Featured Image

Big Words on Campus

List produced by the Facts more info

  • 1. Culture: The beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time
  • 2. Irony: The use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning
  • 3. Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in drowning in money); broadly : figurative language
  • 4. Rhetoric: The study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion
  • 5. Allegory: A story in which the characters and events are symbols that stand for ideas about human life or for a political or historical situation
  • 6. Heuristic: Involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods
  • 7. Aesthetic: A particular theory or conception of beauty or art : a particular taste for or approach to what is pleasing to the senses and especially sight
  • 8. Diversity: The inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization
  • 9. Plagiarize: To commit literary theft : to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
  • 10. Pedagogy: The art, science, or profession of teaching; especially the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning in schools

Source: Merriam-Webster Online (Shared with permission)

Want more information on how this list was compiled? Find out more about where our Lists & Rankings come from.

About This List

With the start of each semester, the good folks at Merriam-Webster Dictionary online see a familiar spike in traffic, as students search for definitions to the pesky words in their new college assignments. These are the top 10! (By permission. From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.)

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress

College Quick Connect

Swipe right to request information.
Swipe left if you're not interested.

University of Colorado Boulder

Boulder, CO