Make Your Point > Archived Issues > JOUNCE

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pronounce JOUNCE: Say it "JOUNCE." It rhymes with "bounce." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: The word jounce might have started as a blend of jump and bounce. If so, it's a portmanteau: a word created from blending others. The word ch___le might also be a portmanteau, a blend of chuckle and snort. Can you recall it? (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)     definition: We're not exactly sure where the word "jounce" came from, but we've used it in English for hundreds of years. It sounds like "jump and bounce," and that's what it means. In other words, to jounce is to move along in a heavy, bumping way. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Often a verb, both the transitive kind ("The bus ride jounced us") and the intransitive kind ("On the bus, we jounced around until we turned green"). Also a noun, the countable kind, meaning "a jolt, a shake, or a bump:" "Our teeth rattle with every jounce."  Other forms:  jounced, jouncing, jounces how to use it: When you prefer a more colorful, more unusual word than "bounce," "bump," "shake," or "jolt," pick the rare, fun "jounce." It sounds sophisticated, so it's especially useful when you kind of want to say "jiggle" but you also want to maintain your dignity. And not make people think of Jell-O. "Jounce" often describes the movement of vehicles, especially clumsy ones on clumsily-built roads examples: "Their backpacks hang off them like potato sacks, all lumpy and jouncing on the backs of their knees."    — Kekla Magoon, How It Went Down, 2014 "[The movie] 'Cut Bank' has the bumpy momentum of a vehicle jouncing along on a rutted country road."    — Stephen Holden, New York Times, 2 April 2015 has this page helped you understand "jounce"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "jounce" without saying "jolt" or "jostle." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "(Something happens) with every jounce in the road." Example 1: "With every jounce in the road, my extra-full Diet Coke threatens to spill." Example 2: "The front windshield shakes with every jounce in the road."    — Jason H. Harper, The Verge, 19 January 2016 If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game for September is Solve the Square! It's inspired by Squareword, which is like Wordle but in 3D. In each issue this month, find the 5-letter word that completes the square, creating words both horizontally and vertically. For a bonus point, define the word you've supplied. For the answers, scroll all the way down. Enjoy! Try this one today:     M   A  S  T  S  _  _   _  _   _  M  A  N   I  A  M  I  S  E  R   A  L  E  R  T review this word: 1. Near-opposites of JOUNCE include A. SETTLE and ALIGHT. B. PONDER and CONSIDER. C. JUMP and FLUCTUATE. 2. In "Itchy," the poet David Yezzi asks, "isn't it a drag living like this, / jounced on a high wire of impulses?" He probably means that, living in human bodies, we're constantly _____ our physical impulses. A. interrupted by B. jerked around by C. bombarded by Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. B Answer to the game question:    M   A  S  T  S  O  V  E  R  T  M  A  N   I  A  M  I  S  E  R   A  L  E  R  T Something OVERT is open, not hidden, not secret, and not covered up. Another great answer is AVERT, meaning "to prevent, or to turn away from." a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.