As a writer, you have the intrinsic yearning to keep learning. You’re constantly pushing your boundaries and going outside of your comfort zone in order to cultivate your writing skills.

Part of this equation is building on your vocabulary. Having a strong vocabulary is an empowering feeling because—let’s face it—who doesn’t love adding a new word to their lexicon?

That’s why we wanted to use this blog post to offer three tips that will help improve your vocabulary.

Let’s get started.

Read

Reading is a tried and true method to expand your vocabulary. As writers, we want to write the books people want to read; but before you can do that, you do your due diligence and read every day. Now, you don’t have to read a book a day (but if you want to, then by all means, be our guest!). We’re simply encouraging you to read a well-written piece of content each day. Whether it’s a published essay, magazine article or a journal entry, take the time to immerse yourself in the written word and pay attention to how each of the authors used their words to tell their stories.

Word-of-the-day

Make learning a new word part of your daily routine. A great resource to do so is through Merriam-Webster. Each day, a brand-new Word of the Day is posted on the site’s homepage, along with its definition, its etymology and examples of the word used in a sentence. Once you understand the meaning of the word, make an effort to use it at some point during your day.

Keep a thesaurus handy

Another reliable resource to keep close by is a thesaurus. To add variety to your writing and to expand your vocabulary, finding synonyms for word you use frequently is a great way to not only better express yourself, but to also learn a new word while doing so.

Expanding your vocabulary is an ongoing process. Use these three helpful tips to get started and your vocabulary will expand in no time!

Copyright Dorrance Publishing, 2017