Increase Brain Power & Improve Mental Health: Exploring "Word of the Day" at Dictionary.Com

Brain power! Most of us want to increase our mental acuity and boost our intellectuality but at times we may feel that in order to do something that would make a notable difference-to actually increase our brain power-requires something big or substantial. Maybe we think that in order to improve our thinking power we need to return to school or at the minimum take an adult-education night class. But what if you could incrementally increase your mental prowess by something as simple as a word a day? A great way to help your thinking process is through word power-improving your vocabulary. I've discovered http://dictionary.reference.com, an on-line dictionary and their wonderful free "word of the day" option.

Sign up is simple. Just provide your email address on the link on the home page, and every day you'll receive a new word to increase your vocabulary and simultaneously your mental acuity. Improved brain power right from your inbox. Examples from May 2010's Word of the Day range from chevron which is a badge or insignia in the form of a v to vamoose which means to leave hurriedly, to sesquipedalian which means given to using long words. If you don't know how to pronounce the word you can listen to the proper pronunciation by clicking on the accompanying audio icon. Archives for Word of the Day go back to May of 1999. If you love finding out the origin of a word, or its etymology, most words have the origin listed near the end of the definition. (In the case of sesquipedalian we learn the word first shows up in 1615 in Horace's "Ars Poetica" and comes from a Latin verb meaning "words a foot-and-a-halflong." Now that's appropriate!)

Etymologies. If you want to learn more about etymologies, listen to the weekly two minute segment entitled "Word Explorer." Etymologies are fantastic for discovering more than the definition and origin of the word you are considering at the moment; they help develop your thinking power through connective learning. You'll build on previous understanding resulting in increased comprehension of the world at large and you'll gain confidence in your communicative ability. Good communication skills are some of the most rewarding life skills and result in improved personal and business relations.

Mobile apps. Mobile apps are available for the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android, including a crossword solver app. The website is also a great source for finding synonyms and antonyms with the thesaurus. Start improving your brain function today with a visit to http://dictionary.reference.com.