Vocabulary Building: Advanced Word Definitions

• Rapture is a feeling of intense pleasure or joy.
• Repercussion refers to an unintended, usually unwelcome, consequence of an event or action.
• Boorish describes someone who is rough, bad-mannered, and coarse.
• Innate means inborn or natural.
• Complacent indicates showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements.
• Tirade is a long, angry speech of criticism or accusation.
• Imperative signifies something of vital importance or crucial.
• Ramshackle describes a state of severe disrepair, especially of a house or vehicle.
• Obviate means to remove a need or difficulty.
• Imperceptible describes being so slight, gradual, or subtle as not to be perceived.
• Pernicious means having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way.
• Fulmination is an expression of vehement protest.
• Fulminant describes a disease or symptom with a severe and sudden onset.
• Culminate means to reach a climax or point of highest development.
• Mealy-mouthed describes being afraid to speak frankly or straightforwardly.
• Specious means superficially plausible but actually wrong, or misleading in appearance, especially misleadingly attractive.
• Plausible describes an argument or statement seeming reasonable or probable.
• Refurbish means to renovate and redecorate something, especially a building.
• Ossify means to turn into bone or bony tissue, or to become rigid or fixed in attitude or position, ceasing to develop.
• Nugatory is of no value or importance.
• Equivocal means open to more than one interpretation, or ambiguous.
• Clairvoyant is someone who claims supernatural ability to perceive events in the future or beyond normal sensory contact.
• Demagogue is a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than using rational argument.
• Maroon means to leave someone trapped and alone in an inaccessible place, especially an island.
• Fester is when a wound or sore becomes septic or suppurates, or when food or rubbish becomes rotten and offensive.
• Censure means to express severe disapproval of someone or something, especially in a formal statement.
• Genuflect is to lower one's body briefly by bending one knee to the ground, typically in worship or as a sign of respect.
• Hinder means to make it difficult for someone to do something, or for something to happen.
• Enunciate means to say or pronounce clearly, or express a proposition or theory in clear or definite terms.
• Divagate means to stray or digress.
• Obstreperous describes being noisy and difficult to control.
• Reticent means not revealing one's thoughts or feelings readily.
• Maudlin describes being self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental.
• Cynic is someone who believes people are motivated purely by self-interest rather than acting for honorable or unselfish reasons.
• Jaundiced means affected by bitterness, resentment, or cynicism.
• Acerbic describes something sharp and forthright, especially a comment or style of speaking.
• Acrid means unpleasantly bitter or pungent.
• Despondent is in low spirits from loss of hope or courage.
• Poised describes having a composed and self-assured manner.
• Banal is so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring.
• Fevered describes having or showing symptoms associated with a dangerously high temperature.
• Confluence is an act or process of merging.
• Inchoate means just begun and not fully formed or developed.
• Derelict is in a very poor condition as a result of disuse and neglect.
• Seldom means not often, or rarely.
• Lachrymose means tearful or given to weeping.
• Rapacious means aggressively greedy or grasping.
• Augury is a sign of what will happen in the future; an omen.
• Recriminate means to make counter accusations.
• Smoulder means to burn slowly with smoke but no flame.
• Demur means to raise objections or show reluctance.
• Pristine means in its original condition, or unspoilt.

Enhance your vocabulary with definitions of advanced words. Learn the meanings of words like 'rapture,' 'repercussion,' and 'boorish.' Understand how to use these words effectively in writing and conversation.