I keep reading a bit to attempt to pick up the meaning from context clues.
If I can understand the message as a whole or can figure out the meaning through context clues, I just keep going.
How do you know that you actually figured out the meaning though?
How many words did you guess wrong about and now you think you know but you don’t actually. You’ll never know if you read the context properly without looking it up after.
Try to guess the meaning of the word lugubrious from the following sentence:
Although he was wealthy, he often found himself lugubrious.
There isn’t a single clue in that sentence as to the meaning of the word.
Don’t just guess; actually learn properly instead.
Your example falls under “I don’t understand the message.” There are no context clues and the sentence relies on that one word for it to make any sense to me so it’s something I would actually look up.
That doesn’t address why you are so confident your guesses about context clues are always correct.
Why wouldn’t you look it up anyway to make sure you understood correctly?
If it’s important to the context of what I’m reading then I’ll look it up. Otherwise I write it down for later.
As others have said context is important. If you can infer its meaning, and it’s not critical to understanding, then just roll with it. If it’s critical, or you can infer, look it up.
I would highly recommend also looking up its pronunciation. Once you start using it wrong internally, it can leak out and utterly confuse people. Though that might just be a “me” problem. 🤷♂️
I try to figure out what it means from a combination of context and etymological guesswork, then check it a dictionary. If it’s a person or region or concept I’m unfamiliar with that isn’t covered directly or in notes, I hit the encyclopedia or atlas (well, Wikipedia and mapping software, these days.)
That’s how my father taught me to deal with stuff I didn’t understand when I was a kid and I’ve been doing that ever since. It interrupts the flow far less than having to set it aside for other demands on my time, so it’s not that big a deal.
We always had good dictionaries and encyclopedias on hand. Now, of course, it’s all online or downloadable.
One of the reasons I love eReaders is direct access to dictionary, translations, and Wikipedia.
