Vocabulary Builder: context

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context (noun)

• Meaning: the setting, situation, or circumstances in which something is found.
• Often it's used to refer to a particular word in a particular sentence: "You can usually figure out the meaning of a word from its context"--that is from the words that come before and/or after it.
• Plural: contexts
• Verb forms: contextualize, contextualizes, contextualized, contextualizing
• Adjectives:
• contextual: relating to the context: "the contextual understanding of a word"
• contextualized (also a verb form): same as contextual, but often used as a subject complement (after the verb to be): "A person's actions are easier to understand if they are contextualized."
• uncontextualized: the opposite of contextualized: "contextualized vs uncontextualized words"

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PRACTICE:

Place the correct form of "context" in each sentence. Answers in the first comment below.

1. context
2. contexts
3. contextualize
4. contextualizes
5. contextualized (verb)
6. contextualizing
7. contextual
8. contextualized (adj.)
9. uncontextualized

1. My best professor always ________ the literature he taught by discussing the author's time and place.
2. Decisions are better understood if they can be ________.
3. The ________ cues in a text can make it easier to understand.
4. He ________ the books he teaches so the students understand them better.
5. A word is easier to understand if you can ________ it.
6. A(n) ________ statement can often be misunderstood.
7. The conference was made more interesting by the various cultural ________ of the participants.
8. I understand a word better if I can see it in its original ________.
9. Sometimes ________ a decision helps people understand it better.