Difficult Words

List of 1000+ English difficult words with meaning and proper pronunciation. Improve your English vocabulary with these hard words.

  • astringent
  • substance that shrinks

  • detumescence
  • diminishing or lessening of swelling

  • raconteur
  • person who tells anecdotes

  • excoriation
  • severe criticism

  • ebullience
  • exuberance outburst of feeling

  • aloof
  • reserved indifferent

  • sanguine
  • cheerful confident optimistic

  • descry
  • catch sight of see smth in the distance

  • tenacity
  • firmness persistency adhesiveness tending to hang on

  • protracted
  • prolonged

  • contumacious
  • insubordinate rebellious

  • palpability
  • can be felt touched understood

  • teetotal
  • oppose to alcohol

  • disseminate
  • distribute (esp. ideas)

  • sawdust
  • tiny bits of wood

  • blandishment
  • flattery coaxing

  • salubrious
  • healthful

  • benefactor
  • person who has given help

  • drawl
  • slow way of speaking

  • profuse
  • abundant/lavish

  • muffler
  • cloth worn round the neck/silencer

  • provisional
  • of the present time only

  • emote
  • stir up excite

  • unscathed
  • unharmed unhurt

  • bask
  • in enjoy warmth and light

  • peripatetic
  • wandering

  • effrontery
  • boldness impudence arrogance

  • dupe
  • cheat make a fool of

  • candid
  • frank straight-forward

  • elaborate
  • worked out with much care in great detail

  • brazen
  • made of brass

  • presumption
  • arrogance

  • avid
  • eager greedy

  • inadvertent
  • not paying proper attention

  • render
  • deliver provide represent

  • hospitable
  • liking to give hospitality

  • misanthrope
  • person who hates mankind

  • reprobate
  • person hardened in sin one devoid of decency

  • petrous
  • like a rock hard stony

  • vain
  • without use result conceited

  • resort
  • to frequently visit

  • exoneration
  • set smb clear free (e.g.. from blame)

  • turbid
  • muddy having the sediment stirred up

  • turmoil
  • trouble disturbance

  • fret
  • worry irritation wear away

  • assail
  • with attack violently

  • efficacy
  • production of a desired result

  • congeal
  • make or become stiff and solid

  • visceral
  • internal organs of the body

  • incongruous
  • out of place not in harmony or agreement

  • apartheid
  • brutal racial discrimination

  • hollow
  • not soled with hole

  • grandiloquent
  • using pompous words

  • fetter
  • to shackle put in chains

  • equipoise
  • equal distribution of weight equilibrium

  • contentious
  • argumentative pugnacious combative quarrelsome

  • thrift
  • care economy thriving prosperous

  • foil
  • prevent from carrying out contrast

  • pungency
  • sharpness stinging quality

  • molt
  • moult lose hair feathers before new growing

  • foster
  • nurture care for

  • enzyme
  • catalyst

  • impiety
  • lack of reverence or dutifulness

  • ostracism
  • shut out from society refuse to meet talk

  • temperate
  • showing self-control

  • torpid
  • sleeping sluggish lethargic dormant

  • quibble
  • try to avoid by sophistication

  • shallow
  • little depth not earnest

  • inured
  • accustomed to adapted

  • eloquence
  • fluent speaking skillful use of language

  • forage
  • food for horses and cattle

  • frantic
  • wildly excited with joy pain anxiety

  • apt
  • well-suited quick-witted

  • indelible
  • that cannot be rubbed out

  • turpitude
  • wickedness shamefulness

  • inclined
  • directing the mind in a certain direction

  • puissance
  • strength

  • breach
  • opening broken place breaking

  • pry
  • get smth inquire too curiously

  • restive
  • refusing to move reluctant to be controlled

  • brook
  • to tolerate endure

  • vilify
  • slander say evil things

  • dulcet
  • melodious harmonious

  • epithet
  • adjective

  • cognizant
  • being fully aware of

  • prim
  • neat formal

  • garrulity
  • talkativeness

  • valorous
  • brave

  • halcyon
  • calm and peaceful

  • demagogue
  • person appealing not to reasons

  • ominous
  • threatening

  • proliferate
  • grow reproduce by rapid multification

  • lien
  • legal claim until a debt on it is repaid

  • august
  • majestic venerable

  • connotation
  • suggestion in addition to

  • resuscitation
  • coming back to consciousness

  • insipid
  • without taste or flavor

  • suffice
  • be enough

  • lachrymose
  • causing tears tearful

  • dexterity
  • skill (esp. in handling)

  • undermine
  • weaken gradually at the base make smth under

  • flinch
  • draw move back wince

  • grovel
  • crawl humble oneself

  • unencumbered
  • easy-going trifle

  • stingy
  • spending using unwillingly

  • coda
  • passage that completes a piece of music

  • imbroglio
  • complicated and embarrassing situation

  • elicit
  • draw out

  • ostentation
  • display to obtain admiration or envy

  • obdurate
  • hardened and unrepenting stubborn inflexible

  • disinter
  • dig up from the earth

  • writ
  • written order

  • belabor
  • beat hard

  • ingenuous
  • naive young artless frank honest sincere

  • predilection
  • special liking mental preference

  • indigence
  • poverty

  • mellifluous
  • sweetly flowing

  • ensign
  • flag/badge

  • collusion
  • secret agreement for a deceitful purpose

  • vivacious
  • lively high-spirited

  • jabber
  • talk excitedly utter rapidly

  • defer
  • postpone give way (to show respect)

  • torment
  • severe pain or suffering

  • laudatory
  • expressing or giving praise

  • prone
  • prostrate inclined to (undesirable things)

  • convoluted
  • complicated coiled twisted

  • vigilant
  • member of a vigilance committee

  • enunciate
  • pronounce (words)/express a theory

  • irresolute
  • hesitating undecided

  • imperious
  • commanding haughty arrogant

  • feint
  • pretend

  • malign
  • injurious speak ill of smb tell lie

  • extort
  • obtain by threats violence

  • connoisseur
  • a person with good judgement (e.g.. in art)

