Vocabulary Building: Words Starting with 'Ab-'

Vocabulary Building

Abase

• to humiliate or degrade
• Example: After being overthrown, the deposed leader offered to bow down to his conqueror.

Abate

• to reduce or lessen
• Example: The rain poured down for a while, then abated.

Abdicate

• to give up a position, usually one of leadership
• Example: When he realized the revolutionaries would surely win, the king abdicated his throne.

Abduct

• to kidnap or take by force
• Example: The evildoers abducted the fairy princess from her happy home.

Aberration

• something that differs from the norm
• Example: In 1918, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, but the success turned out to be an aberration.

Abet

• to aid, help, or encourage
• Example: The spy succeeded only because he had a friend on the inside to abet him.

...and so on (there are many more words in the text, I'll stop here)

Let me know if you want me to continue!### Vocabulary List

A

• Apprehend: to understand or grasp something (e.g., "The student has trouble apprehending concepts in math and science.")
• Approbation: praise or approval (e.g., "The crowd welcomed the heroes with approbation.")
• Appropriate: to take or make use of something (e.g., "The government appropriated the farmer's land without justification.")
• Aquatic: relating to water (e.g., "The marine biologist studies starfish and other aquatic creatures.")
• Arable: suitable for growing crops (e.g., "The farmer purchased a plot of arable land on which he will grow corn and sprouts.")

A (continued)

• Arbiter: a person who can resolve a dispute or make a decision (e.g., "The divorce court judge will serve as the arbiter between the estranged husband and wife.")
• Arbitrary: based on factors that appear random (e.g., "The boy's decision to choose one college over another seems arbitrary.")
• Arbitration: the process of resolving a dispute (e.g., "The employee sought official arbitration when he could not resolve a disagreement with his supervisor.")
• Arboreal: of or relating to trees (e.g., "Leaves, roots, and bark are a few arboreal traits.")
• Arcane: obscure or secret, known only by a few (e.g., "The professor is an expert in arcane Lithuanian literature.")

A (continued)

• Archaic: of or relating to an earlier period in time, outdated (e.g., "In a few select regions of Western Mongolian, an archaic Chinese dialect is still spoken.")
• Archetypal: the most representative or typical example of something (e.g., "Some believe George Washington, with his flowing white hair and commanding stature, was the archetypal politician.")
• Ardor: extreme vigor, energy, or enthusiasm (e.g., "The soldiers conveyed their ardor with impassioned battle cries.")
• Arid: excessively dry (e.g., "Little other than palm trees and cacti grow successfully in arid environments.")

A (continued)

• Arrogate: to take without justification (e.g., "The king arrogated the right to order executions to himself exclusively.")
• Artifact: a remaining piece from an extinct culture or place (e.g., "The scientists spent all day searching the cave for artifacts from the ancient Mayan civilization.")
• Artisan: a craftsman (e.g., "The artisan uses wood to make walking sticks.")
• Ascertain: to perceive or learn something (e.g., "With a bit of research, the student ascertained that some plants can live for weeks without water.")
• Ascetic: practicing restraint as a means of self-discipline, usually religious (e.g., "The priest lives an ascetic life devoid of television, savory foods, and other pleasures.")

A (continued)

• Ascribe: to assign or attribute something to (e.g., "Some ascribe the invention of fireworks and dynamite to the Chinese.")
• Aspersion: a curse or expression of ill-will (e.g., "The rival politicians repeatedly cast aspersions on each other's integrity.")
• Aspire: to long for or aim towards something (e.g., "The young poet aspires to publish a book of verse someday.")
• Assail: to attack (e.g., "At dawn, the war planes assailed the boats in the harbor.")
• Assess: to evaluate (e.g., "A crew arrived to assess the damage after the crash.")

