Why The Right Word, in the Right Context, Is a Superpower?

Felicity of expression is a writer’s best ally

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

“Use the right word, not its second cousin.”(Mark Twain)

Words may seem neutral individually, but they carry unique emotional undertones and distinctive shades of meaning. They are only powerful when we use them in the right context.

Words need to fit into a sentence. The right word amplifies the meaning of the sentence; the wrong word diminishes its appeal.

Writers achieve felicity of expression when they choose the most appropriate words.

In his famous speech in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr used the expression “I have a dream,” many times. He could have said “I have a vision” instead. The word “dream” suited the occasion better than ‘vision.”

A dream offers more hope and optimism about the future than a vision. People easily relate to dreams than visions.

Words that look similar have different shades of meaning.

Words like “adage,” “axiom,” "proverb," and “epigram” carry different shades of meaning.

For the word "fat,” we have possible synonyms like “portly,” “chubby,” “chunky,” “heavy,” “overweight,” “stocky,” “plump,” and “obese.”

Editing is polishing ideas as well as removing inexact words and replacing them with the most suitable words required by the context.

As a non-native writer of English, I often struggle to find the right words.

My first choice is usually my pet words, which are typically bombastic and flowery.

For example, I tilt towards using 'skulduggery’ instead of ‘deceit,’ ‘nonchalance’ instead of 'indifference,' and ‘intelligibility’ for ‘clarity, 'retribution' for ‘revenge,’ etc.

Stylistically, simplicity always scores over complexity, lucidity always wins over density.

Writers use both denotations and connotations of words. A denotation is a word’s apparent meaning, a dictionary definition, whereas connotation is a secondary meaning, usually its emotional association. For example, ‘child’ has a neutral connotation, ‘little one’ has a positive connotation, and ‘brat’ has a negative connotation.

The French writer Gustave Flaubert said,

“Whatever you want to say, there is only one word that will express it, one verb to make it move, one adjective to qualify it. You must seek that word, that verb, that adjective, and never be satisfied with approximations, never resort to tricks, even clever ones…to escape the difficulty.”

The wrong word looks like a square peg in a round hole, the right word is a superpower that wins over the hearts and minds of readers.

How to find the right word to use in a context? There’s no magic formula to discover it. Each writer must depend on their inner authenticity and vision to find the right word.

Writers should not sound clever, they should ring the bell of clarity.

Thanks for reading!