PersonallyIPreferDair

Take note of common trends in words, too, such as the prefix A- meaning "anti" or "without." Or the suffix -phagy meaning to eat.

I forgot to answer your last question about how I went about learning new words.

My method's always been to search for compiled lists of "obscure" words and pick out which ones I feel are useful and make it a point to use them when I can so that they become second nature. A good way to get a feel for words, is to take into account that all words are different and think about what makes one word different from the other and what makes them similar (denotation and connotation; understanding their properties). For example, expatiation and disquisition both denote lengthy discussion, yet they connote different things.

Expatiation connotes a mutually-involved discussion, whereas disquisition connotes a lecture-like speech or writing.