The Useless Dictionary

For people who are not strong readers, traditional dictionaries are the worst way to learn new words. They define difficult words with more difficult words, and they define words with the same words. The result is the reader having the illusion of what an unknown word means, without really knowing its meaning.

Dictionaries define difficult words with difficult words

Let's take the word perspicacity. Here how it's defined online, using three separate online dictionaries:

#1: shrewdness: intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings).

#2: acuteness of perception, discernment, or understanding.

#3: keenness of mental perception and understanding; discernment; penetration.

For an unskilled reader, this is what those definitions look like:

#1: zxzxzxzxz: intelligence zxzxzxzxzx by being zxzxzx (as in business dealings)

#2: zxzxzxzxx of zxzxzxzxzx, zxzxzxzxzxzx, or understanding.

#3: zxzxxzxz of mental zxzxzxzxzx and understanding; zxzxzxzxz; penetration.

As a result, the reader gets a vague feeling that perspicacity means intelligent. So, when writing a new sentence, the reader writes:

My new dog is very perspicacity because she knows how to roll over.

First, the reader has used the wrong part of speech. Second, the reader doesn't understand that perspicacity and cleverness aren't synonyms.

Dictionaries define words in terms of themselves

An unskilled reader wants to know what solemnity means. The dictionaries say:

#1: the state or character of being solemn

#2: a solemn observance or proceeding

The reader, after consulting the dictionary, now has no better idea of what the word means. The result of this is confusion, frustration, and a closed book. The reader has stopped reading.

Rewordify.com is a new choice

Now, the user can enter a difficult sentence and get an instant simplification. For example, the sentence:

His solemnity during the rite showed his great perspicacity.

...is rewordified by Rewordify.com to...

His seriousness during the ceremony showed his great intelligence.

Rewordify.com has maintained the original part of speech when rewordifying the difficult words, producing a grammatically correct (and easier to understand) sentence. The reader now understands, and is likely to keep reading.

It is true that the shades of meaning of solemnity and perspicacity were lost during the simplification. But the reader has gotten most of the meaning of the sentence, which is better than he or she was before, with a closed book and feeling of deep frustration.

Encourage an unskilled reader to try Rewordify.com out today.