  • savant
  • person of great learning

  • extol
  • praise highly

  • admonitory
  • containing warning

  • disheveled
  • untidy

  • sting
  • smth sharp

  • labyrinthine
  • to entangle the state of affairs

  • coalescing
  • coming together and uniting into one substance

  • temerity
  • boldness brashness intrepidness

  • stygian
  • hence dark gloomy

  • console
  • give comfort or sympathy to

  • mendicant
  • a beggar

  • turbulence
  • being uncontrolled violent

  • quail
  • lose courage turn frightened

  • feckless
  • lacking purpose or vitality ineffective careless

  • froward
  • intractable not willing to yield or comply stubborn

  • cryptic
  • secret with a hidden meaning

  • warrant
  • authority written order guarantee

  • preponderance
  • greatness in number strength weight

  • upbraid
  • scold reproach

  • apotheosis
  • deification glorification to godliness

  • sullied
  • to be stained or discredited

  • vitiate
  • lower the quality weaken the strength

  • alcove
  • recess/partially enclosed place

  • inscrutable
  • incapable of being discovered or understood

  • idolatry
  • excessive admiration of

  • embellish
  • make beautiful

  • enduring
  • lasting

  • divulge
  • make known smth secret

  • maladroit
  • tactless clumsy

  • hack
  • cut roughly hired horse

  • imperviousness
  • haughty arrogant commanding

  • implicit
  • implied though not plainly expressed

  • undulate
  • to move in wavelike fashion fluctuate

  • inundate
  • flood cover by overflowing

  • picaresque
  • involving clever rogues or adventurers

  • retard
  • check hinder

  • florid
  • very much ornamented naturally red (e.g.. of face)

  • soporific
  • producing sleep

  • abysmal
  • bottomless extreme

  • flak
  • criticism/anti-aircraft guns

  • turquoise
  • greenish-blue precious stone

  • refine
  • make or become pure cultural

  • amortize
  • end (a debt) by setting aside money

  • quotidian
  • banal everyday

  • disallow
  • refuse to allow or accept as a correct

  • trite
  • not new

  • rotund
  • rich and deep plump and round

  • ire
  • anger

  • flaunting
  • show off complacently

  • desuetude
  • cessation of use disuse

  • lope
  • move along with long strides

  • antidote
  • medicine used against a poison or a disease

  • officious
  • too eager or ready to help offer advice

  • premature
  • doing or happening smth before the right time

  • onerous
  • needing effort burdensome

  • ostensible
  • seeming appearing as such professed

  • antithetical
  • direct opposing

  • chicanery
  • legal trickery/false argument

  • buoyant
  • able to float light-hearted

  • exigency
  • emergency an urgent situation

  • harrow
  • to distress create stress or torment

  • beatify
  • to bless make happy or ascribe a virtue to

  • ford
  • shallow place in a river (to cross)

  • discourse
  • speech lecture

  • subpoena
  • written order requiring a person to appear in a low court

  • fission
  • splitting or division (esp. of cells)

  • snub
  • treat with contempt

  • exuberance
  • state of growing vigorously being full of life

  • sequence
  • succession connected line of

  • curriculum
  • course of study

  • desultory
  • aimless haphazard digressing at random

  • mettle
  • quality of endurance or courage

  • splice
  • join (two ends)

  • propinquity
  • nearness in time or place affinity of nature

  • sundry
  • various miscellaneous separate

  • chary
  • cautious wary

  • sagacious
  • having sound judgment perceptive wise like a sage

  • abrogate
  • repeal or annul by authority

  • paucity
  • scarcity a lacking of

  • recast
  • cast or fashion anew

  • alloy
  • to debase by mixing with something inferior

  • paradigm
  • a model example or pattern

  • belligerent
  • (person nation) waging war

  • attune
  • bring into harmony

  • propagation
  • increasing the number spreading extending

  • heterogeneous
  • made up of different kinds

  • petrified
  • taken away power (to think feel act)

  • penchant
  • strong inclination a liking

  • deviance
  • being different in moral standards (from normal)

  • inchoate
  • not yet fully formed rudimentary elementary

  • quiescent
  • at rest dormant torpid

  • corporeal
  • physical of or for the body

  • finical
  • too fussy about food clothing etc.

  • abeyance
  • suspended action

  • inane
  • silly senseless

  • blandness
  • polite manner comforting uninteresting

  • inveigh
  • to attack verbally denounce deprecate

  • interim
  • as an installment

  • indigenous
  • native

  • pusillanimous
  • cowardly craven

  • salutary
  • remedial wholesome causing improvement

  • piquant
  • agreeably pungent stimulating

  • incorrigibility
  • cannot be cured or corrected

  • opprobrious
  • showing scorn or reproach

  • falter
  • waver/move in an uncertain manner

  • dwarf
  • person or smb much below the usual size

  • animosity
  • strong dislike

  • unfeigned
  • not pretended sincere

  • fragile
  • easily injured broken or destroyed

  • felicitous
  • apt suitably expressed well chosen apropos

  • dainty
  • pretty/delicate(food)/difficult to please

  • incessant
  • often repeated continual

  • renowned
  • celebrated famous

  • consume
  • get to the end of

  • epicurean
  • devoted to pleasure (sensuous enjoyment)

  • suppress
  • prevent from being known put an end to

  • hubris
  • arrogant pride

  • quack
  • person dishonestly claiming to smth

  • idiosyncrasy
  • personal mannerism

  • interdict
  • prohibit forbid

  • aspersion
  • slander

  • constrict
  • make tight or smaller

  • inept
  • unskillful said or done at the wrong time

  • slake
  • to assuage to satisfy allay

  • savor
  • taste flavor smth

  • nexus
  • a connection tie or link

  • ossify
  • to turn to bone to settle rigidly into an idea

  • latent
  • present but not yet active developed or visible

  • heresy
  • belief contrary to what is generally accepted

  • talon
  • claw of a bird of prey

  • wend
  • to go proceed

  • incise
  • engrave make a cut in

  • imperative
  • urgent essential

  • boorish
  • crude offensive rude

  • timorous
  • fearful timid afraid

  • transgress
  • break go beyond (a limit)

  • vindictive
  • having a desire to revenge

  • defiance
  • open disobedience or resistance

  • palpitate
  • tremble beat rapidly and irregularly

  • egress
  • way out exit

  • abide
  • be faithful to endure

  • philistine
  • a smug ignorant person one who lacks knowledge

  • harangue
  • a long passionate speech

  • trickle
  • flow in drops

  • cursory
  • quick hurried

  • propitious
  • auspicious presenting favorable circumstances

  • indolence
  • laziness

  • palatial
  • magnificent

  • frenetic
  • frantic frenzied

  • libel
  • statement that damages reputation

  • unearth
  • discover and bring to light

  • ineptitude
  • quality of being unskillful

  • obviate
  • to make unnecessary get rid of

  • surfeit
  • satiate feed to fulness or to excess

  • scurvy
  • mean contemptible

  • consummate
  • perfect/make perfect/complete

  • paean
  • song of praise or triumph

  • eschew
  • avoid

  • flout
  • reject mock to go against (as in going against tradition)

