Vocabulary Words and Definitions

Vocabulary Words and Definitions

• Ameliorate: to improve, make better, correct a flaw or shortcoming (verb)
• Aplomb: poise, assurance, great self-confidence; perpendicularity (noun)
• Bombastic: pompous or overblown in language; full of high-sounding words intended to conceal a lack of ideas (adjective)
• Callow: without experience; immature, not fully developed; lacking sophistication and poise; without feathers (adjective)
• Drivel: saliva or mucus flowing from the mouth or nose; foolish, aimless talk or thinking; nonsense; to let saliva flow from the mouth; to utter nonsense or childish twaddle; to waste or fritter away foolishly (noun/verb)
• Epitome: a summary, condensed account; an instance that represents a larger reality (noun)
• Exhort: to urge strongly, advise earnestly (verb)
• Ex Officio: by virtue of holding a certain office (adjective/adverb)
• Infringe: to violate, trespass, go beyond recognized bounds (verb)
• Ingratiate: to make oneself agreeable and thus gain favor or acceptance by others (sometimes used in a critical or derogatory sense) (verb)
• Interloper: one who moves in where he or she is not wanted or has no right to be, an intruder (noun)
• Intrinsic: belonging to someone or something by its very nature, essential, inherent; originating in a bodily organ or part (adjective)
• Inveigh: to make a violent attack in words, express strong disapproval (verb)
• Lassitude: weariness of body or mind, lack of energy (noun)
• Millennium: a period of one thousand years; a period of great joy (noun)
• Occult: secret, hidden from view; not detectable by ordinary means; mysterious, magical, uncanny; to hide, cover up; eclipse; matters involving the supernatural (adjective/verb)
• Permeate: to spread through, penetrate, soak through (verb)
• Precipitate: to fall as moisture; to bring about suddenly; to hurl down from a great height; to give distinct form to; characterized by excessive haste; moisture; the product of an action or process (verb)
• Stringent: strict, severe; rigorously or urgently binding or compelling; sharp or bitter to the taste (adjective)
• Surmise: to think or believe without certain supporting evidence; to conjecture or guess; likely idea that lacks definite proof (verb)
• Approbation: the expression of approval or favorable opinion, praise; official approval (noun)
• Assuage: to make easier or milder, relieve; to quiet, calm; to put an end to, appease, satisfy, quench (verb)
• Coalition: a combination, union, or merger for some specific purpose (noun)

