In 1918, the Cornell professor William Strunk Jr. printed a short guide for his students called The Elements of Style. One chapter lists words that are "good in their place, but are constantly obtruding themselves into places where they have no right to be." His fix was simple. A writer who aims "to express accurately his own individual thought," and won't settle for "a ready-made formula that saves him the trouble of doing so," will rarely have trouble with them (The Elements of Style, ch. 5).
That gives a simple test for every word on this list: does it add meaning here? If it does, keep it. If it's filling space, or doing a job a plainer word could do better, try something else. People who come across as sharp usually aren't using bigger words. They're using words that say exactly what they mean.
Here are ten words that often get in the way, and what to try instead.
1. "Utilize"
Aristotle thought clarity came first. "Style to be good must be clear," he wrote, and "clearness is secured by using the words (nouns and verbs alike) that are current and ordinary" (Rhetoric 3.2, W. Rhys Roberts's translation).
Modern research backs him up. In a series of experiments, readers judged the authors of texts as less intelligent when the writing had been made more complex, for example by swapping in longer words. The effect held regardless of the quality of the original text (Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2006).
"Utilize" almost always means "use." "We'll utilize the new software" says nothing that "We'll use the new software" doesn't, and the shorter version is easier to hear.
2. "Leverage"
A 2020 paper on jargon opens by asking why business people describe their abilities as their tendency to "synergistically leverage strategic competitive advantages." Across nine studies, the researchers found that people who felt lower in status used more jargon, and that this was driven by concern with how they'd be judged rather than by a wish to be clear (Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2020).
The fix is to say what you actually plan to do. "Leverage our relationships" might mean "ask three past clients for introductions." "Leverage the data" could become "Compare renewal rates before and after the price change," which tells people what to do with the data.
When you hear yourself reaching for a word like this, try saying the plain version first. If the plain version sounds thin, the idea may need more thought, not a bigger word.
3. "Very"
Strunk's entry on this one is two sentences long: "Use this word sparingly. Where emphasis is necessary, use words strong in themselves" (The Elements of Style, ch. 5).
"Very tired" can usually become "exhausted." "Very important" can become "essential," or better, a reason why it matters. "This is very important" asks the listener to take your word for it. "If we miss this deadline, we lose the client" shows them.
4. "Amazing"
Aristotle had a vivid complaint about the orator Alcidamas, who loaded his speeches with descriptive words. He "does not use them as the seasoning of the meat, but as the meat itself," Aristotle wrote. The result is "worse than if we took no trouble at all" (Rhetoric 3.3).
"Amazing," "incredible" and "awesome" work the same way today. When a sandwich, a spreadsheet and a sunset are all amazing, the word stops carrying any information.
Try saying what was good about it. "The talk was amazing" tells people little. "She explained the budget so clearly that I finally understood where the money goes" tells them something worth knowing.
5. "Literally"
Strunk was already complaining about this word in 1918. It is "often incorrectly used in support of exaggeration or violent metaphor," he wrote, giving the example "literally dead with fatigue" (The Elements of Style, ch. 5).
Language changes, and the exaggerating "literally" is now so common that some dictionaries record it. But it still causes problems. If you say "I literally died," people know you didn't. If you say "The building was literally falling apart," they may not know whether to call an inspector.
A concrete detail does the job better. "A section of the ceiling collapsed yesterday" tells the listener what happened and why it matters, with no need for "literally" at all.
6. "Interesting"
Strunk advised against using this word "as a perfunctory means of introduction." His advice: "Instead of announcing that what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so" (The Elements of Style, ch. 5).
"Here's an interesting fact" puts the burden on the fact. If it really is interesting, the listener will notice. Just tell them: "Octopuses have three hearts."
The same goes for "That's interesting" as a reply. Used to end a conversation politely, it's fine. Used when you actually are curious, it works better followed by a question: "That's interesting. How did you find that out?"
7. "Honestly"
The Gospel of Matthew has a short line on this: "But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil" (Matthew 5:37, King James Version).
The point is that a trustworthy person shouldn't need to add oaths and guarantees. "Honestly," "to be honest" and "I'm not going to lie" can raise a question they were meant to settle. If this sentence is honest, what about the last one?
Most of the time, the sentence works better without it. "Honestly, I think the plan needs work" becomes "I think the plan needs work," which is just as clear and more confident.
8. "Obviously"
Things that are obvious to you often aren't obvious to anyone else. Economists call this the "curse of knowledge." In experiments, better-informed people couldn't set aside what they knew, even when it was in their interest to predict the judgments of people who knew less (Journal of Political Economy, 1989).
"Obviously" can make listeners feel slow for not already knowing something. If the point really is obvious, the word isn't needed. If it isn't, the word makes it harder for someone to ask.
Instead, add the step the listener might be missing. "Obviously we'll need another day" becomes "We'll need another day because the supplier ships on Thursdays." That makes your reasoning easy to follow, and easy to question if something has changed.
9. "Thing"
When a disciple asked Confucius what his first priority would be if he were given charge of a state, the answer struck the disciple as strange: "rectify names." "If names are not right," Confucius explained, "then speech does not accord with things," and from there, everything else goes wrong (Analects 13.3, Robert Eno's translation).
He was talking about government, but the idea applies to everyday speech. "There's this thing with the project" or "We need to sort out the stuff with the client" leaves the listener guessing.
Naming the problem precisely is often half the work. "The client wants changes we haven't budgeted for" gives everyone something to act on. And if you can't name it yet, that's useful to know too.
10. "Basically"
The philosopher Blaise Pascal once apologized for the length of one of his letters: "The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter" (Provincial Letters 16, Thomas M'Crie's translation).
"Basically" often comes at the end of a long explanation, as a promise that the short version is finally coming. Pascal's apology captures something familiar: the short version takes work, and it's better done before you start talking.
Try leading with the summary instead of arriving at it. Say the one-sentence version first, with the outcome and any condition up front: "We can launch Friday if the client signs off by noon Thursday." Then add detail if people want it.
Sounding smart isn't about the words
None of these words is banned. The question is always whether a word adds meaning in a particular sentence. "Very" is fine in casual speech, and "basically" can be a helpful signal that a summary is coming.
Some so-called filler words also do real work. Researchers have argued that "uh" and "um" are real words that speakers use to signal a short or longer pause while they plan what comes next (Cognition, 2002). Accent, dialect and speaking in a second language are also no measure of intelligence, and judging people by them says more about the listener.
The goal isn't to police every word. It's to make your meaning easy to find.
One place to start
Pick one word from this list that you use often. For a week, notice each time you say or write it, and try the plain alternative once.
Before an important email or meeting, try a second test: can you say your main point in one sentence? If you can, lead with that.