100 Words to Make You Sound Great HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key. Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window. guide to the dictionary THE USAGE PANEL The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions. The Panelists NEED HELP SOLVING A CROSSWORD PUZZLE? Go to our Crossword Puzzle Solver and type in the letters that you know, and the Solver will produce a list of possible solutions. -- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more. OPEN DICTIONARY PROJECT Share your ideas for new words and new meanings of old words! Start Sharing Now! -- See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series! Find out more! INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES? Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com All great communicators know that the right word can make the difference between rousing and losing an audience, between sounding distinguished and sounding dull. The latest title in the best-selling 100 Words series, 100 Words to Make You Sound Great, presents 100 words that have been put to effective use by presidential greats as well as famous scientists, economists, academics, figures of conscience, and even humorists. Tried and tested by movers and shakers such as Rachel Carson, Shirley Chisholm, Barry Goldwater, Al Gore, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Princess Diana, they work to get a point across with verve and effect. The quotations that bring these words to life—painstakingly culled from public speeches, widely read books and periodicals, and poignant private letters—are insightful, moving, and funny. Tear through this book, and before you know it, you’ll feel an affinity for cosmopolitan communication, even if you’re a mere tyro when you start out. You’ll incorporate these words into everyday conversation without being dogmatic or pompous, and you’ll always have the right riposte if someone accuses you of being pusillanimous, amoral, or—heaven forbid—nefarious Here is a complete list of the words in 100 Words to Make You Sound Great: adamant affectation affinity allay amelioration amenable amoral assuage bauble beguile beset bulwark busybody complacent concomitant consign contend cosmopolitan culpable depravity derelict dissimulate dissipate distill dogmatic elicit epithet espouse expediency forestall furtive galling gloat gratuitous hallmark happenstance ignominious imperturbable ingratiate innocuous intemperate interpolate inure jingoism juggernaut ken latent legacy ludicrous mandate maven mawkish modus operandi nefarious nicety nonchalance obdurate orthodoxy palliate patina penury pernicious perpetuate pittance pompous precipitate prescience profusion propensity pugnacity pusillanimous quip rankle reconciliation resiliency respite riposte sacrosanct scapegoat spurious squander supersede surreptitious tenacity tenuous travail truculence turpitude tyro unbridled uncanny urbane velleity venial verbose vexation vista wanton wheedle yammer Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices: Indo-European Roots Semitic Roots The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 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