Academic Word of the Day

A daily examination of a particular academic (AWL) word and its usage in academic writing

This page examines particular academic words and their usage in academic writing.

For each word, it examines the meaning or meanings of that word and its collocations, connotations, other words in the same word families, possible synonyms, antonyms, and lexical phrases, and provides examples of its use in authentic texts which are cited and listed in the bibliography. Occasionally, where an example is taken from a text which is particularly rich in examples of the headword, the citation is also a link to the source article. There is also an indication of whether the word appears in an academic word list. These are:

AWL: The Academic Word List
NAWL: The New Academic Word List
AKL: The Academic Keyword List
OPAL: The Oxford Phrasal Academic Lexicon
NGSL: The New General Service List (a basic word list rather than an academic one)

In the example sentences the words of the day are highlighted in red. Other 'academic words' are highlighted in bold.
Where the example sentences contain 'academic' words, these are highlighted in bold, as in this paragraph. Only words from the Academic Word List (AWL), the New Academic Word List (NAWL) or some from the Academic Keyword List (AKL) are highlighted. This gives you an idea of how common and important these words are in these types of academic or technical texts.

If you need to find or highlight academic words in a text you can use the Academic Word Highlighter. This gives you a choice about which word list to use for highlighting.

The words of the day appear in order by date. They are also divided into sets of ten words, which are the ten words tested in each set of quizzes.

You can see all previous sets by going to the Previous Sets page.

You can see all previous Academic Word of the Day Quizzes by going to the Academic Word of the Day Quizzes page.

There are also occasional collocation quizzes to test recall of words in previous sets (mainly the previous 2 or 3 sets).

All the collocation quizzes are also available on the Academic Word of the Day Collocation Quizzes pages.

You can more collocates of words from various academic word lists by consulting the Collocation Dictionary.

Today's word is:

2025-12-19 22 substituteAWL: VERB TRANSITIVE to replace one thing with another
The next generation of computers will mainly substitute low-income, low-skill workers over the next decades. (Frey and Osborne 2013) “To substitute something plant-based as a substitute because it’s called plant-based is really steering us in the wrong direction,” says Schwartz. (McGee 2022) Diets that substituted animal products with the plant-based alternative were below the daily recommendations for vitamin B12, calcium, potassium, zinc and magnesium, and higher in sodium, sugar and saturated fat. (McGee 2022) But the temptation to lean on editing and text generation tools like Grammarly and ChatGPT makes it all too easy for people to substitute ready-made technology results for opportunities to think and learn. (Baron 2023) Another way to reduce traffic noise would be to build more bike lanes and paths in less-wealthy communities, which often lack them, and encourage people to substitute this cheaper, healthier, cleaner and quieter mode of transportation when they can. (Walker 2022) Nineteenth century manufacturing technologies largely substituted for skilled labour in jobs, such as weaving and the production of tools, by simplifying the tasks involved. (Frey and Osborne 2013) Common collocates for this word:

substitute

care
equation
foods
values
infinity
setback
lime
heroin
powder
rice
leisure
judgment
drug
sentence
gas

Word Family: substitute (verb), substitute (noun)Synonyms: exchange, switch Lexical phrases: substitute X for Y19/12/2025 - Set 22Test your understanding of the words in set 22 with these quick quizzes: Quiz 22 Quiz 22B Quiz 22C
2025-12-18 22 targetAWL AKL OPAL NGSL: NOUN COUNTABLE a future goal, level or amount to be reached
The bank lowered the cash rate target by 0.25%, from 4.1% to 3.85%, saying inflation is expected to remain in the target band. (Hawkins 2025) Even within the current net overseas migration targets, there is still room for small growth in overall international students. (Hildebrandt and Hurley 2024) The Australian Capital Territory is on track to achieve its 100% renewable electricity target by 2020. (Diesendorf 2016) Only a few of the large companies have set proper targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. (Bauer and Nielsen 2021) Cyberattacks against agricultural targets are not some far-off threat; they are already happening. (Doctor and Grispos 2022) Although the Paris Agreement assumes that there will need to be some degree of tropical forest restoration to achieve emissions reduction targets, few studies have assessed how forest cover in the Amazon is changing. (Smith, Berenguer, and Barlow 2021) Common collocates for this word:

target

easy
prime
main
new
obvious
specific
moving
intended
original
realistic
real
legitimate
key
particular
major