  • castigate
  • to chastise correct by punishing

  • torque
  • twisting force causing rotation

  • strut
  • a supporting bar

  • deluge
  • great flood heavy rush of water

  • moderation
  • quality of being limited not extreme

  • renovate
  • restore smth to better condition

  • stolid
  • showing no emotion impassive

  • opaqueness
  • dullness/not allowing light to pass through

  • cumbersome
  • burdensome heavy and awkward to carry

  • limn
  • paint portray

  • subdue
  • overcome bring under control

  • insensible
  • unconscious unresponsive unaffected

  • countervail
  • counterbalance

  • forfeit
  • suffer the loss of smth

  • frugal
  • careful economical

  • duress
  • threats to compel smb

  • glut
  • supply to much fill to excess

  • deplete
  • use until none remains

  • exhaustive
  • complete thorough

  • pyre
  • large pile of wood for burning

  • squalid
  • foul filthy

  • somatic
  • Characteristic of body

  • tamper
  • interfere with

  • ardor
  • enthusiasm

  • procrastination
  • keeping on putting off

  • morose
  • ill-tempered unsocial

  • dissent
  • have a different opinion refuse to assent

  • shrill
  • sharp piercing

  • elegy
  • a lament a melancholy composition

  • evasive
  • tending to evade

  • scorch
  • become discolored/dry up/go at high speed

  • abhor
  • to hate to detest

  • transient
  • temporary fleeting

  • fatuous
  • without sense foolish self-satisfaction

  • lull
  • become quiet or less active

  • brass
  • yellow metal (mixing copper and zinc)

  • soar
  • rise fly high

  • approbation
  • approval

  • audacious
  • daring foolishly bold impudent

  • bogus
  • sham counterfeit not genuine

  • sophistry
  • fallacious reasoning faulty logic

  • recondite
  • little known abstruse

  • crush
  • press lose shape subdue overwhelm

  • cordon
  • line (of police acting as a guard)

  • reproach
  • scold upbraid

  • tadpole
  • form of a frog when it leaves the egg

  • mendacity
  • dishonesty

  • squat
  • crouch/settle without permission

  • clot
  • half-solid lump formed from liquid

  • knit
  • draw together unite firmly

  • dislodge
  • move force from the place occupied

  • slur
  • join sounds/words (indistinct)

  • indistinct
  • not easily heard seen clearly marked

  • indomitable
  • not easily discouraged or subdued

  • minatory
  • menacing threatening

  • petrify
  • to make hard rocklike

  • levity
  • lack of seriousness

  • punctilious
  • precise paying attention to trivialities

  • expiation
  • ending expiring

  • ferret
  • discover by searching search

  • accretion
  • the growing of separate things into one

  • cajole
  • use flattery or deceit to persuade

  • prudence
  • careful forethought

  • trifling
  • unimportant

  • blatant
  • noisy and rough

  • stipple
  • paint with dots

  • supersede
  • take the place of

  • spurious
  • FALSE counterfeit

  • pellucid
  • transparent easy to understand

  • aggravate
  • make worse irritate

  • nostrum
  • a quack remedy an untested cure

  • judicious
  • sound in judgment wise

  • vacillation
  • being uncertain hesitating

  • gust
  • outburst of feeling sudden rain wind fire etc.

  • fracas
  • noisy quarrel

  • austere
  • severely moral and strict simple and plain

  • odor
  • smell favor reputation

  • doggerel
  • trivial poorly constructed verse

  • pugnacious
  • fond of in the habit of fighting

  • ail
  • trouble be ill

  • finesse
  • delicate way of dealing with a situation

  • graze
  • touch or scrape lightly in passing

  • legacy
  • smth handed down from ancestors

  • preclude
  • prevent make impossible

  • matriculation
  • be admitted enter a university as a student

  • ineluctable
  • certain inevitable

  • lurk
  • be out of view ready to attack

  • impervious
  • not allowing to pass through (of materials)

  • prodigal
  • wasteful reckless with money

  • snare
  • trap

  • repulsive
  • causing a feeling of disgust

  • irrevocable
  • final and unalterable

  • underbid
  • make a lower bid then smb else

  • conviction
  • convincing firm belief

  • susceptibility
  • sensitiveness

  • pedantic
  • bookish showing off learning

  • caustic
  • biting sarcastic

  • centurion
  • leader of a unit of 100 soldiers

  • tamp
  • tap or drive down by repeated light blows

  • myriad
  • very great number

  • welter
  • turmoil a bewildering jumble

  • decree
  • order given by authority

  • coeval
  • of the same period coexisting

  • arboreal
  • of connected with trees

  • conjoin
  • to join together

  • brittle
  • easily broken

  • occluded
  • blocked up

  • affable
  • polite and friendly

  • extricable
  • that can be freed

  • contiguous
  • touching neighboring near

  • loquacious
  • talkative garrulous

  • ineffable
  • to great to be described in words

  • crass
  • very great (es. stupidity)

