Vocabulary Words Quiz

Vocabulary Words and Definitions

• Abeyance: A temporary state of inactivity, suspension, or being set aside.
• Ambivalent: Having conflicting or opposing feelings about something.
• Beleaguer: To attack or trouble someone or something from many sides. Similar to besiege.
• Carte Blanche: Complete freedom or authority to act as one chooses.
• Cataclysm: A sudden and violent upheaval or disaster.
• Debauch: To corrupt morally; to indulge in excessive pleasure or dissipation; or the act of excessive pleasure or dissipation.
• Eclat: Dazzling success or acclaim; great brilliance.
• Fastidious: Overly demanding or hard to please; excessively careful about details or easily disgusted.
• Gambol: To jump or skip playfully.
• Imbue: To fill or saturate something or someone with a particular feeling or quality; to thoroughly soak or stain.
• Inchoate: Just beginning or not fully formed.
• Lampoon: A malicious satire; to satirize or ridicule.
• Malleable: Capable of shaping or changing. Also, adaptable.
• Nemesis: An agent of vengeance; an unbeatable rival.
• Opt: To make a choice or decision.
• Philistine: Someone uninterested in culture or the arts; someone lacking cultural or artistic refinement.
• Picaresque: Involving clever rogues or adventurers.
• Queasy: Feeling nauseated or uneasy; causing nausea or uneasiness. Could also be a feeling of being troubled.
• Refractory: Stubborn or difficult to control or manage.
• Savoir-faire: The ability to say and do the right thing in any situation; social competence.
• Aberration: Departure from what is expected or usual; a lapse.
• Ad hoc: For a specific purpose; improvised.
• Bane: A source of destruction, harm, or ruin.
• Bathos: The intrusion of commonplace material into a context intended to be elevated; an anticlimax.
• Cantankerous: Ill-tempered; quarrelsome.
• Casuistry: The use of clever but often specious arguments to determine right and wrong.
• De facto: Actually existing or in effect, though not officially sanctioned.
• Depredation: The act of preying upon or plundering.
• Empathy: Understanding or sharing the feelings of another.
• Harbinger: A forerunner; something that indicates the approach of something else.
• Hedonism: Devotion to pleasure as the highest good.
• Lackluster: Lacking brilliance; dull.
• Malcontent: Discontented; someone who is unhappy with conditions.
• Mellifluous: Smooth; sweet sounding.
• Nepotism: Favouritism towards relatives.
• Pander: To cater to the base desires of others; to satisfy low tastes.
• Peccadillo: A minor sin or fault.
• Piece de Resistance: The highlight; the most impressive part.
• Remand: To send back (e.g., someone to jail or to a lower court).
• Syndrome: A group of symptoms that characterize a disease or disorder.
• Beatitude: A state of perfect happiness or blessedness.
• Bête Noire: Someone or something one dislikes intensely.
• Bode: To indicate the approach of something; to serve as an omen.
• Dank: Unpleasantly damp or musty.
• Ecumenical: Worldwide in scope.
• Fervid: Enthusiastic or passionate.
• Fetid: Having a bad smell.
• Gargantuan: Enormous.
• Heyday: The period of greatest success or power.
• Incubus: An oppressive influence or something that weighs heavily.
• Infrastructure: Basic systems or frameworks of a country, organization, or building.
• Inveigle: To persuade or entice with charm and flattery.
• Kudos: Praise and acclaim for an achievement.
• Lagniappe: An unexpected gift or bonus.
• Prolix: Long-winded and wordy.
• Protégé: A person under the patronage or protection of another.
• Prototype: An original model or pattern.
• Sycophant: Someone who tries to win favor by flattery.
• Tautology: Needless repetition of the same idea using different but equivalent words.
• Truckle: To yield submissively or submit tamely.