Vocabulary is one of the most essential tools for college students, prospective college students, and graduates. You’ll need vocabulary words for the SAT or GRE, for your reading assignments, and to make a good impression upon those you speak to. And, while you do need to increase your vocabulary, sometimes it’s just too much of a bother to walk away from the computer or couch and grab a dictionary. Well, if you want an easy way to increase your lexicon while you’re surfing the web, try this add-on:
The Free Dictionary Add-On for Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari
Once the toolbar is installed, simply highlight or double-click any word in the browser, right click the highlighted word, and select ‘Dictionary’ to see the definition. When looking up vocabulary is this simple, there’s simply no excuse not to! Remember, though, this handy app merely provides the definition of a word- it doesn’t memorize it for you, so keep up on your flashcards, word lists, and other memorization tricks.
After you finish installing, why don’t you test out your new add-on on these words from recent SATs:
variegated
prefatory
sinuous*
*Extra credit for whoever can name what famous (and vocabulary-laden) poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge uses this vocabulary word when describing ‘rills’.
Other useful vocabulary websites:
Increase your vocabulary while helping those in need!