1. abase
(v.)
to humiliate, degrade
(After being overthrown and abased, the deposed
leader offered to bow down to his conqueror.)
2. abduct
(v.)
to kidnap, take by force
(The evildoers abducted the fairy princess from her
happy home.)
3. aberration
(n.)
something that differs from the norm
(In 1918, the Boston Red Sox won
the World Series, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and the Red Sox
have not won a World Series since.)
4. abhor
(v.)
to hate, detest
(Because he always wound up kicking himself in the head
when he tried to play soccer, Oswald began to abhor the sport.)
5. abide
(v.)
to put up with
(Though he did not agree with the decision, Chuck decided
to abide by it.)
6. abject
(adj.)
wretched, pitiful
(After losing all her money, falling into a puddle, and
breaking her ankle, Eloise was abject.)
7. abridge
(v.)
to cut down, shorten
(The publisher thought the dictionary was too long
and abridged it.)
8. absolution
(n.)
freedom from blame, guilt, sin
(Once all the facts were known, the jury
gave Angela absolution by giving a verdict of not guilty.)
9. abstain
(v.)
to freely choose not to commit an action
(Everyone demanded that Angus
put on the kilt, but he did not want to do it and abstained.)
10. abstruse
(adj.)
hard to comprehend
(Everyone else in the class understood geometry
easily, but John found the subject abstruse.)
11. accentuate
(v.)
to stress, highlight
(Psychologists agree that those people who are
happiest accentuate the positive in life.)
12. accolade
(n.)
high praise, special distinction
(Everyone offered accolades to Sam after
he won the Noble Prize.)
13. accost
(v.)
to confront verbally
(Though Antoinette was normally quite calm, when the
waiter spilled soup on her for the fourth time in 15 minutes she stood up and accosted
the man.)
14. acerbic
(adj.)
biting, bitter in tone or taste
(Jill became extremely acerbic and began to
cruelly make fun of all her friends.)
15. acquiesce
(v.)
to agree without protesting
(Though Mr. Correlli wanted to stay outside
and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner,
he acquiesced to her demands.)
16. acrimony
(n.)
bitterness, discord
(Though they vowed that no girl would ever come
between them, Biff and Trevor could not keep acrimony from overwhelming their
friendship after they both fell in love with the lovely Teresa.)
17. ambivalent (adj.) having opposing feelings (My feelings about Calvin are ambivalent
because on one hand he is a loyal friend, but on the other, he is a cruel and vicious
thief.)
18. banal (adj.) dull, commonplace (The client rejected our proposal because they found
our presentation banal and unimpressive.)
19. beguile (v.) to trick, deceive (The thief beguiled his partners into surrendering all of
their money to him.)
20. behemoth (n.) something of tremendous power or size (The new aircraft carrier is
among several behemoths that the Air Force has added to its fleet.)
21 berate (v.) to scold vehemently (The angry boss berated his employees for failing to
meet their deadline.)
22. bereft (adj.) devoid of, without (His family was bereft of food and shelter following the
tornado.)
23. bilk (v.) cheat, defraud (The lawyer discovered that this firm had bilked several clients
out of thousands of dollars.)
24. bombastic (adj.) excessively confident, pompous (The singer’s bombastic performance
disgusted the crowd.)
25. cacophony (n.) tremendous noise, disharmonious sound (The elementary school
orchestra created a cacophony at the recital.)
26. cadence (n.) a rhythm, progression of sound (The pianist used the foot pedal to
emphasize the cadence of the sonata.)
27. cajole (v.) to urge, coax (Fred’s buddies cajoled him into attending the bachelor party.)
28. capitulate (v.) to surrender (The army finally capitulated after fighting a long costly
battle.)
29. capricious (adj.) subject to whim, fickle (The young girl’s capricious tendencies made it
difficult for her to focus on achieving her goals.)
30. carp (v.) to annoy, pester (The husband divorced his wife after listening to her carping
voice for decades.)
31. cavort (v.) to leap about, behave boisterously (The adults ate their dinners on the patio,
while the children cavorted around the pool.)
32. catalyze (v.) to charge, inspire (The president’s speech catalyzed the nation and
resuscitated the economy.)
33. cerebral (adj.) related to the intellect (The books we read in this class are too cerebral—
they don’t engage my emotions at all.)
34. chaos (n.) absolute disorder (Mr. Thornton’s sudden departure for the lavatory
plunged his classroom into chaos.)
35. chastise (v.) to criticize severely (After being chastised by her peers for mimicking
Britney Spears, Miranda dyed her hair black and affected a Gothic style.)
