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The greater your vocabulary, the easier you’ll be able to discern analogies. These vocabulary lessons have explored many ways to understand words and thus improve your vocabulary. An overview of analogies makes a fine culmination of this process.
Minding the Gap: Solving Analogies
Analogies require a fine understanding of not only the many layers of a single word’s meaning (its history, denotations and connotations), but also its relationship to other words (its antonyms, synonyms, and even category of meaning).
Let’s start with a review of the language of analogies. They tend to be written as equations:
HOMOPHONE: SYNONYM :: SOUND : MEANING
The above is read as “Homophone is to synonym what sound is to meaning.” As previously discussed, homophones are words that have the same sound, and synonyms are words that have the same meaning, so this analogy accurately establishes the relationship between the four words.
Of course, the example above has the answer provided. If you had only been given the first half of the equation, you would have looked for an answer that established a similar relationship. Here is a list of some of the relationships that analogies can have.
Another useful rule of thumb for determining the meaning of words you’re not sure about is to use affixes and roots to help you discern the meaning of word parts along with parts of speech. For example, the prefix of antithetical means “against,” and the ending reveals that it is an adjective. Also, –thetical looks like thesis, which means “main idea.” Therefore, you can deduce that antithetical means “opposite.”
Complete the analogy using the above hints and tips.
THRIFTY : MISERLY ::
Practice makes perfect! Here’s another question.
SPECTRUM : COLOR ::
A Final Word about Words: Reference Books
All the words in this lesson can be found in both online and print dictionaries, thesauruses, and glossaries. Dictionaries describe rather than prescribe how we use language, and they offer pronunciations, derivations, contextual examples, spellings, and etymologies. Thesauruses offer synonyms, antonyms, and related words, though the caveat is that synonyms are very rarely the exact same in meaning and usage. Many books such as textbooks offer glossaries, which give specialized definitions for the words used in that book. While glossaries are the shortest of the typical vocabulary references, they can be the most useful.
The single most useful dictionary is the Oxford English Dictionary, which is available in both print and online editions. This enormous work is of particular value for its use of quotations that reveal where the definition comes from. These quotations, culled from literature and a wide range of international English sources, demonstrate the proper context for each definition and how a word’s usage has changed throughout its history. The OED also provides etymologies that show the language from which each word is derived. Perhaps the only drawback of the OED, other than its cost and weight, is its use of British pronunciations.
Other useful general dictionaries include Merriam-Webster’s and American Heritage’s series of dictionaries. Both are oriented toward American English. They offer etymologies, derivations, synonyms, and even usage notes, though these features don’t occur for every entry. One interesting quirk of these two series of dictionaries is that Merriam-Webster lists the earliest definition first, whereas American Heritage lists the most common definition first.
Specialized dictionaries exist for Anglo-Saxon English and Middle English, as well as legal, computer, and medical terminology. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrases and Fables is an excellent resource for common idioms and adages. You can find specialized dictionaries for phrases, sign language, rhyming—you name it!