Word Family: target (noun), target (verb)Synonyms: goal, objective, aim Lexical phrases: be on target18/12/2025 - Set 22
2025-12-17 22 transitoryAWL AKL OPAL NGSL: ADJECTIVE lasting for a short time
Most species are transitory. They go extinct, branch into new species or change over time due to random mutations and environmental shifts. (Sandberg 2022) Life is transitory. We should make the best use of the time we have to live honourably, take delight in our good fortune, and face the inevitable with steadfastness. Given the highly transitory life stage they are in, young people are more likely to abstain if voting is voluntary. (Chowdhury 2023) Online platforms, with their ephemeral content, risk contributing to a cultural memory loss since so much of what’s shared on these platforms is transitory and geared toward superficial engagement rather than meaningful cultural expression. (Kianpour 2025) Sound is the most ephemeral and transitory of presences but in the film the gong rock sound is a thread linking voices and images, past and present.(Rusch 2023) Common collocates for this word:

transitory

income
consumption
nature
clause
existence
stage
period
life
world
state
provisions
character
phase
stage
phenomenon

Word Family: transitory (adjective), transit (noun), transit (verb)Synonyms: short-lived, temporary, momentary, transient, ephemeral, 17/12/2025 - Set 22
2025-12-16 22 acknowledgementAWL AKL NGSL: NOUN COUNTABLE the act of recognising the existence or value of something or someone
We are witnessing a resurgence of Indigenous knowledge and growing acknowledgement of its scientific value worldwide. (McAllister and Moko-Painting 2023) The acknowledgement of inter-relationships between human and nonhuman beings (plants, animals, forests, rivers, oceans etc.) is a common thread. (Taylor and Parsons 2021) There is also acknowledgement some of the damage is due to internal issues – such as governance failures. (Turner 2025) My [] colleague, Aaron Nyerges, has written a beautiful acknowledgement of Maya Angelou’s contributions as a poet, or as he states borrowing from Shelley, an “unacknowledged legislators of the world”. (Tunstall 2014) The guidelines all say AI tools can be used for routine tasks like improving grammar, revising sentence structure, or assisting with literature searches. These applications do not require specific acknowledgement. (Laher 2025) We could see something similar in academia, where each aspect of the research is made openly available, with acknowledgement of the originator, including ChatGPT. (Kingsley 2023) Common collocates for this word:

acknowledgement

due
explicit
tacit
belated
welcome
formal
written
silent
brief
open
gracious
implicit
continuous
widespread
apparent

Word Family: acknowledgement (noun), acknowledge (verb)Synonyms: recognition, acceptance 16/12/2025 - Set 22
2025-12-15 22 allocateAWL AKL OPAL NGSL: VERB TRANSITIVE to distribute or set aside for a particular purpose
Microeconomics analyzes behavior. It looks at how individuals and companies respond to incentives and allocate scarce resources efficiently. (Batabyal 2021) The rationale behind allocating employees to multiple projects is often billed as increasing productivity, but it’s simply a way to save time, money and resources for firms. (Colicev and Hakkarainen 2022) A more balanced approach is to allocate the emissions associated with meat and byproducts using the relative economic value of the different products. (Alexander 2023) Nobel laureate Richard Thaler introduced the concept of mental accounting in 1985, as a model of how we allocate money into to different categories for spending. (Farrell and Elkins 2025) These places could be allocated to other institutions who have a higher proportion of domestic students. (Hildebrandt and Hurley 2024)Used as a participial adjective Domestic student enrolments continued increasing to 2021, last having declined in 2004 (due to government penalties if universities enrolled more than their allocated number of students). (Norton 2023) Common collocates for this word:

allocate

resources
funds
responsibility
land
responsibilities
accommodation
credit
capital
property
time
budgets
priorities
taxes
tasks
costs

Word Family: allocate (verb), allocation (noun)Synonyms: designate, assign, apportion, set aside, allot, 15/12/2025 - Set 22
2025-12-12 22 assignAWL OPAL NGSL: VERB TRANSITIVE 1. to give a particular value or property to something 2. to give someone a particular job, task, or responsibility
First, they try to gauge a consumer’s satisfaction level by assigning a number based on how much this consumer values the goods and services she chooses to buy in a market. (Batabyal 2021) With the use of statistical modelling, we discovered why and how you can reach the optimum workload when assigned to multiple projects. (Colicev and Hakkarainen 2022) The impact of the whole animal is recalculated and different values are assigned to the meat and the byproduct. (Alexander 2023) The story of Nabilil the crocodile points to how language evolves in close relationship with its environment, and how those who travel assign new labels to the land, animals and experiences they encounter. (Manns and Burridge 2020) This aligns with the concept of mental accounting, which suggests that we value our money differently based on the mental category we assign it to. (Algarhi and Lagos 2024) Common collocates for this word:

assign

values
probabilities
liability
normality
symmetry
copyright
gender
recovery
customer
sentence
responsibility
risk
design
energy
money

