Your Dictionary And Thesaurus: An Underrated Source Of Inspiration

They’re such a part of our daily lives that it’s easy to forget sometimes. But we all know that a dictionary and a thesaurus are both must haves for everyone, especially us writers.

Of course, it’s always best to have physical ones, but Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com are a great digital alternative in a pinch. And one cool feature they have is the Word Of The Day.

I recently started using Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com more regularly to help me expand my vocabulary and come up with more interesting words to use in my writing, particularly in my poetry; it’s already helped improve my writing more than I ever expected, and I love it. But while using it, I noticed the Word Of The Day feature, and thought it was interesting.

So I started keeping up with the Word Of The Day, and I decided to make a list of the words being featured each day. And I quickly realized that this could be more than just a source for new words. This could be a great way to come up with ideas for things to write about.

Since then, I’ve been challenging myself to use the words I find in my writing however I can. Sometimes it’s just using certain words in a story or poem. Other times it’s writing a story or poem that’s centered around a word and its meaning. And it’s been doing wonders for my writing.

Now, as we begin this new year and set new goals for ourselves, I want to invite you all to try this approach too. If you find yourself fighting with writer’s block and need ideas, turn to your dictionary and thesaurus for help!

If you have a physical dictionary or thesaurus, try picking a random word from it whenever you want to write something. Or if you prefer to use Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, you can check the site every day for their Word Of The Day.

I will also share my list of words I’ve compiled from the Word Of The Day feature in a separate story here on Vocal, which you can find here:

I’ll update that list periodically, hopefully once a month or so, as I collect more words. So come back to it regularly to find more cool words!

Hope this helps! Happy New Year, and happy writing!

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