Vocabulary Check!

I wonder sometimes why "vocabulary" was only important in elementary school.  I'm sure I learned definitions of words then, but I don't remember them.  Or if I do, they were simple words whose definitions are now so ingrained in my daily speech that I don't even realize there was a time that I didn't know what the words meant.  But I digress, my point is, I don't know what the word verisimilitude means.  I've seen it written places, I can generally come up with a basic definition in the context of the sentence, but I haven't a clue what the word really means.  I see that as a problem if I ever work past this writers block and want to write something.  Not that I'll ever use the word verisimilitude in anything I write, ever, but there are about a zillion words I don't know the meaning of.  How can I write well if my tools are so limited?

The only vocabulary I remember studying in school, and has been useful to me at times, was in my sophomore English class when we had vocabulary words on the board every day that we had to write down both the word and definition of, and then were quizzed on every quarter.  I learned useful words, like capitulate, gambol, cacophony.  And I still remember what they mean.

I guess my point is that I should be forcing myself to look up the meaning of words I only think I know.  Perhaps one day, one word will get my thoughts unstuck and I can write something creative for a change.

veri·si·mil·i·tude  noun

1: the quality or state of being verisimilar

2: something verisimilar

veri·sim·i·lar adj

1: having the appearance of truth : probable

2: depicting realism (as in art or literature)