36. coerce (v.) to make somebody do something by force or threat (The court decided that
Vanilla Ice did not have to honor the contract because he had been coerced into
signing it.)
37. cogent (adj.) intellectually convincing (Irene’s arguments in favor of abstinence were so
cogent that I could not resist them.)
38. cognizant (adj.) aware, mindful (Jake avoided speaking to women in bars because he
was cognizant of the fact that drinking impairs his judgment.)
39. coherent (adj.) logically consistent, intelligible (Renee could not figure out what
Monroe had seen because he was too distraught to deliver a coherent statement.)
40. colloquial (adj.) characteristic of informal conversation (Adam’s essay on sexual
response in primates was marked down because it contained too many colloquial
expressions.)
41. colossus (n.) a gigantic statue or thing (For 56 years, the ancient city of Rhodes featured
a colossus standing astride its harbor.)
42. compelling (adj.) forceful, demanding attention (Eliot’s speech was so compelling that
Lenore accepted his proposal on the spot.)
43. conciliatory (adj.) friendly, agreeable (I took Amanda’s invitation to dinner as a very
conciliatory gesture.)
44. concoct (v.) to fabricate, make up (She concocted the most ridiculous story to explain her
absence.)
45. condone (v.) to pardon, deliberately overlook (He refused to condone his brother’s
crime.)
46. consummate (v.) to complete a deal; to complete a marriage ceremony through sexual
intercourse (Erica and Donald consummated their agreement in the executive
boardroom.)
47. conundrum (n.) puzzle, problem (Interpreting Jane’s behavior was a constant
conundrum.)
48. dearth (n.) a lack, scarcity (An eager reader, she was dismayed by the dearth of classic
books at the library.)
49. debauch (v.) to corrupt by means of sensual pleasures (An endless amount of good wine
and cheese debauched the traveler
50. defile (v.) to make unclean, impure (She defiled the calm of the religious building by
playing her banjo.)
)51. debunk (v.) to expose the falseness of something (He debunked her claim to be the
world’s greatest chess player by defeating her in 18 consecutive matches.)
52. corpulence (adj.)extreme fatness (Henry’s corpulence did not make him any less
attractive to his charming, svelte wife.)
53. demagogue (n.) a leader who appeals to a people’s prejudices (The demagogue
strengthened his hold over his people by blaming immigrants for the lack of jobs.)
54. demure (adj.) quiet, modest, reserved (Though everyone else at the party was dancing
and going crazy, she remained demure.)
55. depravity (n.) wickedness (Rumors of the ogre’s depravity made the children afraid to
enter the forest.)
56. deprecate (v.) to belittle, depreciate (Always over-modest, he deprecated his
contribution to the local charity.)
57. devious (adj.) not straightforward, deceitful (Not wanting to be punished, the devious
girl blamed the broken vase on the cat.)
58. diaphanous (adj.) light, airy, transparent (Sunlight poured in through the diaphanous
curtains, brightening the room.)
59. didactic 1. (adj.) intended to instruct (She wrote up a didactic document showing new
employees how to handle the company’s customers.) 2. (adj.) overly moralistic (His
didactic style of teaching made it seem like he wanted to persuade his students not to
understand history fully, but to understand it from only one point of view.)
60. disaffected (adj.) rebellious, resentful of authority (Dismayed by Bobby’s poor
behavior, the parents sent their disaffected son to a military academy to be
disciplined.)
61. disdain 1. (v.) to scorn, hold in low esteem (Insecure about their jobs, the older
employees disdained the recently hired ones, who were young and capable.) 2. (n.)
scorn, low esteem (After learning of his immoral actions, Justine held Lawrence in
disdain.)
62. dubious (adj.) doubtful, of uncertain quality (Suspicious that he was only trying to get a
raise, she found his praise dubious.)
63. duress (n.) hardship, threat (It was only under intense duress that he, who was
normally against killing, fired his gun.)
64. effulgent (adj.) radiant, splendorous (The golden palace was effulgent.)
65. egregious (adj.) extremely bad (The student who threw sloppy joes across the cafeteria
was punished for his egregious behavior.)
66. elated (adj.) overjoyed, thrilled (When she found out she had won the lottery, the
writer was elated.)
67. emote (v.) to express emotion (The director told the actor he had to emote, or else the
audience would have no idea what his character was going through.)
68. enamor (v.) to fill with love, fascinate, usually used in passive form followed by “of” or
“with” (I grew enamored of that boy when he quoted my favorite love poem.)
69. epistolary (adj.) relating to or contained in letters (Some people call me “Auntie’s boy,”
because my aunt and I have such a close epistolary relationship that we write each
other every day.)
