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Building a Better Vocabulary

Season 1
For anyone who has ever grasped for the perfect word, these lessons provide a research-based and enjoyable method for improving your vocabulary. Your professor understands the cognitive science behind language acquisition and presents each new word in a way that makes it memorable. But more importantly, he teaches you these tips and strategies so you can apply them whenever you learn a new word.
201536 episodesTV-PG
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Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - Five Principles for Learning Vocabulary
    January 29, 2015
    33min
    TV-PG
    Toss aside the rote memorization of childhood and explore the cognitive science behind the five core principles of effective vocabulary learning: definition, context, connections, morphology, and semantic chunking. Through interactive examples, see how you can improve your ability to remember the definition of a new word or a long list of familiar terms.
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  2. S1 E2 - The Spelling-Meaning Connection
    January 29, 2015
    31min
    TV-PG
    Unlock the English language's powerful morphological system with a concept known as the spelling-meaning connection, and see how our spelling system makes a lot more sense than you may have originally thought. Then, learn how to create a vocabulary notebook that effectively organizes all the words you will learn for best recall.
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  3. S1 E3 - Words for Lying, Swindling, and Conniving
    January 29, 2015
    30min
    TV-PG
    Begin building your vocabulary in earnest with this look at wonderful words to describe liars and the lies they tell. Learn trenchant words to describe the cheats, swindlers, charlatans, scam artists, barracudas, sharks, and sharpies, and their hustles, flimflams, and double-dealings. Reveal the nuances of meaning between similar words like specious and spurious.
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  4. S1 E4 - Words That Express Annoyance and Disgust
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    Turn now to annoying people and their irksome, vexing, irritating, nettlesome, and exasperating behavior. Tease apart the differences between words that use the Latin root quir/ques, and those that spring from the word queror. Then, study words that describe excess - from sickly sweet, sappy, and sentimental words to downright offensive and disgusting ones.
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  5. S1 E5 - Fighting Words and Peaceful Words
    January 29, 2015
    31min
    TV-PG
    English is replete with lively, hard-hitting words to describe conflict and harmony. Delve into the morphology and etymology of words relating to war and peace, including examining two high-utility Latin roots, bell and pac. Add some pugnacious words to your everyday lexicon, including melee, contumacious, and donnybrook.
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  6. S1 E6 - Going beyond Dictionary Meanings
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    How can you ensure that new words don't slip from your memory? Professor Flanigan shares effective and fun strategies to reinforce your vocabulary knowledge, including a clever graphic organizer that anchors your new word to words you already know, and a game designed by a leading expert in reading and vocabulary.
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  7. S1 E7 - Wicked Words
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    Use the Latin prefix mal to generate over a dozen rich vocabulary words, all of which concern things that are bad, evil, or done poorly. Then, learn a fun, albeit archaic, term of contempt, and get a firm understanding of the difference between invidious and insidious.
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  8. S1 E8 - Words for Beginnings and Endings
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    Go beyond Latin to learn a word for inexperience that has its roots in Old English. Distinguish between people who are innocent and naive, new to a skill, or pretending to know more than they do. Then, turn to words for endings, and learn why we say "immortal," and not "inmortal."
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  9. S1 E9 - Words Expressing Fear, Love, and Hatred
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    Agoraphobia. Xenophobia. Claustrophobia. Investigate words that describe fear. Then, using the Greek root phil/phile and the Latin root amor, build words relating to love. Finally, embrace your inner misanthrope with words about hatred, which spring from the Greek verb misein.
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  10. S1 E10 - Words for the Everyday and the Elite
    January 29, 2015
    30min
    TV-PG
    Will you be hobnobbing with the hoity-toity gentry or the hoi polloi? Gain even more words to enrich your vocabulary when it comes to describing things that are ho-hum and others that are high class. You'll even learn a useful synonym for trite remarks, hackneyed phrases, and platitudes.
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  11. S1 E11 - Words from Gods and Heroes
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    Forge a link between the tales of Greek and Roman gods and heroes and the English vocabulary words they inspired. What is the difference between a herculean task and a Sisyphean one? What Gordian knots do you have in your life? Discover the answers here.
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  12. S1 E12 - Humble Words and Prideful Words
    January 29, 2015
    34min
    TV-PG
    Begin with a story about Odysseus and his hubris. Then, explore other words about people who think too much or too little about themselves, including a fascinating word that has a positive connotation when it refers to a voice, but a negative connotation when it refers to speech or writing.
