30 fancy words that will make you sound smarter

Even if you can pronounce them, some fancy words may make you sound pompous if you’re not comfortable with them. Others will make you sound like you’re trying too hard to seem smart, which is the exact opposite of what you want. The bottom line: If you’re going to use big words, choose wisely. Your best bets are those that fit the moment and flow with ease, as if you’ve been using them in conversation for years. The vocabulary words listed below will instantly make you sound smarter. They’re simply fancier ways of saying everyday things, but they will help you freshen your vocabulary quickly and effortlessly.

Try: Penultimate. It’s a big word that simply means the next-to-last thing. For example, when you’re bingeing a television series that has nine episodes, you can tell your friends you’re about to start watching the penultimate episode when sitting down with a pizza and a glass of wine for number eight.

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Try: Confluence. Use this word when discussing a meeting of minds, a group of ideas, or a coming together of diverse people for a gathering. A conference may include a confluence of ideas, for example. That said, it is also often used when describing streams or rivers joining together in nature.

It could also no doubt be used to describe some of these magical optical illusions found in nature.

Try: Granular. This word alludes to the minuscule detail of small particles, and it can help describe a meticulous level of detail in your own work, thinking, or planning. If you literally thought of everything, then you got granular with your thinking!

Can you guess the most misused word in the English language?

Try: Parlance. Choose it when you want to describe a set of words used by a group, sometimes for a specific purpose. For example, the language or unique jargon of a particular region of the country could be thought of as “local parlance.”

Try: Pithy when you want to talk about how your friend replied to her Tinder prospect with a brief, clever and forceful remark. Her response to the dude’s Tinder pick-up line wasn’t terse – it was pithy!

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Try: Despondent. If the past couple of years have taken a toll on you, go with a fancier word to indicate your hopelessness. Reserve depressed for a medical diagnosis and instead use despondent to articulate extreme dejection and hopelessness.

Try: Lucid to put a literary spin on your clear-mindedness. Because lucid comes from the Latin adjective lucidus, meaning shining, it’s the perfect word for intelligent thinking that lets light shine through the confusion.

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Try: Effervescent when you want to find a fancier word to describe your bubbly, excitable best friend. Effervescence literally means having the property of forming bubbles, so that happy-go-lucky person in your life is effervescent, naturally.

Try: Abate when you want to talk about how the rain is letting up or the pain from your nagging headache is finally going away. That’s right: Abate means “to reduce,” but using it will increase your fancy vocabulary.

Having fun with these new words? Check out these thesaurus jokes grammar nerds will appreciate.