APP
OF THE
DAY

Dictionary.com isn’t just a dictionary app—it’s also a thesaurus, word coach, and linguistic history professor all in one. Frankly, the whole thing is authoritative, incomplex, and veritably efficacious.

But while dictionaries are fundamental components of any reputable library, they can be a little, shall we say, dry.

That’s why Dictionary.com suggests an interesting Word of the Day, something like “anthophobia,” “velutinous,” or “skimble-scamble.” (If you don’t know what those words mean, we have kindly provided the answers below. If you do know what those words mean, you probably don’t need this app, to be honest.)

You can get the Word of the Day right on your Apple Watch for on-the-go learning, or access it with a Today widget when you swipe left from your home screen.

Dictionary.com is also full of fun word-related stories that’ll suggest some sassy French-inspired slang or tell you what it’s called when you misinterpret song lyrics. (If you’ve ever sung, “Row, row, row your boat, life’s a butter dream,” you have officially sung a mondegreen.)

On a more practical note, for every word you search, the app will pronounce it, use it in a sentence, and reveal its origin.

The app is free to use; paid upgrades will unlock offline access and such features as a rhyming dictionary, a medical dictionary, and grammar tips.

However you use it, Dictionary.com will afford you a much stronger command of your native patois. And now for those answers...

Dictionary.com: English Words

Dictionary, Thesaurus, Quizzes

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anthophobia (n): an abnormal fear of flowers. (“His anthophobia made him stay away from the gardens.”)

velutinous (adj): having a soft, velvety surface, as certain plants. (“The greenhouse was full of velutinous plants. But there were no flowers, so it was perfectly safe for anthophobics.”)

skimble-scamble (adj): rambling, confused; nonsensical (“This has turned into a bit of a skimble-scamble article.”)