Additional Vocabulary Words and Definitions

• Decadence: decline, decay, or deterioration; a condition or period of decline or decay; excessive self-indulgence (noun)
• Elicit: to draw forth, bring out from some source (verb)
• Expostulate: to attempt to dissuade someone from some course or decision by earnest reasoning (verb)
• Hackneyed: used so often as to lack freshness or originality (adjective)
• Hiatus: a gap, opening, break (in the sense of having an element missing) (noun)
• Innuendo: a hint, indirect suggestion, or reference (often in a derogatory sense) (noun)
• Intercede: to plead on behalf of someone else; to serve as a third party or go-between in a disagreement (verb)
• Jaded: wearied, worn-out, dulled (in the sense of being satiated by excessive indulgence) (adjective)
• Lurid: causing shock, horror, or revulsion; sensational; pale or sallow in color; terrible or passionate in intensity or lack of restraint (adjective)
• Meritorious: worthy, deserving recognition and praise (adjective)
• Petulant: peevish, annoyed by trifles, easily irritated and upset (adjective)
• Prerogative: a special right or privilege; a special quality showing excellence (noun)
• Provincial: pertaining to an outlying area; local; narrow in mind or outlook, countrified (adjective)
• Simulate: to make a pretense of, imitate; to show the outer signs of (verb)
• Transcend: to rise above or beyond, exceed (verb)
• Umbrage: shade cast by trees; foliage giving shade; an overshadowing influence or power; offense, resentment; a vague suspicion (noun)
• Unctuous: excessively smooth or smug; trying too hard to give an impression of earnestness, sincerity, or piety; fatty, oily; pliable (adjective)
• Abominate: to have an intense dislike or hatred for (verb)
• Acculturation: the modification of the social patterns, traits, or structures of one group or society by contact with those of another (noun)
• Adventitious: resulting from chance rather than from an inherent cause or character; accidental (adjective)
• Ascribe: to assign or refer to (verb)
• Circuitous: roundabout, not direct (adjective)
• Commiserate: to sympathize with, have pity or sorrow for, share a feeling of distress (verb)
• Enjoin: to direct or order; to prescribe a course of action in an authoritative way; to prohibit (verb)
• Expedite: to make easy, cause to progress faster (verb)
• Expiate: to make amends, make up for; to avert (verb)
• Ferment: a state of great excitement, agitation, or turbulence; to be in or work into such a state; to produce alcohol by chemical action (noun/verb)
• Inadvertent: resulting from or marked by lack of attention (adjective)
• Nominal: existing in name only, not real; too small to be considered or taken seriously (adjective)
• Noncommittal: not decisive or definite; unwilling to take a clear position (adjective)
• Peculate: to steal something that has been given into one's trust (verb)
• Proclivity: a natural or habitual inclination or tendency (especially of human character or behavior) (noun)
• Sangfroid: composure or coolness, especially in trying circumstances (noun)
• Seditious: resistant to lawful authority; having the purpose of overthrowing an established government (adjective)
• Tenous: thin, slender, not dense; lacking clarity or sharpness (adjective)
• Vitriolic: bitter, sarcastic (adjective)
• Wheedle: to use coaxing or flattery to gain some desired end (verb)
• Anomalous: abnormal, irregular, departing from the usual (adjective)
• Aspersion: a damaging or derogatory statement; the act of slandering or defaming (noun)
• Bizarre: extremely strange, unusual, atypical (adjective)
• Brusque: abrupt, blunt, with no formalities (adjective)
• Cajole: to coax, persuade through flattery or artifice; to deceive with soothing thoughts or false promises (verb)
• Castigate: to punish severely; to criticize severely (verb)
• Contrive: to plan with ingenuity, invent; to bring about as the result of a scheme or plan (verb)
• Demagogue: a leader who exploits popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power (noun)
• Disabuse: to free from deception or error, set right in ideas or thinking (verb)
• Ennui: weariness and dissatisfaction from lack of occupation or interest, boredom (noun)
• Fetter: a chain or shackle placed on the feet; anything that confines or restrains; to chain or shackle; to render helpless or impotent (noun/verb)
• Heinous: very wicked, offensive, hateful (adjective)
• Immutable: not subject to change, constant (adjective)
• Insurgent: one who rebels or rises against authority; (adjective) rising in revolt, refusing to accept authority; surging or rushing in or on (noun/adjective)
• Megalomania: a delusion marked by a feeling or power, wealth, talent, etc., far in excess of reality (noun)
• Sinecure: a position requiring little or no work; an easy job (noun)
• Surreptitious: stealthy, secret, intended to escape observation; made or accomplished by fraud (adjective)
• Transgress: to go beyond a limit or boundary; to sin, violate a law (verb)
• Transmute: to change from one nature, substance, or from to another (verb)
• Vicarious: performed, suffered, or otherwise experienced by one person in place of another (adjective)
• Affable: courteous and pleasant, sociable, easy to speak to (adjective)
• Aggrandize: to increase in greatness, power, or wealth; to build up or intensify; to make appear greater (verb)
• Amorphous: shapeless, without definite form; of no particular type or character; without organization, unity, or cohesion (adjective)
• Archetype: an original model on which something was patterned or replicated; the ideal example of a particular type of person or thing (noun)
• Aura: that which surrounds (as an atmosphere); a distinctive air or personal quality (noun)
• Contraband: illegal traffic, smuggled goods; (adjective) illegal, prohibited (noun/adjective)
• Erudite: scholarly, learned, bookish, pedantic (adjective)
• Gossamer: thin, light, delicate, insubstantial; a very thin, light cloth (adjective/noun)
• Inscrutable: incapable of being understood; impossible to see through physically (adjective)
• Insular: relating to, characteristic of, or situated on an island; narrow or isolated in outlook or experience; (adjective) narrow-minded, parochial (adjective)
• Irrevocable: incapable of being changed or called back (adjective)
• Propensity: a natural inclination or predilection toward (noun)
• Querulous: peevish, complaining, fretful (adjective)
• Remonstrate: to argue or plead with someone against something, protest against, object to (verb)
• Repudiate: to disown, reject, or deny the validity of (verb)
• Resilient: able to return to an original shape or form; able to recover quickly (adjective)
• Reverberate: to re-echo, resound; to reflect or be reflected repeatedly (verb)
• Scurrilous: coarsely abusive, vulgar or low (especially in language), foul-mouthed (adjective)
• Sedulous: persistent, showing industry and determination (adjective)
• Sleazy: thin or flimsy in texture; cheap; shoddy or inferior in quality or character; ethically low, mean, or disreputable (adjective)
• Amnesty: a general pardon for an offense against a government; in general, any act of forgiveness or absolution (noun)
• Autonomy: self-government, political control (noun)
• Axiomatic: self-evident, expressing universally accepted principle (adjective)
• Blazon: to adorn or embellish; to display conspicuously; to publish or proclaim widely (verb)
• Caveat: a warning caution (noun)
• Equitable: fair, just, embodying principles of justice (adjective)
• Extricate: to release from entanglement or difficulty; to remove with effort (verb)
• Filch: to steal, especially in a sneaky way and in petty amounts (verb)
• Flout: to mock, treat with contemptuous disregard (verb)
• Fractious: tending to be troublesome; unruly, quarrelsome, contrary; unpredictable (adjective)
• Precept: a rule of conduct or action (noun)
• Salutary: beneficial, helpful; healthful, wholesome (adjective)
• Scathing: bitterly severe, withering; causing great harm (adjective)
• Scourge: a cause of affliction or suffering; a source of severe punishment or criticism; to whip, punish severely (noun/verb)
• Sepulchral: funereal, typical of the tomb; extremely gloomy or dismal (adjective)
• Soporific: tending to cause sleep, relating to sleepiness or lethargy; something that induces sleep (adjective/noun)
• Straitlaced: extremely strict in regard to moral standards , and conduct; prudish, puritanical (adjective)
• Transient: enduring a very short time; (n.) one who stays only a short time (adjective/noun)
• Unwieldy: not easily carried, handled, or managed because of size or complexity (adjective)
• Vapid: dull, uninteresting, tiresome; lacking in sharpness, flavor, liveliness, or force (adjective)

Explore a variety of vocabulary words and their meanings in this quiz. Test your understanding of terms such as 'ameliorate,' 'aplomb,' and 'bombastic.' Perfect for enhancing your language skills and expanding your lexicon.