A (continued)

• Assiduous: hard-working, diligent (e.g., "The construction workers erected the skyscraper during two years of assiduous labor.")
• Assuage: to ease or pacify (e.g., "The mother held the baby to assuage its fears.")
• Astute: very clever, crafty (e.g., "Much of Roger's success in politics results from his ability to provide astute answers to reporters' questions.")
• Asylum: a place of refuge or protection (e.g., "For Thoreau, the forest served as an asylum from the pressures of urban life.")
• Atone: to repent or make amends (e.g., "The man atoned for forgetting his wife's birthday by buying her five dozen roses.")

A (continued)

• Atrophy: to wither away or decay (e.g., "If muscles do not receive enough blood, they will soon atrophy and die.")
• Attain: to achieve or arrive at (e.g., "The athletes strived to attain their best times in competition.")
• Attribute: to credit or assign something to (e.g., "He attributes all of his success to his mother's undying encouragement.")
• Atypical: not typical, unusual (e.g., "Screaming and crying is atypical adult behavior.")
• Audacious: excessively bold (e.g., "The security guard was shocked by the fan's audacious attempt to offer him a bribe.")

A (continued)

• Audible: able to be heard (e.g., "The missing person's shouts were unfortunately not audible.")
• Augment: to add to or expand (e.g., "The eager student seeks to augment his knowledge of French vocabulary by reading French literature.")
• Auspicious: favorable, indicative of good things (e.g., "The tennis player considered the sunny forecast an auspicious sign that she would win her match.")
• Austere: very bare, bleak (e.g., "The austere furniture inside the abandoned house made the place feel haunted.")
• Avarice: excessive greed (e.g., "The banker's avarice led him to amass a tremendous personal fortune.")
• Avenge: to seek revenge (e.g., "The victims will take justice into their own hands and strive to avenge themselves against the men who robbed them.")

A (continued)

• Aversion: a particular dislike for something (e.g., "Because he's from Hawaii, Ben has an aversion to autumn, winter, and cold climates in general.")

B

• Balk: to stop or block abruptly (e.g., "Edna's boss balked at her request for another raise.")
• Ballad: a love song (e.g., "Greta's boyfriend played her a ballad on the guitar during their walk through the dark woods.")
• Banal: dull, commonplace (e.g., "The client rejected our proposal because they found our presentation banal and unimpressive.")
• Bane: a burden (e.g., "Advanced physics is the bane of many students' academic lives.")
• Bard: a poet, often a singer as well (e.g., "Shakespeare is often considered the greatest bard in the history of the English language.")

