Looking up words in the dictionary

College Confidential Community
1

<p>Hello.</p>

<p>When I read literary works and come across words I don't know, I first try to guess the meaning of words by looking at the context. But most of the time, especially when reading very high-level, abstruse novels like Moby Dick and Decameron, this method fails and leaves me with an uncomfortable and irritable feeling, forcing me to look up all those words in the dictionary. But then, as I flip through the dictionary to learn new words, an hour goes by in a second; I end up reading only one or two pages in an hour, not covering the novel as much as I want to. What could be the solution to this? </p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>If you're reading it online, use firefox and get the dictionary tooltip...Just doubleclick and wham you have the definition. (If you didn't know a lot of the classics are available free online)</p>

3

<p>I like to read in front of a computer so dictionary.com and wikipedia.org are at quick grasp. No more wasting time flipping through an encyclopedia or Websters to get what I need to know.</p>