  • vigilance
  • watchfulness self-appointed group who maintain order

  • taunt
  • contemptuous reproach hurtful remark

  • partisan
  • one-sided committed to a party biased or prejudiced

  • serrated
  • having a toothed edge

  • servile
  • like a slave lacking independence

  • portent
  • omen marvelous threatening

  • overhaul
  • examine thoroughly to learn about the condition

  • chastisement
  • punishment

  • quiescence
  • state of being passive/motionless

  • argot
  • jargon slang

  • curtail
  • make shorter then was planned

  • nugatory
  • trifling/worthless

  • crease
  • line made by crushing white line on the ground in cricket

  • dawdler
  • person who is slow waste of time

  • clientele
  • customers

  • vagary
  • strange act or idea

  • neophyte
  • person who has been converted to a belief

  • equable
  • steady regular

  • venal
  • ready to do smth dishonest

  • epistle
  • letter

  • fluke
  • lucky stroke

  • splenetic
  • bad-tempered irritable

  • waft
  • scent waving movement carry lightly through

  • vigorous
  • strong energetic

  • aver
  • affirm assert prove justify

  • impugned
  • challenged to be doubted

  • sober
  • self-controlled

  • scabbard
  • sheath for the blade

  • gush
  • burst out suddenly/talk ardently

  • expostulate
  • argue earnestly to dissuade correct or protest

  • forbearance
  • patience willingness to wait

  • divergence
  • getting farther apart from a point

  • lithe
  • bending twisting

  • rarefy
  • to make thin to make less dense to purify or refine

  • thwart
  • obstruct/frustrate

  • auspicious
  • favorable successful prosperous

  • aplomb
  • self-confidence

  • extenuate
  • cause (an offence) to seem less serious

  • odious
  • repulsive hateful

  • foolproof
  • incapable of failure or error

  • garble
  • make unfair selection from facts

  • irascible
  • irritable easily angered

  • recompense
  • make payment to reward punish

  • supine
  • lying on the back slow to act passive

  • fledged
  • able to fly trained experienced

  • denouement
  • an outcome or solution the unraveling of a plot

  • pluck
  • pull the feathers off pick (e.g.. flowers)

  • turgid
  • excessively ornate swollen or bloated

  • asterisk
  • the mark * (e.g.. omitted letters)

  • gorge
  • eat greedily/narrow opening with a stream

  • perfunctory
  • done as a duty without care

  • nebulous
  • cloud-like hazy vague indistinct

  • complaisance
  • tending to comply obliging willingness to please

  • mince
  • pronounce or speak affectedly euphemize

  • abstruse
  • difficult to comprehend obscure

  • profundity
  • depth

  • hermetic
  • sealed by fusion

  • debacle
  • a breakup overthrow sudden disaster

  • gregarious
  • living in societies liking the company

  • assuage
  • make smth (pain desire) less

  • nonchalant
  • not having interest

  • arabesque
  • a complex ornate design

  • expatiate
  • to roam wander freely

  • aberration
  • straying away from what is normal

  • forestall
  • prevent by taking action in advance preempt

  • immutable
  • that cannot be changed

  • perfidy
  • treachery breaking of faith

  • gossamer
  • soft light delicate material

  • rave
  • act with excessive enthusiasm

  • extinguish
  • end the existence of/wipe or put out

  • shard
  • piece of broken earthenware

  • trenchant
  • forceful effective vigorous extremely perceptive incisive

  • swerve
  • change direction suddenly

  • derision
  • ridicule mockery deriding

  • obstreperous
  • noisy loud

  • innocuous
  • causing no harm

  • sanction
  • approval (by authority) penalty

  • intransigent
  • uncompromising

  • discountenance
  • refuse to approve of

  • suppliant
  • asking humbly beseeching

  • effete
  • infertile worn out weak

  • balk
  • obstacle purposely to get on the way of

  • repine
  • at be discontented with

  • summarily
  • briefly without delay

  • arrogance
  • proud superior manner of behaviour

  • empirical
  • relying on experiment

  • ubiquitous
  • present everywhere

  • tautology
  • a repetition a redundancy

  • condone
  • forgive

  • vituperate
  • curse abuse in words

  • conspicuous
  • easily seen remarkable

  • palate
  • roof of the mouth sense of taste

  • fulmination
  • bitter protest

  • fragrant
  • sweet-smelling

  • plunge
  • move quickly suddenly and with force

  • obfuscate
  • to darken make obscure muddle

  • assiduous
  • diligent hard-working sedulous

  • condense
  • increase in density strength make laconic

  • tawdry
  • cheap gaudy showy tacky

  • sheath
  • cover for the blade of a weapon or a tool

  • enigma
  • smth that is puzzling

  • rift
  • split crack dissension

  • raffish
  • low vulgar base tawdry

  • platitude
  • a trite or banal statement unoriginality

  • aversion
  • strong dislike

  • highbrow
  • (person) with superior tastes

  • sponge
  • porous rubber for washing live at once expense

  • recidivism
  • relapse into antisocial or criminal behavior

  • quell
  • suppress subdue

  • gullible
  • easily gulled

  • discredit
  • refuse to believe

  • commuter
  • person who travels regularly

  • eradicate
  • get rid of pull up by the roots

  • perspicacity
  • quick judging and understanding

  • conundrum
  • a riddle dilemma enigma

  • calipers
  • metal supports attached to the legs measuring instrument

  • rivet
  • fix take up secure metal pin

  • idyll
  • a carefree episode or experience

  • germane
  • relevant pertinent to

  • hush
  • make or become silent

  • ramify
  • to be divided or subdivided to branch out

  • castigation
  • severe punishment

  • waffle
  • talk vaguely and without much result

  • sermon
  • reproving a person for his faults

  • satiate
  • satisfy fully

  • canvass
  • discuss thoroughly sort of touting

  • luculent
  • easily understood lucid clear

  • tractable
  • easily controlled or guided

  • stigmatize
  • describe smb scornfully

  • entice
  • tempt or persuade

  • toady
  • obsequious flatterer

  • stymie
  • to hinder obstruct or block

  • slate
  • king of blue-grey stone propose criticize

  • enthral
  • please greatly/enslave (fig)

  • deprecate
  • protest against express disapproval of

  • yarn
  • tale story fibers for knitting

  • exorbitant
  • much too high or great

  • stride
  • walk with long steps

  • benign
  • kind and gentle mild (climate)

  • truculence
  • aggressiveness ferocity

  • clamor
  • shout complain with a lot of noise

  • timid
  • shy easily frightened

  • anguish
  • severe suffering

  • rancorous
  • feeling bitterness spitefulness

  • dormant
  • in a state of inactivity but awaiting development

  • itinerate
  • to travel from place to place to peregrinate

  • ambidextrous
  • able to use the left hand or the right equally well

  • detraction
  • slandering verbal attack aspersion

  • garrulous
  • too talkative

  • constrain
  • compel

  • cogitate
  • think deeply mediate

  • verdant
  • fresh and green

  • peremptory
  • urgent imperative unchallengeable ending debate

  • endearing
  • making dear or liked

  • engulf
  • swallow up

  • hirsute
  • hairy shaggy

  • apprehensive
  • anxious or fearful that something bad

  • loll
  • rest to sit or stand in a lazy way hang (dog’s tongue)

