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What word did you just look up?

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ShaunHorton

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So, several times the past few months, I've caught myself trying to use words in my writing that I didn't actually know the meaning to. I thought it might be fun/informative/helpful for us to list those words. So, the question is, what word did you last have to look up?


Thrum

1. Noun. A continuous, rhythmic, humming sound.

2. Verb. Make a continuous, rhythmic, humming sound.
 

Ken

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Am about to investigate "gotcha."
I want to use it like this: "I gotcha a present."
Most likely the word can't be used in that way.
May do so anyway.
 

TomKnighton

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I wasn't looking up a definition, but I hit up the thesaurus to find a better verb for "slowly turns". I'm really, really trying to avoid adverbs in my writing since I'm notorious for using too many of them, and needed a better verb


Am about to investigate "gotcha."
I want to use it like this: "I gotcha a present."
Most likely the word can't be used in that way.
May do so anyway.

You should. It's generally used the same as "got you" in dialog, which seems to be the context you're wanting to use it for. :)
 

Jamesaritchie

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Am about to investigate "gotcha."
I want to use it like this: "I gotcha a present."
Most likely the word can't be used in that way.
May do so anyway.

"Gotcha" is just the colloquial way of saying "got you", so, yes, it can be used that way.
 

robjvargas

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I look up a lot of -ent vs -ant words. I get those backwards way too often.

Had to look up resplendent yesterday.
 

Ken

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"Gotcha" is just the colloquial way of saying "got you", so, yes, it can be used that way.

I wasn't looking up a definition, but I hit up the thesaurus to find a better verb for "slowly turns". I'm really, really trying to avoid adverbs in my writing since I'm notorious for using too many of them, and needed a better verb

You should. It's generally used the same as "got you" in dialog, which seems to be the context you're wanting to use it for. :)

Thnx. I guess the confusion for me arose because I mainly have encountered "gotcha" in the context of "I understand what you mean."

E.g.
"There's less gravity on the moon because it's a smaller sphere than the Earth."
"Gotcha."

So wasn't sure if it could be used in place of got you in general or if it could only be used when connoting understanding.

For "slowly turning" maybe revolve. Could have a strange feel depending on the context of course.

ps Seems like I missed out on a good joke due to my not knowing what "careen" means.
I have a vague sense of it's describing how something drifts thru the air. "The glider careened thru the sky." :eek:
 
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Jamesaritchie

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Looking up word definitions is so much easier with e-dictionaries that I do it almost without conscious thought. Even in a forum post, if I highlight a word and click my dictionary link, up pops the definition.

So I had to think hard to remember the last word I looked up. I'm pretty sure it was "depone". I'd guess any lawyer knows what it means, but it was new to me.
 
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Calliea

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I recently had to look up simulacrum

@Raivnor

Hah, the joys of learning English from Video Games :D I knew what simulacrum meant long before I've learned the difference between stir and peel.

I've recently got a brain fart and had to check concave/convex, wasn't sure which one was which ._.

Haha scratch that, I have just stumbled upon a verisimilitude. Crazy woords.
 
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aus10phile

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Looking up word definitions is so much easier with e-dictionaries that I do it almost without conscious thought.

Same for me. I look stuff up all the time while I'm working and other times. Drives my husband crazy when I want to stop mid conversation to look up a word that came up for some reason.
 

jorodo

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verisimilitude, simulacrum ... Just looked up both. I feel like my vocabulary is seriously lacking now, thanks guys.
 

Sage

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I had to look up "impregnable" because I had read it in a book and assumed it meant the opposite (thanks to the word "impregnate") and the context didn't match up.
 

Brightdreamer

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I had to look up a few words in the last eBook I read on my Nook, a collection of 19th-century detective stories (The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective, by Catherine Louisa Pirkis). The one I remember was amanuensis. It's really handy to look things up on a touch-screen, with minimal disruption to reading.

And I just had to look up "spavined."

(I'm hopeless when it comes to dictionaries... I can get lost in them for hours.)
 

Jamesaritchie

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Spavined.

It was used in a short story I was reading. I had no idea what it meant and couldn't figure it out in context.

That's interesting. I suspect we all use words think everyone knows them because they're everyday words to us. Anyone who has spent time around horses or cattle would know "spavined", but there probably isn't much reason for city dwellers to have a clue what it means.

I often run into words I don't know that have something to do with a profession I'm unfamiliar with, or even because they're used in a big city, and I'm primarily a country boy.
 

Layla Nahar

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"incunabula" - early printed books, in particular, of printing date 1500 or earlier.
 
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