word but that has a very different meaning.

It was also on that test above which I did abysmal on. In the 30th percentile for my age as a native speaker :sad:

Just learned another one!

Thrall - the state of being in someone's power or having great power over someone.
 
:sad:

I'm going to use this as my excuse

Spoiler :
f828a8b20e0d0c1d7a8c05371b50cb194f01d833d4e962dedf968404a3641756.jpg
 
jess (pl. jesses) band around the leg of a hawk for leashing.
 
I got 24,300. That's around the 40th percentile for a native speaker of my age and close to the average for a 24 year old native speaker.

I find it interesting that the average person's vocabulary seems to peak around the age of 58 or 59 and then begins to decline after that rather than remaining steady.
 
The decline you see is more likely a reflection of older people having been exposed to fewer words through their education than of then forgetting the words.

I got thirty seven thousand.
 
BvBPL said:
The decline you see is more likely a reflection of older people having been exposed to fewer words through their education than of then forgetting the words.

I got thirty seven thousand.
Click to expand...

True. Hopefully this test will remain for a long time as I would like to test myself every year now to see how my vocabulary changes over the years.
 
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