Verbomania

National Spelling Bee Prep Book with over 13,000 Vocabulary Words

Verbomania means "passion, craze, or obsession with words." This well-known and highly respected regional, state, and National Spelling Bee prep book contains over 13,000 vocabulary enriching, SAT-type words. These are some of the more dynamic and interesting nouns, verbs, and adjectives from the English language that form a strong spelling and vocabulary foundation. Words include definitions, phonetic pronunciations, parts of speech, and language of origin. Random sequence includes etymology and pronunciations. Alpha sequence has been revised to include shortened etymology and pronunciations. Words in Verbomania are typical of words found in spelling competitions, and historically, many of the words in the earlier rounds of the National Spelling Bee have been found in this volume. (Note: This product is not returnable.) Click here to read about the history of Verbomania and the National Spelling Bee.

DICTIONARY RESOURSE: Since 2017, the online Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged dictionary has been designated as the current authority used by the National Bee. Our Verbo eMentor is based on this dictionary. Our printed Verbomania volumes are based on the prior resource used by the National Bee, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary. A large number of words that were NOT in the printed dictionary have been included in the Online version.

About 30% of the words in this product have differences between the two resources. Some of these alterations include the elimination of the d-stop in pronunciation (butter is now only <BUHT.uhr>, and meter is now only <MEET.uhr>), a change in the part of speech (many geographic terms that were defined only as adjectives are not only nouns), the alteration of the ending sound of a word from ‘it’ to ‘uht’ (rabbit/pundit), or other small changes. Order the eMentor version of Verbomania to study online.

FAQ: Should I buy Random or Alpha sequence?

Traditionally, studying alphabetically has been the norm and the most logical since that is how the dictionary is arranged. However, Random sequence Verbomania can be more challenging than Alpha sequence since word prefixes cannot be assumed simply by knowing a word's alphabetical placement. For instance, if a speller has never seen the word gigantic, the first letter could sound like a "j" or a "g". However, if the speller knew that they were studying in the "g" section, the challenge of spelling the word without a prompt might be missed. Random sequence is enjoyed by parents or coaches who strive to keep assignments varied and interesting while making verbal quizzing sessions more indicative of a student's knowledge. Click the above links to view inside each product before buying. Good luck and good spelling!

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