This week’s tip from Copyediting.com was about the new dictionary site Vocabulary.com. The site looks really interesting, because you can search for a word in different ways; for example, by parts of speech, number of syllables and rhyming words. You can also take a challenge, which involves answering a series of vocabulary questions. I’ve just done my first 15 questions and already learnt 2 new words – bilk (to cheat someone out of something) and insalubrious (unhealthy).
While I was taking the challenge, the site offered me tips on how to find words. For example, to find a US president who rhymes with ‘daft’, you simply type ‘president+rhyme:daft’, and Vocabulary.com brings up a page about William Howard Taft (who apparently was the last obese US president).