How To Break Apart A Word And Come Up With a Working Definition
You will not come up with an accurate definition. What you will have is a rough idea of what the word means, and you will still need to use other clues to refine the definition, such as context.
Work right to left. Start at the end of the word and move to the left until you can identify a word part. If the word has three or more parts you may need to go back and forth a bit. Start with the last part, go to the first part, go back to the next to last part, then back to the second part, and so on.
Redo "to do again"
Magnify "to make big"
Amorphous "characterized by lack of shape"
Be sure to use the "magic words" for the part of speech.
If you have a verb, your definition should be "to _."
If you have a noun, your defintion should be "a _."
If you have an adjective, your definition should be the meaning of the adjectival suffix. If the suffix has no definition, use "having to do with _."
If you have an adverb, your definition should be "in a _ way"
Use virgules to divide the word into parts.
Be aware of possible connectors. If you think you recognize a part but it seems to have an extra vowel (or sometimes two) on it, those vowels are probably just connectors.
Come Up With a Working Definition
You will not come up with an accurate definition. What you will have is a rough idea of what the word means, and you will still need to use other clues to refine the definition, such as context.
Work right to left. Start at the end of the word and move to the left until you can identify a word part. If the word has three or more parts you may need to go back and forth a bit. Start with the last part, go to the first part, go back to the next to last part, then back to the second part, and so on.
Redo "to do again"
Magnify "to make big"
Amorphous "characterized by lack of shape"
Be sure to use the "magic words" for the part of speech.
Use virgules to divide the word into parts.
Be aware of possible connectors. If you think you recognize a part but it seems to have an extra vowel (or sometimes two) on it, those vowels are probably just connectors.