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  13. S1 E13 - High-Frequency Greek and Latin Roots
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    Power up your "morphological radar" and gain the ability to spot Latin and Greek word parts in unfamiliar words, aiding you in uncovering their definitions. Investigate words using the affixes eu-, dis-, in-, pre-, post-, and dys-; then, turn to words that build from the roots man, umbr, tract, and therm.
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  14. S1 E14 - Words Relating to Belief and Trust
    January 29, 2015
    33min
    TV-PG
    Turn now to precise and powerful words for facets of trust and belief. Study words that have their roots in the church, but have expanded their reach into other areas of life. Use your knowledge of Greek roots to show the difference in the belief of an apostle (stellein) and an apostate (stenai).
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  15. S1 E15 - Words for the Way We Talk
    January 29, 2015
    34min
    TV-PG
    Study the fascinating stories behind words that describe how we speak - from the laconic Spartans to the pithy Jedi master to the loquacious ventriloquist. At the end, return to Greece for the story behind a word inspired by the Athenian orator Demosthenes and his opinions about King.
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  16. S1 E16 - Words for Praise, Criticism, and Nonsense
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    Continue your study with a useful word that describes the verbal equivalent of meandering. Then, turn to the Bible for a word derived from the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah, who prophesied the imminent downfall of the Kingdom of Judah. Finally, discover a word for playful banter that English borrowed from French.
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  17. S1 E17 - Eponyms from Literature and History
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    Step back in time and learn about words inspired by the great men, women, and places of literature and history. English is replete with a host of lively eponyms, such as bloomers, sideburns, and sandwich. Learn about the fascinating people and stories behind eight excellent eponyms.
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  18. S1 E18 - Thinking, Teaching, and Learning Words
    January 29, 2015
    31min
    TV-PG
    Begin with a fun psycholinguistic experiment that shows how your brain processes new words. Explore the work of some major scholars of learning and language - Skinner, Watson, Chomsky - and get an exegesis of erudition. Delve into the process of language acquisition, including why a child might say, "I winned the game, Daddy!"
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  19. S1 E19 - Words for the Diligent and the Lazy
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    From polished professionals to slothful slackers,cover a wide range of words to describe work ethic. Dig into the nuances that separate similar words like tenacious and pertinacious. Expand your knowledge of the Latin root fac (to make or do) to include alternate spellings and a useful suffix.
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  20. S1 E20 - Words That Break and Words That Join
    January 29, 2015
    30min
    TV-PG
    Using the Latin roots rupt and junct, create a list of words related to breaking and joining. Discover the fascinating subject of Janus words such as cleave, which means to split apart and to stick close together. Finally, explore a variety of words that describe groups or gatherings of people.
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  21. S1 E21 - Some High-Utility Greek and Latin Affixes
    January 29, 2015
    29min
    TV-PG
    Add some powerful Greek and Latin affixes to your vocabulary notebook. Explore intriguing etymologies for words like abdicate (which originally had nothing to do with royalty) and antediluvian (a word with ties to the Bible that got a new lease on life). Don't absquatulate now, there are more great words to come!
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  22. S1 E22 - Cranky Words and Cool Words
    January 29, 2015
    30min
    TV-PG
    What's the difference between someone who is irascible, one who is testy, and another who is dyspeptic? What about the difference between stoic and stolid? Professor Flanigan's stories from his childhood and from pop culture vividly illustrate the new words you'll learn here.
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  23. S1 E23 - Words for Courage and Cowardice
    January 29, 2015
    32min
    TV-PG
    You likely know that the word courage comes from the Latin cor/cord, meaning heart. Explore words for different kinds of courage, including false courage, cheeky courage, and reckless courage. Then study the flip side with words about cowardice. Leap from Latin to Yiddish to Middle French to Old Italian!
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  24. S1 E24 - Reviewing Vocabulary through Literature
    January 29, 2015
    33min
    TV-PG
    Take stock of your accomplishments thus far with a review like no other! You will be able to test your knowledge by relating the words you have learned to some of the most colorful characters in literature, as written by Oscar Wilde, Moliere, James Joyce, J.R.R. Tolkien, and others.
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  25. S1 E25 - Words for Killing and Cutting
    January 29, 2015
    31min
    TV-PG
    Turn to dark words to discuss terrible deeds. The Latin word caedo, meaning, "to cut" or "to kill," is at the root of many of these words, such as genocide and homicide. Learn a unique word that refers to both the crime and its perpetrator, then focus on words that stem from the root seg/sect, meaning, "to cut."
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Subtitles
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Producers
The Great Courses
Cast
Kevin Flanigan
Studio
The Great Courses
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