Intelligent Words for Eloquent Writing
Book for Word Lovers: 100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
Mar 13, 2009
100 Words to Make You Sound Smart provides a list of the top 100 intelligent words selected by the editorial staff of the American Heritage Dictionaries, along with pronunciations and interesting histories, as well as numerous examples of the ways in which these words can be used.
Although the authors do not offer specific criteria for their winning word choices, they note that each word was carefully selected for its ability to give eloquence and precision to writing and speech without sounding intimidating or pompous. Obscure and technical words were rejected in favour of intelligent words that can be found in everyday discourse. The following is a selection of winning words with synonyms or brief definitions.
Some Top 100 Smart Nouns
- Acrimony – rancour, spite, bitterness, hostility, ill will
- Anomaly – irregularity, incongruity, variance, abnormality
- Dichotomy – division into two contradictory or exclusive entities; something with two contradictory qualities
- Euphemism – inoffensive or agreeable substitute for an expression that may be distasteful or offensive
- Harbinger – herald, portent, omen, forerunner
- Misnomer – inappropriate designation or incorrect name
- Non Sequitur – a response unrelated to or not following logically from a previous statement
- Panacea – cure-all, magic potion, universal remedy
- Paradox – inconsistency, contradiction, impossibility, illogicality
- Rhetoric – oratory, public speech
- Sycophant – flatterer, toady
Some Top 100 Smart Adjectives
- Caustic – scathing, acerbic, sarcastic
- Esoteric – obscure, mysterious, cryptic, arcane
- Fastidious – fussy, finicky, particular
- Glib – persuasive, smooth, slick
- Gregarious – extroverted, sociable, unreserved, convivial
- Idiosyncratic – individual, personal, distinctive, eccentric, peculiar
- Infinitesimal – minuscule
- Insidious – sinister, menacing
- Lurid – shocking, explicit, vivid, sensational
- Maudlin – overly sentimental, mawkish, soppy
- Mercenary – serving only for sordid advantage or money
- Ostentatious – showy, flamboyant, pretentious, grandiose
- Perfunctory – unthinking, dutiful, obligatory, token, automatic
- Quintessential – typical, prototypical, archetypal, model, standard
- Stoic – unaffected by or not showing response to pain, distress, or other discomfort
- Suave- smooth, polite, urbane, debonair, sophisticated, charming, gracious
- Ubiquitous – everywhere, ever-present, omnipresent
- Untenable – weak, unsound, invalid, shaky, flawed, indefensible, unsustainable
- Zealous – enthusiastic, passionate, fervent, ardent, obsessive, fanatical, extreme
Some Top 100 Smart Verbs
- Equivocate – prevaricate, beat around the bush, vacillate
- Finagle – obtain by indirect or convoluted means or through trickery
- Malinger – feign or exaggerate incapacity or illness to avoid work or other duties
- Ostracize – exclude, shun, snub
- Revel – celebrate, take intense please in something
- Waft – drift, float, be carried on a breeze
Smart Words That Didn’t Make the Cut
There are a number of clever words that weren’t among the 100 chosen by the American Heritage Dictionaries editors but make great additions to academic writing. See Words That Make a Writer or Speaker Sound Intelligent for more.
Those with an interest in words may also wish to read The English Language's Most Beautiful Words and Commonly Misused Words.
For the full 100 Words to Make You Sound Smart list, visit the Houghton Mifflin Company website.
