Xah Lee, 1995,..., 2008.
This project contains a list over five thousand English words with usage examples, loosely grouped into several classes in over 100 files.
For a intro on why i compiled this list, see: English Vocabulary, Introduction.
Today's A Word A Day.
Words commonly found in magazines or newspapers. A great source for SAT↗ preparation. High school students starts here.
SAT Words pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Similar in nature to the SAT group but more difficult. You may find them in GREs (Graduate Record Exams↗). SAT and GRE words are basically words found in journalism. (as opposed to novels or other literatures.)
GRE Words pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
When i cannot find a categorical basket to put the word in, i dump it here. Writers are the ones to blame for this utter quandary.
Writer's Words pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
More writer's words from past A-Word-A-Day: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
What a strung-out tongue-in-cheek booby-trap!
I daresay the forthcoming outlook of a headstrong crackpot is oftentimes a polymath not unlike the foresight of yours truly.
Compound word or portmanteau words. For many of these words, the hyphen eventually dis-appears. For example, email started as e-mail for electronic-mail. (As email becomes infused into household usage, there is a gradual tendency to drop the e in email.
Familiar words with unfamiliar meanings or likely to be misunderstood. For example, a seedy hotel; It's not cricket to cheat at cards; marshal all the relevant facts for the presentation.
Words that looks glaringly foreign. Exempli gratia: de facto, bona fide, ad hoc, voilà, et cetera. From a etymology point of view, most words are foreign anyway.
Iike, more bang for the buck.
Yup! So what's the diff between slang and informal? Often, slang begin as slang, and when they become pop, pundits upgrade them to informal status. Sometimes, dictionaries will disagree on a word status being slang, informal, or standard.
Nouns are the least interesting class, period.
Difficult, obscure, or specialized jargon, but not archaic. Often interesting ones that tickles mentality. Psy. lingoes like Oedipus complex or phallic worship; med. jargons like alexia or neurasthenic; litterateur archaisms like misology and misogyny, what-not esoterica like clepsydra/sextant; sexual technicalities like coitus interruptus or mastectomy; philosophical, philological, or cunnilingual gibberish from dualism to tribadism, from idealism to Dadaism, to theism/atheism/agnosticism, of solipsism to deconstructionism and gaga.
Synonym, paronym, homonym, homophone, homograph, and other kind of nameless nymphs of my fancy.
Some unsorted collection of words.
Other misc compilations
See also: