One of the most uncomfortable experiences I’ve had as a reader is trying to get through something written by someone who was trying to “sound smart” by using vocabulary artificially inflated by their use of a thesaurus.
There are those who will tell you that good writing requires a broad vocabulary and that repetition and simplicity are anathema to a true writer.
I disagree wholeheartedly.
Good writing requires communication—that your reader understood your meaning and took away something from what you said is a far more valuable outcome than that they were dazzled by your eloquence.
Your writing will always sound better if you use vocabulary you are comfortable with, because you will be able to focus on what it is you want to say and less on sounding “good” (whatever that even means).
Dr. Seuss famously wrote Green Eggs and Ham on a bet from his editor that he couldn’t write a full book using only 50 words. Though not, perhaps, classifiable a world-changing narrative, it is nevertheless an example of what can be created using only a limited vocabulary.
Similarly, out of 96,072 words in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, there are only 6,911 unique words and more than 50% of the book is comprised of the 100 most commonly used English words. Writing something good and/or popular with readers doesn’t mean digging up arcane phraseology that will send most readers scrambling for a dictionary.
When you're writing, don't feel ashamed of your vocabulary; use it as fully as you are able, to convey your ideas. It is the ideas that matter most.
And if you really want to have more words at your disposal, invest some time in learning some new ones. Free Rice is one of my favorite vocabulary builders, but there are lots of options available.
Most crucially, if you want to build up your vocabulary, read!
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