  • contemn
  • to scorn or despise

  • felon
  • person guilty of murder

  • immaculate
  • pure faultless

  • stipulate
  • state or put forward as a necessary condition

  • dismal
  • sad gloomy miserable

  • poignant
  • deeply moving keen

  • plummet
  • fall plunge steeply

  • preen
  • tidy/show self-satisfaction

  • sedulous
  • persevering

  • hoi
  • polloi the masses the rabble

  • presage
  • warning sign

  • entangle
  • put into difficulties

  • impede
  • hinder get in the way of

  • profane
  • worldly having contempt for God

  • aseptic
  • surgically clean

  • inveterate
  • deep-rooted. long-established

  • effluvia
  • outflow in a stream of particles a noxious odor or vapor

  • edacious
  • voracious devouring

  • scribble
  • write hastily

  • auxiliary
  • helping supporting

  • cloture
  • closing device (in Parliament) to end a debate by voting

  • superimpose
  • put smth on the top

  • fulsome
  • disgusting offensive due to excessiveness

  • whimsical
  • full of odd and fanciful ideas

  • odium
  • contempt dislike aversion

  • foment
  • put smth warm (to lessen the pain)

  • bolster
  • give greatly needed support

  • cogent
  • strong convincing

  • impetuous
  • having sudden energy impulsive thrusting ahead forceful

  • invincible
  • too strong to be defeated

  • substantiation
  • giving facts to support (statement)

  • figurehead
  • carved image on the prow of a ship

  • fixate
  • stare at

  • pique
  • hurt the pride or self-respect stir (curiosity)

  • inasmuch
  • since because

  • dilate
  • speak comprehensively become wider large

  • extempore
  • without previous thought or preparation

  • noisome
  • offensive disgusting (smell)

  • appease
  • make quiet or calm

  • abdication
  • giving up control authority

  • prune
  • dried plum silly person

  • fallacious
  • based on error

  • imprecation
  • an invocation of evil a curse

  • droll
  • jesting

  • smolder
  • burn slowly without flame

  • nonplused
  • greatly surprised

  • taciturn
  • untalkative silent

  • sordid
  • wretched comfortless contemptible

  • cling
  • to resist separation

  • obloquy
  • abusively detractive language sharp criticism vituperation

  • repel
  • refuse to accept/cause dislike

  • rant
  • use extravagant language

  • valiant
  • brave

  • recitals
  • a number of performance of music

  • ameliorate
  • improve make better

  • suffocate
  • cause or have difficulty in breathing

  • drone
  • male bee person who isn’t self-employed

  • sodden
  • soaked saturated

  • disparate
  • essentially different

  • sever
  • break off

  • tenuous
  • insubstantial flimsy weak

  • probity
  • uprightness incorruptibility principle

  • garner
  • to gather and save to store up

  • exculpate
  • to clear from a charge of guilt

  • perish
  • be destroyed decay

  • counterfeit
  • forgery

  • apprise
  • give notice to inform

  • abut
  • border on

  • dissemble
  • speak or behave so as to hide smth (in mind)

  • pinch
  • be too tight take between the thumb and finger

  • abet
  • help/encourage smb (in doing wrong)

  • uncouth
  • rough awkward

  • viscous
  • sticky/semi-fluid

  • recreancy
  • cowardice a cowardly giving up

  • fervor
  • warmth of feelings earnestness

  • liberality
  • free giving generosity

  • apropos
  • appropriate to the situation apt

  • fawn
  • young deer try to win smb’s favor

  • plaque
  • flat metal on a wall as a memorial

  • avow
  • admit. Declare openly

  • abscond
  • to go away suddenly (to avoid arrest)

  • prosaic
  • everyday mundane commonplace trite pedestrian

  • lassitude
  • weariness tiredness

  • coddle
  • treat with care and tenderness

  • expedient
  • likely to be useful for a purpose

  • brash
  • hasty rush cheeky saucy

  • calumny
  • slander aspersion

  • agile
  • active quick-moving

  • negligent
  • taking too little care

  • parsimonious
  • too economical miserly

  • resilience
  • quality of quickly recovering the original shape

  • epitome
  • brief summary representative example a typical model

  • wag
  • merry person

  • reciprocity
  • granting of privileges in return for similar

  • haughty
  • arrogant conceited

  • levee
  • formal reception/embankment

  • tyro
  • tiro beginner

  • fidelity
  • loyalty accuracy

  • stentorian
  • extremely loud and powerful

  • vanquish
  • conquer

  • quirk
  • habit or action peculiar to smb or smth

  • irksome
  • tiresome

  • machination
  • plot scheme (esp. evil)

  • chastened
  • corrected punished

  • profligate
  • wasteful prodigal licentious extravagant

  • bellicose
  • belligerent pugnacious warlike

  • tassel
  • bunch of threads

  • churl
  • bad-tempered person

  • stickler
  • person who insists on importance of smth

  • adamant
  • kind of stone inflexible

  • remonstrate
  • to protest object

  • incite
  • stir up rouse

  • seminal
  • like a seed constituting a source originative

  • hallow
  • to make holy consecrate

  • inculcate
  • fix firmly by repetition

  • repudiate
  • disown refuse to accept or pay

  • salacious
  • obscene

  • extinct
  • no longer active

  • diatribe
  • bitter and violent attack in words

  • equivocate
  • try to deceive by equivocal language

  • ponderous
  • heavy bulky dull

  • fetid
  • stinking

  • striated
  • striped grooved or banded

  • prevaricate
  • to equivocate to stray from the truth

  • miser
  • person who loves wealth and spends little

  • curmudgeon
  • bad-tempered person

  • alacrity
  • eager and cheerful readiness

  • forgery
  • counterfeit

  • impudent
  • rash indiscreet

  • contrite
  • filled with deep sorrow for wrongdoing

  • succor
  • assistance relief in time of distress

  • coy
  • shy/modest (esp of a girl)

  • tout
  • person who worries others to buy smth to use his service

  • conciliatory
  • reconciling soothing comforting mollifying

  • indefatigability
  • not easily exhaustible tirelessness

  • pariah
  • an outcast a rejected and despised person

  • jocular
  • meant as a joke

  • impromptu
  • without preparation

  • cravat
  • piece of linen worn as a necktie

  • nibble
  • show some inclination to accept (an offer)

  • prevalent
  • common

  • augury
  • omen sign

  • encumbrance
  • burden things that get on the way of

  • rapacious
  • greedy (esp for money)

