Today, I tried the "context clues" strategy to build my vocabulary.
I came across the word "meticulous" while reading an article about artists. The sentence was: "The artist was meticulous, paying close attention to every brushstroke and detail." I didn't know what the word meant at first, but I used the other words in the sentence, like "paying close attention" and "every detail" to help me figure it out. From that, I guessed it meant something like very careful or precise, and when I looked it up later, I found out I was right!
This strategy worked well for me because it made me think more carefully about the words around the unfamiliar one, and it helped me remember the word better. I also learned two more words today: "inevitable" and "serene", and I used the same strategy to guess their meanings before checking a dictionary.
I think using context clues is a great way to build vocabulary, especially when you're reading something interesting and don't want to stop every time to look something up.