70. equivocal (adj.) ambiguous, uncertain, undecided (His intentions were so equivocal
that I didn’t know whether he was being chivalrous or sleazy.)
71. evince (v.) to show, reveal (Christopher’s hand-wringing and nail-biting evince how
nervous he is about the upcoming English test.)
72. exculpate (v.) to free from guilt or blame, exonerate (My discovery of the ring behind
the dresser exculpated me from the charge of having stolen it.)
73. expiate (v.) to make amends for, atone (To expiate my selfishness, I gave all my profits to
Charity
74. extol (v.) to praise, revere (Violet extolled the virtues of a vegetarian diet to her meatloving
brother.)
75. facile 1. (adj.) easy, requiring little effort (This game is so facile that even a four-yearold
can master it.) 2. (adj.) superficial, achieved with minimal thought or care,
insincere (The business was in such shambles that any solution seemed facile at best;
nothing could really helpit in the long-run.)
76. fathom (v.) to understand, comprehend (I cannot fathom why you like that crabby and
mean-spirited neighbor of ours.)
77. fecund (adj.) fruitful, fertile (The fecund tree bore enough apples to last us through the
entire season.)
78. feral (adj.) wild, savage (That beast looks so feral that I would fear being alone with it.)
79. fetid (adj.) having a foul odor (I can tell from the fetid smell in your refrigerator that
your milk has spoiled.)
80. figurative (adj.) symbolic (Using figurative language, Jane likened the storm to an
angry bull.)
81. fortuitous (adj.) happening by chance, often lucky or fortunate (After looking for
Manuel and not finding him at home, Harriet had a fortuitous encounter with him
at the post office.
)82. fractious (adj.) troublesome or irritable (Although the child insisted he wasn’t tired, his
fractious behavior—especially his decision to crush his cheese and crackers all over
the floor—convinced everyone present that it was time to put him to bed.)
83. garish (adj.) gaudy, in bad taste (Mrs. Watson has poor taste and covers every object in
her house with a garish gold lamé.)
84. gourmand (n.) overindulgence in food or drink (Ada’s fried chicken tastes so divine, I
don’t know how anyone can call gluttony a sin.)
85. gluttony (n.) overindulgence in food or drink (Ada’s fried chicken tastes so divine, I
don’t know how anyone can call gluttony a sin.)
86. hackneyed (adj.) unoriginal, trite (A girl can only hear “I love you” so many times
before it begins to sound hackneyed and meaningless.)
87. harangue 1. (n.) a ranting speech (Everyone had heard the teacher’s harangue about
gum chewing in class before.) 2. (v.) to give such a speech (But this time the teacher
harangued the class about the importance of brushing your teeth after chewing
gum.)
88. hedonist (n.) one who believes pleasure should be the primary pursuit of humans
(Because he’s such a hedonist, I knew Murray would appreciate the 11 cases of wine
89. I bought him for his birthday.)
89. hegemony (n.) domination over others (Britain’s hegemony over its colonies was
90. heinous (adj.) shockingly wicked, repugnant (The killings were made all the more
heinous by the fact that the murderer first tortured his victims for three days.)
91. hiatus (n.) a break or gap in duration or continuity (The hiatus in service should last
two or three months—until the cable lines are repaired .)
92. iconoclast (n.) one who attacks common beliefs or institutions (Jane goes to one protest
after another, but she seems to be an iconoclast rather than an activist with a
progressive agenda.)
93. ignominious (adj.) humiliating, disgracing (It was really ignominious to be kicked out of
the dorm for having an illegal gas stove in my room.)
94. illicit (adj.) forbidden, not permitted (The fourth-grader learned many illicit words
from a pamphlet that was being passed around school.)
95. immutable (adj.) not changeable (The laws of physics are immutable and constant.)
96. incarnate 1. (adj.) existing in the flesh, embodied (In the church pageant, I play the role
of greed incarnate.) 2. (v.) to give human form to (The alien evaded detection by
incarnating himself in a human form.)
97. inchoate (adj.) unformed or formless, in a beginning stage (The country’s government
is still inchoate and, because it has no great tradition, quite unstable.)
98. indigent (adj.) very poor, impoverished (I would rather donate money to help the
indigent population than to the park sculpture fund.)
99. ineffable (adj.) unspeakable, incapable of being expressed through words (It is said
that the experience of playing with a dolphin is ineffable and can only be understood
through direct encounter.)
100. inexorable (adj.) incapable of being persuaded or placated (Although I begged for
hours, Mom was inexorable and refused to let me stay out all night after the prom.)