  • equivocal
  • having a double or doubtful meaning suspicious

  • propitiatory
  • conciliatory appeasing mitigating

  • credulity
  • too great a readiness to believe things

  • plod
  • continue doing smth without resting

  • husk
  • worthless outside part of anything

  • enervate
  • weaken deprive of strength attenuate

  • sententious
  • short and pithy full of maxims/proverbs

  • censure
  • expression of blame or disapproval a rebuke

  • vestige
  • trace or sign

  • testiness
  • witness/evidence

  • discreet
  • careful/prudent

  • coax
  • get smb to do smth by kindness

  • erratic
  • irregular in behaviour or opinion

  • sobriety
  • quality or condition of being sober

  • incumbents
  • official duties

  • boisterous
  • loud noisy rough lacking restraint

  • simper
  • (give a) silly/self-conscious smile

  • untoward
  • unfortunate inconvenient

  • implacable
  • incapable of being placated unpleasable

  • tarnished
  • lost brightness

  • correlate
  • have a mutual relation

  • benevolence
  • wish or activity in doing good

  • evoke
  • call up bring out

  • dissolution
  • disintegration looseness in morals

  • ascend
  • go or come up

  • incursion
  • a raid a sudden attack

  • pine
  • waste away through sorrow or illness

  • penitent
  • feeling or showing regret

  • obtain
  • to be established accepted or customary

  • guile
  • deceit cunning

  • impair
  • worsen diminish in value

  • profligacy
  • shameless immorality

  • suborn
  • induce by bribery or smth to commit perjury

  • disencumber
  • free from encumbrance

  • exscind
  • to cut out cut away

  • middling
  • fairly good but not very good

  • compunction
  • feeling of regret for one’s action

  • disdain
  • look on with contempt

  • extant
  • still in existence

  • indulgent
  • inclined to indulge

  • drowsiness
  • feeling sleepy half asleep

  • esoteric
  • abstruse intended only for a small circle of

  • barrage
  • artificial obstacle built across a river

  • lavish
  • giving or producing freely liberally or generously

  • surcharge
  • additional load/charge

  • articulate
  • speak distinctly connect by joints

  • putrefaction
  • becoming rotten

  • gouge
  • tool for cutting grooves in wood

  • impecunious
  • having little or no money

  • mundane
  • worldly as opposed to spiritual commonplace everyday

  • ascertain
  • get to know

  • fringe
  • edge ornamental border part of hair over the forehead

  • sluggard
  • lazy slow-moving person

  • flamboyant
  • brightly colored florid

  • sumptuous
  • magnificent

  • barren
  • not good enough unable to have young ones without value

  • decorum
  • propriety properness

  • endemic
  • epidemic

  • ecumenical
  • representing the whole Christian world

  • precursory
  • preliminary anticipating

  • euphoria
  • elation state of pleasant excitement

  • extirpate
  • to destroy exterminate cut out exscind

  • regale
  • to delight or entertain to feast

  • sinuous
  • winding undulating serpentine

  • warmonger
  • person who stirs up war

  • obtrusive
  • projecting prominent undesirably noticeable

  • mesmerize
  • hypnotize

  • petulant
  • unreasonably impatient

  • redeem
  • get back by payment compensate

  • recant
  • take back as being FALSE give up

  • steeply
  • rising or falling sharply

  • maverick
  • rebel nonconformist

  • cower
  • crouch shrink back

  • infuriate
  • fill with fury or rage

  • gnaw
  • waste away bite steadily

  • penurious
  • poor/stingy

  • homiletics
  • act of preaching

  • rescind
  • repeal/annul/cancel

  • meretricious
  • attractive on the surface but of little value

  • gaucherie
  • socially awkward tactless behavior

  • erudite
  • learned scholarly

  • disconcert
  • upset the self-possession of

  • encapsulate
  • enclose in capsule

  • tonic
  • smth giving strength or energy

  • soggy
  • heavy with water

  • ruffian
  • violent cruel man

  • commodious
  • having plenty of space for what is needed

  • sidestep
  • step to one side

  • amalgamate
  • mix combine unite societies

  • quixotic
  • generous unselfish

  • lucubrate
  • write in scholarly fashion

  • irate
  • angry

  • flax
  • pale yellow (hair) a plant

  • vex
  • annoy distress trouble

  • incense
  • make angry

  • diaphanous
  • transparent gauzy

  • riddle
  • puzzling person or thing

  • superfluous
  • more then is needed or wanted

  • inimitable
  • defying imitation unmatchable

  • nadir
  • lowest weakest point

  • dearth
  • shortage

  • combustion
  • process of burning

  • ignoble
  • dishonorable common undignified

  • credulous
  • ready to believe things

  • abacus
  • frame with balls for calculating

  • provident
  • frugal looking to the future

  • supercilious
  • disdainful characterized by haughty scorn

  • evince
  • to show clearly to indicate

  • topple
  • be unsteady and overturn

  • imminent
  • likely to come or happen soon

  • limp
  • lacking strength walking unevenly

  • emaciate
  • make thin and weak

  • acclaimed
  • welcomed with shouts and approval

  • enmity
  • hatred being an enemy

  • veneration
  • regard with deep respect

  • maudlin
  • sentimental in a silly or tearful way

  • rejuvenation
  • becoming young in nature or appearance

  • refractory
  • stubborn unmanageable untractable

  • eulogy
  • formal praise panegyric

  • espouse
  • marry give one’s support to

  • veracity
  • truth

  • recluse
  • person who lives alone and avoids people

  • diffidence
  • shyness

  • iconoclast
  • person who attacks popular beliefs

  • malinger
  • to fake illness or injury in order to shirk a duty

  • patron
  • regular customer person who gives support

  • scent
  • smell (esp pleasant)

  • relapse
  • fall back again

  • grave
  • serious requiring consideration

  • burnish
  • to polish rub to a shine

  • penury
  • extreme poverty

  • insinuate
  • suggest unpleasantly make a way for smth gently

  • cant
  • insincere talk/jargon

  • countenance
  • to favor or approve of

  • maul
  • hurt by rough handling

  • soot
  • black powder in smoke

  • serration
  • having a toothed edge

  • virago
  • a loud domineering woman a scold or nag

  • perpetrate
  • be guilty commit (a crime)

