Can You Guess Dictionary-Lover Drew Barrymore's Favorite Word?

We always love it when celebrities like Alicia Keys or Joseph Gordon Levitt talk about words. But talking about dictionaries? A banner day for us here at Vocabulary.com.

So we were thrilled to see an interview in Vulture yesterday in which actor, writer, producer, and model Drew Barrymore described how she "fell in love with the dictionary" and keeps a beloved collection of them in her home.Turns out, she's as into words as we are.

Here's what she said:

Vulture: What's the most unusual item in your home? Or something you could never part ways with?

Drew Barrymore: God, that question stumps me; there's so much stuff in my home…probably my dictionary collection. I have a lot of dictionaries.

V: You know you can do that on the Internet now, right?

DB: I know, I know, it's true. I even have an app on my phone and it just makes me sick every time I use it.

V: How often do you look up words in dictionaries?

DB: A lot, it's actually something I studied as a kid. I just love words.

V: Anything to do with acting?

DB: No, I just think dropping out of school early I had to learn things that I was really passionate about and wanted to keep studying and I fell in love with the dictionary. Words are very powerful.

It makes sense, then, that when asked by Bravo's Inside the Actors' Studio to name her favorite word, Barrymore chose a real beauty: empyrean.

It means "awe-inspiring" or "related to the heavens" and, according to the Online Etymological Dictionary, comes to us from ancient Greek cosmology, where it refers to "the highest heaven, a sphere of pure fire." 

Want to be remember empyrean forever? Go to its definition page in our Dictionary, click "Learn," and add it to the words you are mastering on Vocabulary.com. Let the trumpets sound!