catch-22
noun
I’m in a catch-22: to get the job I need experience, but how do I get experience if I can’t get the job?
myopia
noun
She wears eyeglasses to correct her myopia.
Every hour children spend on screens raises chance of myopia, study finds - The Guardian
atropine
noun
reap
verb
The workers were out reaping the crops.
The workers were out reaping in the fields.
He reaped large profits from his investments.
squid
noun
sirloin
noun
The star of the kitchen is the steak trompo, a huge beehive of strip and sirloin steaks skewered on a vertical spit, glossy with fat. — Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2025
bewitching
adjective
her bewitching eyes
a bewitching smile
bubbly
adjective
a bubbly bottle of pop
She is pretty, bubbly, and smart.
cicada
noun
In the forests of North America, there is a species of cicada with a very strange life cycle. For 17 years, these cicadas hide underground doing very little except sucking on the roots of the trees. Then in May of the seventeenth year, they emerge at the surface en masse to invade the forest—up to a million of them per acre. - The Number Mysteries, by Marcus du Sautoy
artichoke
noun
pigment
noun
Pigments are used to give color to paint, ink, and plastic.
Hinton often told the story of the time Minsky taught him how to make “perfect black” — a color with no color at all. You couldn’t make perfect black with pigments, Minsky explained, because they always reflected the light. - Chapter 2 Promise “old ideas are new”, Genius Makers - The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World, by Cade Metz
commoner
noun
a prince who married a commoner
In Beethoven’s time Vienna still had a rigid class-based society each having their own brothels, restaurants and coffee houses (cafés). Beethoven, as a commoner and darling to aristocrats, had access to all kinds. Housing was not the brightest feature of contemporary Vienna thus locals spent leisure time in coffee houses. - Beethoven and his coffee
chore
noun
The children were each assigned different household chores.
Doing taxes can be a real chore.
When someone is doing a chore, what do you say?
“Can I help?”
hum
verb
humming along with the music
The garden was humming with bees.
The refrigerator hummed in the background.
I was humming to myself.
the museum hummed with visitors
hum a tune
I hummed a little song.
the place was humming
When people are talking, is it good manners to hum?
Humming when others are talking is disrespectful and distracting. Don’t hum!
pitmaster
noun
He was one of Houston’s most celebrated pitmasters and helped to kick off the barbecue renaissance here. — J. C. Reid
bellyache
noun
He ate too much chili and it gave him a bellyache.
aerobic
adjective
aerobic respiration
aerobic exercises like running and swimming
Aerobic exercise involves pushing your heart rate to 70% to 85% of its maximum, and keeping it there for 20 to 60 minutes at a time. — Tara Parker-Pope
dispersal
noun
the dispersal of plant seeds in the forests through natural means
fencing
noun
Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting.
dough
noun
Play-Doh, also known as Play-Dough
doughnut
noun
drawing doughnuts in the sand
donut
noun
Coffee and donuts go hand in hand. — Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Sep. 2025
muffin
noun
equinox
noun
barbell
noun
dumbbell
noun
I feel like a dumbbell for making such a stupid mistake.
dummy
noun
The device is not a real bomb but a dummy.
Only a dummy would ignore the safety warnings.
dumb
adjective
pretended to be dumb
asking dumb questions
I’m not dumb enough to believe that.
He was born deaf and dumb.
treadmill
noun
My fitness center has three rows of treadmills and ellipticals. — Jeanne Phillips, Mercury News, 17 Sep. 2025
chin-up
noun
Some examples include pull-ups, chin-ups, dumbbell rows, bent-over rows, lat pulldowns and inverted rows. — Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 13 Sep. 2025
push-up
noun
Your arm muscles quiver lifting weights or during push-ups. — Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 4 Sep. 2025
stretch
verb
It’s important to stretch before you exercise.
She woke up and stretched her arms above her head.
noun
These are good stretches for your leg muscles.
I always spend a few minutes doing stretches before I exercise.
lunge
verb
The crocodile lunged at its prey.
noun
alligator
noun
crocodile
noun
acquisition
noun
Parmy Olson is a technology columnist at Bloomberg. Her reporting on Facebook’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp and the subsequent fallout resulted in two honorable mentions in the SABEW business journalism awards.
pigment
noun
Hinton often told the story of the time Minsky taught him how to make “perfect black” — a color with no color at all. You couldn’t make perfect black with pigments, Minsky explained, because they always reflected the light. - Chapter 2 Promise “old ideas are new”, Genius Makers, The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World, by Cade Metz