Vocabulary

“TikTok is the biggest thing that happened to me in my career, and honestly the reason why I am where I am today,” he said. In 2018, when TikTok was officially introduced in America — it was already enormously popular elsewhere around the world — the app was lip syncs and dance challenges. But food…

“It wasn’t a helicopter. And it wasn’t an airplane. It was a _____ between the two, with a curved hull, two small wings, and eight spinning rotors lined up across its nose and tail.”Which one of these words — breakdown, chaos, cross or mix-up — best completes this sentence from a New York Times article…

One of the top three winners of our middle school contest: cartographer by Soobin Lee. This is the first year we have been experimenting with offering our contests, which have long been open to students 13 years old and up, to younger students. And so far, we have not been disappointed with the results.Last month,…

Each window was inspired by children’s drawings of holiday dreams — of homes, beaches and games. “The style is sort of candy-coated imagination,” said Andrew Winton, the senior vice president of creative at Saks, who oversees the holiday displays. Mrs. Obama was there to promote a partnership between Saks and the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity…

Winners From Our May Vocabulary ChallengeCongratulations to Shannon, Julia and Montgomery, who wrote about a fisherman’s hairdo, an intense athletic practice and a poisonous berry bush. Each of these students used several challenging vocabulary words to bring their characters and scenes to life.Shannon Arnold, age 14, Mark T Sheehan High School, Wallingford, Conn.The JAUNTY fisherman’s…

Monks once hoped to turn lead into gold through alchemy. But consider the cauliflower instead. It takes just two genes to the ordinary stems, stalks and flowers of the weedy, tasteless species Brassica oleracea into a formation as marvelous as this fractal, cloudlike vegetable. This is the true alchemy, says Christophe Godin, a senior researcher…

Then, create a 50-word piece of writing in which you correctly and creatively use at least four of the words. Submit your story (or poem, or song) by commenting on this post between now and May 31.Here is what we are looking for:It is most important that you use each vocabulary word correctly — according…

Have you ever taken in a natural vista, say the soaring ranges of a national park, and thought: Three thousand feet of nothingness between me and the ground would really improve this. For Breannah Yeh, a 24-year-old professional slackliner, such an experience is quite a walk in the park. Ms. Yeh shares her aerial escapades…

Here — in a side office, up the stairs of an unmarked building hidden away on a block of the city center jammed with flashy music stores that used thumping loudspeakers to attract customers — was the workshop of one of this city’s oldest and most accordion repairmen. “Everything I do is to improve the…

Note: The winners of the September Vocabulary Challenge have been announced.Fervid, hasten, enclave, meander: What stories could these words tell? Our story-writing challenge is back for a second school year. Middle and high school students are invited to choose four or more of the Words of the Day we published in October, then use them…