...### Vocabulary

• Secondary: having a lower or subordinate position; security for a debt
• Colloquial: characteristic of informal conversation
• Collusion: secret agreement or conspiracy
• Colossus: a gigantic statue or thing
• Combustion: the act or process of burning
• Commendation: a notice of approval or recognition
• Commensurate: corresponding in size or amount
• Commodious: roomy
• Compelling: forceful, demanding attention
• Compensate: to make an appropriate payment for something
• Complacency: self-satisfied ignorance of danger
• Complement: to complete, make perfect
• Compliant: ready to adapt oneself to another’s wishes
• Complicit: being an accomplice in a wrongful act
• Compliment: an expression of esteem or approval
• Compound: to combine parts; a combination of different parts; a walled area containing a group of buildings
• Comprehensive: including everything
• Compress: to apply pressure, squeeze together
• Compunction: distress caused by feeling guilty
• Concede: to accept as valid
• Conciliatory: friendly, agreeable
• Concise: brief and direct in expression
• Concoct: to fabricate, make up
• Concomitant: accompanying in a subordinate fashion
• Concord: harmonious agreement
• Condolence: an expression of sympathy in sorrow
• Condone: to pardon, deliberately overlook
• Conduit: a pipe or channel through which something passes
• Confection: a sweet, fancy food
• Confidant: a person entrusted with secrets
• Conflagration: great fire
• Confluence: a gathering together
• Conformist: one who behaves the same as others
• Confound: to frustrate, confuse
• Congeal: to thicken into a solid
• Congenial: pleasantly agreeable
• Congregation: a gathering of people, especially for religious services
• Congruity: the quality of being in agreement
• Connive: to plot, scheme
• Consecrate: to dedicate something to a holy purpose
• Consensus: an agreement of opinion
• Consign: to give something over to another’s care
• Consolation: an act of comforting
• Consonant: in harmony
• Constituent: an essential part
• Constrain: to forcibly restrict
• Construe: to interpret
• Consummate: to complete a deal; to complete a marriage ceremony through sexual intercourse
• Consumption: the act of consuming
• Contemporaneous: existing during the same time
• Contentious: having a tendency to quarrel or dispute
• Contravene: to contradict, oppose, violate
• Contrite: penitent, eager to be forgiven
• Contusion: bruise, injury
• Conundrum: puzzle, problem
• Convene: to call together
• Convention: an assembly of people; a rule, custom
• Convivial: characterized by feasting, drinking, merriment
• Convoluted: intricate, complicated
• Copious: profuse, abundant
• Cordial: warm, affectionate
• Coronation: the act of crowning
• Corpulence: extreme fatness
• Corroborate: to support with evidence
• Corrosive: having the tendency to erode or eat away
• Cosmopolitan: sophisticated, worldly
• Counteract: to neutralize, make ineffective
• Coup: a brilliant, unexpected act; the overthrow of a government and assumption of authority
• Covet: to desire enviously
• Covert: secretly engaged in
• Credulity: readiness to believe
• Crescendo: a steady increase in intensity or volume
• Criteria: standards by which something is judged
• Culmination: the climax toward which something progresses
• Culpable: deserving blame
• Cultivate: to nurture, improve, refine
• Cumulative: increasing, building upon itself
• Cunning: sly, clever at being deceitful
• Cupidity: greed, strong desire
• Cursory: brief to the point of being superficial
• Curt: abruptly and rudely short
• Curtail: to lessen, reduce
• Daunting: intimidating, causing one to lose courage
• Dearth: a lack, scarcity
• Debacle: a disastrous failure, disruption
• Debase: to lower the quality or esteem of something
• Debauch: to corrupt by means of sensual pleasures
• Debunk: to expose the falseness of something
• Decorous: socially proper, appropriate
• Decry: to criticize openly
• Deface: to ruin or injure something’s appearance
• Defamatory: harmful toward another’s reputation
• Defer: to postpone something; to yield to another’s wisdom
• Deferential: showing respect for another’s authority
• Defile: to make unclean, impure
• Deft: skillful, capable
• Defunct: no longer used or existing
• Delegate: to hand over responsibility for something
• Deleterious: harmful
• Deliberate: intentional, reflecting careful consideration
• Delineate: to describe, outline, shed light on
• Demagogue: a leader who appeals to a people’s prejudices
• Demarcation: the marking of boundaries or categories
• Demean: to lower the status or stature of something
• Demure: quiet, modest, reserved
• Denigrate: to belittle, diminish the opinion of
• Denounce: to criticize publicly
• Deplore: to feel or express sorrow, disapproval
• Depravity: wickedness
• Deprecate: to belittle, depreciate
• Derelict: abandoned, run-down
• Deride: to laugh at mockingly, scorn
• Derivative: taken directly from a source, unoriginal
• Desecrate: to violate the sacredness of a thing or place
• Desiccated: dried up, dehydrated
• Desolate: deserted, dreary, lifeless
• Despondent: feeling depressed, discouraged, hopeless
• Despot: one who has total power and rules brutally
• Destitute: impoverished, utterly lacking
• Deter: to discourage, prevent from doing
• Devious: not straightforward, deceitful
• Dialect: a variation of a language
• Diaphanous: light, airy, transparent

Practice and learn 4 vocabulary words starting with the prefix 'Ab-', including their meanings and examples.