Word Family: assign (verb), assignment (noun)Synonyms: dispense, allot, allocate, apportion, appoint, commission12/12/2025 - Set 22
2025-12-11 22 cooperationAWL: NOUN UNCOUNTABLE the act of working together for a common or reciprocal benefit
Our ancestors evolved in small groups, where cooperation and persuasion had at least as much to do with reproductive success as holding accurate factual beliefs about the world. (Bardon 2020) The most promising example of institutionalised international cooperation we have yet seen – the European Union – is in crisis and has become synonymous with dysfunction. (Beeson 2016) A key ongoing challenge is lack of cooperation between the two sectors. Both often see each other as competitors for school leavers and government funding. (Jones and Seet 2023) Free-riding pays more if others cooperate, but if everyone does it then cooperation unravels and everyone is worse off. (Chaudhuri, Atkinson, and Claessens 2023) This top-down approach to decision-making has led to lack of cooperation by local residents or communities in addressing illegal mining. (Bansah 2022) This program should facilitate cooperation and capacity building, support a more demographically and geographically diverse research community, enable equitable participation and prioritize strategies that build trust, transparency and legitimacy. (Sagar, Hurrell, and Hourdequin 2021) Common collocates for this word:

cooperation

economic
international
close
mutual
political
active
military
ull
social
technical
effective
continued
cultural
local
interdisciplinary

Word Family: cooperation (noun), cooperate (verb), cooperative (noun or adjective)Synonyms: collaboration, teamwork Lexical phrases: cooperation [between, among]11/12/2025 - Set 22
2025-12-10 22 discriminateAWL AKL OPAL NGSL: VERB 1. to divide into categories based on perceived differences; 2. to treat differently based on biases or prejudices
Detecting a small object on the ground requires keen vision and experience, to discriminate between the parts that are important and those that are not. (Kaplan 2019) But in reality, people do attribute value to accents and discriminate against non-native speakers. (Lev-Ari 2021) In our recent study we show that people might discriminate against non-native speakers even if they are not prejudiced. (Lev-Ari 2021) This means companies providing insurance for death, income protection, and disability can discriminate on the basis of genetic risk of disease.(Tiller and Lacaze 2023) Common collocates for this word:

discriminate

unfairly
arbitrarily
positively
heavily
directly
quite
at
meaningfully
negatively
decisively
satisfactorily
morally
visually
appropriately
indirectly

Word Family: discriminate (verb), discrimination (noun)Synonyms: differentiate, distinguish Lexical phrases: discriminate [against, between]10/12/2025 - Set 22
2025-12-09 22 diversityAWL OPAL NGSL: NOUN UNCOUNTABLE the inclusion of people or things with different characteristics in one group
Tourists have also been interviewed for the campaign, emerging from the water amazed and astounded at the diversity of colour and marine life they have seen. (Anderson 2016) A lack of gender diversity in AI has a demonstrated ability to harm and disadvantage women and, by extension, all of us(Assaad 2023) Moral values such as fairness, justice, empathy, tolerance and respect are shared, if not universal, values relevant to dealing with human diversity. (Witenberg 2014) Clearly, a lack of gender diversity in the workforce is part of a much larger, systemic problem – one that affects many more people than the individuals being excluded. (Assaad 2023) Teachers in our study described the need to assess a diversity of academic and learning skills in multiple spaces for so many children as an impossible juggling act. (Pyle and DeLuca 2019) However, social media’s profit-driven algorithms homogenize experiences and ultimately undermine cultural diversity. We have become storysellers instead of storytellers. (Kianpour 2025) Common collocates for this word:

diversity

cultural
great
biological
wide
genetic
rich
considerable
ethnic
enormous
linguistic
political
numerical
increasing
regional
growing

Word Family: diversity (noun), diverse (adjective)Synonyms: variance, difference, heterogeneity, variety 09/12/2025 - Set 22
2025-12-08 22 editAWL AKL OPAL: VERB TRANSITIVE 1. to make changes to a text, image, film, code, or genes; 2. to have control of a publication such as a newspaper of magazine
By the 1990s, when Tina Brown became the first woman to edit The New Yorker, it definitely needed a makeover. (Ricketson 2025) Students couldn’t follow the entire video and felt it was too long. As a result, the team had to edit it into a series of much shorter clips — some as brief as 16 seconds — so they could capture the attention of their audience. (Kianpour 2025) Tools like ChatGPT are only the latest in a progression of AI programs for editing or generating text. (Baron 2023) Gene editing is one of the scarier things in the science news, but not all gene editing is the same. It matters whether researchers edit “somatic” cells or “germline” cells. (Feingold 2019) There was a perception among training providers that graduates knew how to write, edit or operate a camera but didn’t understand the industry as a whole or how different roles worked together. (Jones and Brereton 2024) Common collocates for this word:

edit

letters
data
text
correspondence
images
questions
program
video
material
information
scripts
menus
replies
manuscripts
games

Word Family: edit (verb), editor (noun), edition (noun)Synonyms: revise, redact, rewrite, rephrase 08/12/2025 - Set 22

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