Just think! Learn one word a day--while you're cooking dinner, riding the train to work or taking care of business in the bathroom--and in just over three months, you'll sound educated, articulate and literate. Can sophisticated be far away?
So what kind of words are on this list? They are real words. Words that you can actually use in conversation and writing that do sound smart, but not ostentatious. Best of all, it will be easier to remember these words than it was when you memorized vocabulary lists as a kid since the editors helpfully include not only the definition, but also a pronunciation guide and examples of proper usage shown in context.
A colorful variety of words have been chosen, including handy words of just one syllable (such as "glib") and words derived from the names of famous people (such as "Freudian slip" and "Machiavellian"). There are expressions from popular culture ("Catch-22") and words that date back to classical civilization ("Spartan" and "stoic").
Here are five of the 100 words that will make you sound smart:
1. Epitome (noun): The best or most representative example of a class or type.
Example: "Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil." --Elie Wiesel
2. Finagle (verb): To obtain or achieve something by cleverness or deviousness, especially in using words.
Example: "...She finagled to get meat during the war by finding a vegetarian family in the neighborhood and trading her vegetable ration card for their meat ration card." --Maureen Dowd
3. Gregarious (adjective): Seeking and enjoying the company of others; sociable.
Example: "Biologically speaking, man is moderately gregarious, not a completely social animal--a creature more like a wolf...or an elephant, than like a bee or an ant." --Aldous Huxley
4. Panacea (noun): A remedy for all diseases, evils or difficulties; a cure-all.
Example: "The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war." --Ernest Hemingway
5. Perfunctory (adjective): Done routinely and with little interest or care.
Example: "Reforms in the civil service must go on, but the changes should be real and genuine, not perfunctory." --President William McKinley
--From the Editors at Netscape
