A Word A Day


A Word A Day is a simple daily email which anyone can sign up to which sends out a word and definition each day which is useful to help enrich and enlarge vocabulary.

For TEFL teachers it is ideal; with students it is perhaps better suited to advanced learners.

The email is sent out to over 600,000 people daily and consists of

  • the word
  • definition
  • example usage
  • audio clip
  • etymology
  • quotation
  • etc…

For example, the word for May 16th, 2014 was:

muzzy (MUHZ-ee)
MEANING:

adjective:
1. Mentally confused.
2. Blurred; indistinct.

ETYMOLOGY:

Perhaps a blend of muddled + fuzzy. Earliest documented use: 1728.

USAGE:

“She threatens me with weight gain on my upper legs, a muzzy head, and unclear thoughts.”
Life in the Raw; The Statesman (New Delhi, India); Jul 17, 2005.”Mr. Sugimoto presents the buildings in a muzzy soft-focus. They look at once evanescent and veiled, as if they had secrets to hide.”
Holland Cotter; A World Where Life Can Seem to Imitate an Imitation; The New York Times; Feb 17, 2006.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

I want people to talk to one another no matter what their difference of opinion might be.
Studs Terkel, author and broadcaster (1912-2008)

List Commands

To join or leave the list, just send a blank email to wsmith@wordsmith.org with the following in the message subject line (the message itself is left blank):

to do this – subject line – example
sign up subscribe Your Name subscribe Joe Jones
sign off unsubscribe unsubscribe
get faq info A.Word.A.Day info A.Word.A.Day
get help help help

Posted in Technology & TEFL, Vocabulary & Spelling.

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