  • hoodwink
  • trick mislead

  • bewilder
  • puzzle confuse

  • finicky
  • finical

  • incipient
  • beginning

  • glimmer
  • weak/unsteady light

  • engrossing
  • taken up all the time or attention writing in large or formal

  • sublime
  • extreme astounding

  • pith
  • essential part force soft liquid substance

  • hew
  • make by hard work cut (by striking)

  • clinch
  • come to grips/settle conclusively

  • disingenuous
  • sophisticated artful trying to deceive cunning

  • recalcitrant
  • disobedient

  • wince
  • show bodily or mental pain

  • bedizen
  • to adorn especially in a cheap showy manner

  • proclivity
  • inclination

  • mercurial
  • quick changeable in character fleeting

  • concur
  • agree in opinion happen together

  • attenuate
  • make thin. weaken enervate

  • urbane
  • elegant refined in manners

  • introspection
  • examining one’s own thoughts and feelings

  • desiccant
  • substance used to absorb moisture

  • concord
  • agreement or harmony

  • spurn
  • have nothing to do reject or refuse

  • garment
  • article of clothing

  • astute
  • clever quick at seeing to get an advantage

  • deferential
  • showing respect

  • commemorate
  • keep the memory of

  • ferment
  • substance become excited

  • dereliction
  • deserting and leaving to fall into ruins

  • luminary
  • star light-giving body

  • consternation
  • surprise and fear dismay

  • plaintive
  • mournful melancholy sorrowful

  • distraught
  • distracted violently upset in mind

  • forge
  • workshop for the shaping of metal to shape metal lead

  • cabal
  • a scheme or plot a group of plotters

  • gloat
  • over look at with selfish delight

  • alleviate
  • make (pain) easier to bear

  • placate
  • soothe pacify calm

  • dote
  • show much fondness center one’s attention

  • qualm
  • feeling of doubt temporary feeling of sickness

  • permeate
  • spread into every part of

  • equanimity
  • calmness of temperament

  • blithe
  • cheerful casual carefree

  • catalyst
  • substance that causes speeding up

  • deposition
  • dethronement depositing

  • ebullient
  • overflowing with enthusiasm showing excitement

  • stigma
  • mark of shame or disgrace

  • inferno
  • hell

  • mettlesome
  • courageous high-spirited

  • jibe
  • gibe make fun of

  • reiterate
  • say or do again several times

  • umbrage
  • offense resentment

  • bereft
  • rob or dispossess of smth (material)

  • encomium
  • warm or glowing praise eulogy panegyric

  • corroboration
  • additional strengthening evidence

  • stint
  • to be thrifty to set limits

  • broach
  • bring up announce begin to talk about

  • coagulation
  • change to a thick and solid state

  • demur
  • to hesitate raise objections

  • extralegal
  • outside the law

  • specious
  • illogical of questionable truth or merit

  • heinous
  • odious (of crime)

  • delineate
  • to portray depict sketch out

  • obsequious
  • too eager to obey or serve

  • truce
  • (agreement) stop of fighting for a time

  • duplicity
  • deliberate deception

  • extrovert
  • cheerful person

  • lustrous
  • being bright polished

  • perfidious
  • treacherous faithless

  • palliate
  • lessen the severity of

  • intrepid
  • fearless brave undaunted

  • insouciant
  • unconcerned carefree

  • illicit
  • unlawful forbidden

  • eddy
  • circular or spiral movement (e.g.. of wind)

  • prudish
  • easily shocked excessively modest

  • lumber
  • move in a clumsy/noisy way

  • affinity
  • close connection relationship

  • flop
  • fail/move/fall clumsily

  • repast
  • meal

  • deter
  • discourage hinder

  • preternatural
  • not normal or usual

  • stanch
  • to stop the flow of a fluid

  • veneer
  • surface appearance covering the TRUE nature

  • gist
  • the point general sense

  • sanity
  • health of mind soundness of judgement

  • incredulous
  • skeptical unwilling to believe

  • impermeable
  • that cannot be permeated

  • asperity
  • roughness harshness ill temper irritability

  • rabble
  • mob crowd the lower classes of populace

  • volubility
  • fluency verbosity easy use of spoken language

  • squander
  • spend wastefully

  • subsume
  • include under a rule

  • decry
  • disapprove of

  • skit
  • short piece of humorous writing

  • implicate
  • show that smb has a share

  • dolt
  • stupid fellow

  • arduous
  • steep difficult ascent laborious

  • verve
  • spirit vigor enthusiasm

  • discrete
  • individually distinct

  • bigot
  • stubborn narrow-minded person

  • gainsay
  • to deny to oppose

  • precepts
  • rules establishing standards of conduct

  • taut
  • tightly stretched

  • shrewd
  • astute showing sound judgement

  • reactionary
  • opposing progress

  • lugubrious
  • mournful excessively sad

  • pucker
  • wrinkle

  • secular
  • material (not spiritual) living outside monasteries

  • forswear
  • renounce disallow repudiate

  • plead
  • address a court of law as an advocate

  • morbid
  • diseased unhealthy (e.g.. about ideas)

  • fidget
  • move restlessly make nervous

  • deprave
  • make morally bad corrupt

  • bilge
  • bulge the protuberance of a cask

  • discern
  • see with an effort but clearly

  • tortuous
  • devious/not straightforward

  • facetious
  • humorous funny jocular

  • trepidation
  • alarm excited state of mind

  • infuse
  • put pour fill

  • pivotal
  • of great importance (others depend on it)

  • abate
  • to lessen to subside

  • ferocity
  • savage cruelty

  • impediment
  • smth that hinders (e.g. stammer)

