Communication Studies Terminology

noun an understanding or grasp of a subject

• Reading comprehension is a crucial skill for academic success.
• I need to work on my comprehension skills to understand the material better.
• I totally lost you there, my comprehension is way off.
• Sometimes, comprehension is like trying to solve a puzzle without all the pieces.

noun a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea

adjective a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun

• The critic's review was filled with faint praise for the new play.
• She gave a little bit of faint praise for his cooking skills.
• He threw some shade with that faint praise.
• Her faint praise was like a slap in the face.

noun a small lie or untruth

verb to tell a small lie or untruth

• The doctor suspected that the patient was telling a fib about their symptoms.
• I can tell you're fibbing about your age, you don't look a day over 30!
• Stop fibbing to me, I know you were the one who broke the vase.
• She weaved a web of fibs to cover up her true intentions.

verb to confuse or mix up, especially in a way that makes something unclear or difficult to understand

adjective confused or unclear, often as a result of being distorted or jumbled

• The message was garbled due to a poor connection.
• I couldn't understand his garbled speech.
• The audio was so garbled, I couldn't make out a single word.
• The artist's garbled interpretation of the painting left viewers confused.

noun a gesture, especially a dramatic one, used instead of speaking or to emphasize one's words

• The speaker used precise gesticulations to emphasize her points during the presentation.
• He's always waving his hands around when he talks, like his gesticulations will make his story more interesting.
• She was throwing up gang signs and other gesticulations while rapping on stage.
• His gesticulations of kindness towards the homeless man warmed the hearts of onlookers.

noun a word used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things

verb a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence

adverb a word that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb

pronoun a word that can function by itself as a noun phrase and that refers either to the participants in the discourse or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse

preposition a word used before a noun or pronoun to show place, direction, time, or method

article a word that is used with a noun to specify grammatical definiteness of the noun

• After explaining the project for the third time, I finally saw that he began to get the picture.
• I had to draw it out for him, but he finally got the picture.
• I had to spell it out for her, but she finally got the picture.
• It took a while, but he eventually got the picture and understood what I was trying to say.

noun a thing tacitly assumed beforehand at the beginning of a line of argument or course of action

• The success of the project is based on the presupposition that all team members will fulfill their roles effectively.
• Don't make the presupposition that everyone will agree with your idea without discussing it first.
• You can't just roll with the presupposition that everything will work out without putting in the effort.
• The presupposition that money can buy happiness is often proven wrong by those who have everything but still feel empty inside.

noun a secondary or covert communication channel used in diplomacy or negotiation

adjective relating to or characteristic of indirect communication or negotiation

• The diplomats used a back channel to communicate confidential information.
• Let's use the back channel to discuss this without others knowing.
• I'll hit you up on the back channel to talk about it.
• The back channel of communication between the two rival gangs helped prevent a violent confrontation.