When you come across a word you don't know, do you look up its meaning? (1 Viewer)

[SoCal]

Hello everyone. I was just wondering if you look up the meaning of a word you don't know when reading a book? I quite frequently come across words I don't recognise in books and sometimes I stop to look them up and sometimes I don't. I find that it makes it less enjoyable and makes the book drag on if I do. So what do you do?

 

[Sarah168]

nahh i dont bother. usually i read the sentence again and then the meaning becomes apparent.

 

[mic]

if the word is bothering me, i'll look it up, otherwise i'll make a note of it and look it up later

 

[tooheyz]

yeah im not a big reader of books, but when i was reading stuff for skool e.g. english or textbooks, i would just look up the meaning on the computer

e.g. online dictionary or go through the thesauraus

 

[mayhemily]

yes if the dictionary is close and I can be bothered

 

[Melanie Jane]

Usually.

 

[santaslayer]

i ask the next best person in english

 

[midnight]

I do if it stops me from understanding the sentence. Sometimes I'm just a little unsure of what it means, so I make an effort to look it up, but that only works when the dictionary is close by.
I love learning new words though. For books I am reading a 2nd+ time I try to make a list of words that are unusual and their meanings, so I can refer back to it if I ever get confused again or if I want to use it in an essay or something.

I do agree that it can make the book less enjoyable, but only if there's a lot of words I don't know. And I haven't had that problem in a while. It depends on what sort of book it is though.

 

[honky tonk]

http://www.dictionary.com

My saviour.

 

[anti]

i've always wanted to start a list of words i don't understand in books and then look them up later... helps for future reference too.

but i'm lazy.

 

[Grey Council]

nope, its nearly always possible to find the meaning of word from the context its in. Unless your reading a crazy book.

 

[~dEjA vOuX~]

I don't think I've ever looked a word up, I either ignore it or I try to figure out what the word implies through its context

 

[Lexicographer]

Originally posted by mic
if the word is bothering me, i'll look it up, otherwise i'll make a note of it and look it up later

Originally posted by honky tonk
http://www.dictionary.com

My saviour.

Who needs later when you have a permanent connection?

Originally posted by Grey Council
nope, its nearly always possible to find the meaning of word from the context its in. Unless your reading a crazy book.

Not true, especially if reading Classics or pleonastic writers. I often find myself using obscure words (usually mythological references) just to piss off readers.

Anyway, I rarely encounter a word or reference of which I am completely ignorant, but when that happens it is all the more incentive to consult the Lexicon! This situation happens to me a lot more frequently when reading in other languages (usually Japanese, but sometimes Latin and Greek bilinguals). When I hit a word I don't know in Japanese I have this wonderful program called JWPce to turn to. It's really a Japanese Word Processor, but the inbuilt dictionary is amazingly powerful.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Indubitably. Tis' better to look up unknown words rather than leave them unknown. Nothing wrong with adding to your vocabulary. Who knows when you could get into a stimulating conversation with prosopopoeia or Hegelian dialectics as a vital element?

 

[honky tonk]

Now that I think about it, it's more often than not that I look up a word purely to ensure that it's the right word I am thinking of. In essays last year, I would often slot words into my sentences and later check that it suits the context of the statement.

 

[Grey Council]

heeheh, i don't read many classics (which is why i got a list from Gregot) so my experience is solely with fantasy trash, and popular culture novels.

as i said, unless your reading a crazy novel, context is usually enough.

 

[virgin^sexy]

i try to keep a dictionary next to me when im reading at home because lately ive come across a lot of words i dont know the meaning of. but if im say, on the bus reading and i dont know the meaning of a word, i try to work it out by looking at the context, and sometimes put it as a reminder in my phone and look it up later..

 

[Cyan_phoeniX]

A question, which sort of extends to the original question. Where do you guys and gals go if you don't know how to pronounce a word?

 

[honky tonk]

http://www.dictionary.com

It has a Pronunciation Key.

 

[Cyan_phoeniX]

nice!