  • craven
  • cowardly

  • arrant
  • in the highest degree

  • fecund
  • fertile

  • recuperate
  • become strong after illness loss exhaustion

  • reconcile
  • settle a quarrel restore peace

  • impute
  • to attribute to a cause or source ascribe

  • endorse
  • write one’s name on the back of

  • intransigence
  • unwillingness to compromise stubbornness intractability

  • plethora
  • glut

  • covetous
  • eagerly desirous

  • rebuff
  • snub

  • redoubtable
  • formidable causing fear

  • overweening
  • presumptuously arrogant overbearing immoderate being a jerk

  • personable
  • pleasing in appearance attractive

  • mollify
  • make calmer or quieter

  • insularity
  • narrow-mindedness isolated

  • sere
  • make hard and without feeling

  • intersperse
  • place here and there

  • conceit
  • over-high opinion of too much pride

  • pertain
  • belong as a part have reference

  • requite
  • repay give in return

  • sophisticated
  • complex subtle refined

  • sash
  • long strip worn round the waist

  • resigned
  • unresisting submissive

  • fleet
  • number of ships quick-moving

  • libertine
  • immoral person

  • spear
  • weapon with a metal point on a long shaft

  • pied
  • of mixed colors

  • glib
  • ready and smooth but not sincere

  • agog
  • eager/excited

  • colander
  • bowl-shaped vessel with many holes

  • rumple
  • make rough

  • slack
  • sluggish dull not tight

  • sophomoric
  • relating to or characteristic of a sophomore

  • veritable
  • real rightly named

  • ignominious
  • shameful dishonorable undignified disgraceful

  • severance
  • severing

  • grievous
  • causing grief or pain serious dire grave

  • cornucopia
  • abundant supply

  • divestiture
  • taking off getting rid of giving up

  • embezzle
  • use in a wrong way for one’s own benefit

  • hoax
  • mischievous trick played on smb for a joke

  • misogynist
  • one who hates women/females

  • inimical
  • harmful or friendly

  • veer
  • change direction

  • reticent
  • reserved untalkative silent taciturn

  • cordial
  • warm and sincere

  • cantankerous
  • bad-tempered/quarrelsome

  • plumb
  • get to the root of

  • denigrate
  • blacken belittle sully defame

  • synopsis
  • summary or outline

  • verisimilitude
  • appearing TRUE or real

  • dubious
  • feeling doubt

  • solvent
  • of the power of forming a solution

  • edible
  • fit to be eaten/not poisonous

  • purvey
  • provide supply

  • feud
  • bitter quarrel over a long period of time

  • coerce
  • compel to force to make obedient

  • goad
  • smth urging a person to action

  • oblivious
  • unaware having no memory

  • plea
  • request

  • lackluster
  • (of eyes) dull

  • ambivalent
  • having both of two contrary meanings

  • prolix
  • tiring because too long

  • berate
  • scold sharply

  • conceal
  • hide keep secret

  • invective
  • abusive language curses

  • tepid
  • lukewarm

  • quaff
  • drink deeply

  • panegyric
  • formal praise eulogy

  • ascribe
  • consider to be the origin of or belonging to

  • burgeon
  • grow forth send out buds

  • indulge
  • gratify give way to satisfy allow oneself

  • wean
  • to turn away (from a habit)

  • implosion
  • collapse bursting inward

  • meticulous
  • giving great attention to details

  • foible
  • defect of character (a person is wrongly proud)

  • covert
  • disguised

  • saturnine
  • gloomy dark sullen morose

  • equilibrium
  • state of being balanced

  • roll
  • call calling of names

  • streak
  • long thin move very fast

  • forbear
  • refrain from be patient ancestor

  • malleable
  • yielding easily shaped moldable adapting

  • hone
  • stone used for sharpening tools

  • terse
  • brief and to the point

  • sanctimony
  • self-righteousness hypocritical with FALSE piety

  • insurrection
  • rising of people to open resistance to

  • cadge
  • to beg to get by begging

  • peregrination
  • traveling about wandering

  • impassive
  • unmoved feeling no sign of passion

  • temperance
  • abstinence from alcohol self-control moderation

  • poncho
  • large piece of cloth

  • perjury
  • willful FALSE statement unlawful act

  • consequential
  • pompous self important

  • pliant
  • pliable easily bent shaped or twisted

  • parenthesis
  • sentence within another one smth separated

  • hypocrisy
  • falsely making oneself appear to be good

  • skiff
  • small boat

  • earthenware
  • dishes made of baked clay

  • manacle
  • chains for the hands or feet

  • refulgent
  • shining brilliant

  • pest
  • destructive thing or a person who is nuisance

  • malevolence
  • wishing to do evil

  • involute
  • complex

  • voluble
  • fluent

  • phlegmatic
  • calm sluggish temperament unemotional

  • expurgate
  • to remove obscenity purify censor

  • chauvinist
  • a blindly devoted patriot

  • acarpous
  • effete no longer fertile worn out

  • abjure
  • promise or swear to give up

  • pundit
  • pedant authority on a subject

  • abraded
  • rubbed off worn away by friction

  • engender
  • cause produce give rise to

  • dogmatic
  • positive certain arbitrary without room for discussion

  • imperturbable
  • calm not capable of being excited

  • pious
  • dutiful to parents devoted to religion

  • heed
  • attention/give notice to

  • ingest
  • take in by swallowing

  • daunt
  • intimidate make fearful

  • prodigious
  • enormous wonderful

  • holster
  • leather case for a pistol

  • ascetic
  • practicing self-denial austere stark

  • dynamo
  • a generator something that produces electric current

  • fervid
  • showing earnest feeling

  • stray
  • wander lose one’s way

  • submerge
  • put under water liquid sink out of sight

  • multifarious
  • varied motley greatly diversified

  • allegiance
  • duty support loyalty

  • predominate
  • have more power than others

  • dud
  • no use person smth that fails

  • ambiguous
  • doubtful uncertain

  • transitory
  • brief

  • woo
  • try to win

  • lionize
  • treat as a famous person

  • convoke
  • call together summon

  • lament
  • show feel great sorrow

  • trudge
  • walk heavily

  • entreat
  • ask earnestly

  • adorn
  • add beauty decorate

  • macerate
  • make or become soft by soaking in water

  • quandary
  • state of doubt or perplexity

  • facile
  • easily done

  • tangential
  • suddenly changeable

  • derivative
  • unoriginal obtained from another source

  • nascent
  • coming into existence emerging

  • disproof
  • proof to the contrary

  • ulterior
  • situated beyond

  • harbinger
  • smth or smb that foretells the coming of

  • foppish
  • like a man who pays too much attention to his clothes

  • obtuse
  • blunt/stupid

  • impending
  • imminent being about to happen expected

  • fluster
  • make nervous or confused

  • discomfit
  • confuse embarrass

  • shun
  • keep away from avoid

  • supplicate
  • make a humble petition to

  • pedestrian
  • commonplace trite unremarkable

  • weigh
  • measure hoe heavy smth is

  • engrave
  • impress deeply

  • chisel
  • steel tool for shaping materials

  • accolade
  • praise approval

  • travesty
  • parody/imitation

  • sycophant
  • person who flatter to the rich and powerful

  • glean
  • gather facts in small quantities