Words / General
General English vocabulary
1,631 words grouped into 432 topics. Tap any word for its definition, an example sentence, its level and how rare it is.
Advanced English
- ad hominem
- adduce
- aide-mémoire
- anaphora
- anodyne
- antecedent
- antithesis
- apathy
- backchannel
- brinkmanship
- callous
- canonical
- caveat
- chiasmus
- climbdown
- communiqué
- conciliatory
- concomitant
- constructive ambiguity
- contextualise
- corroborate
- credulous
- crux
- delineate
- démarche
- dichotomy
- disaggregate
- elucidate
- emollient
- endemic
- entente
- explicate
- expound
- extrapolate
- fait accompli
- foreground
- germane
- good offices
- hegemonic
- incredulous
- interlocutor
- interpolate
- lacuna
- mealy-mouthed
- modus vivendi
- mollify
- nexus
- non-committal
- normative
- nuanced
- olive branch
- operationalise
- ostensible
- paradigm
- persona non grata
- perspicacity
- pertinacity
- plausible deniability
- plenipotentiary
- polemical
- posit
- postulate
- praeteritio
- predicate
- pretext
- problematise
- proviso
- pusillanimity
- putative
- quid pro quo
- rebut
- reductive
- refute
- robust
- rubric
- sabre-rattling
- sagacity
- salient
- seminal
- stonewall
- straw man
- substantiate
- tautological
- teleological
- temporise
- tenuous
- tricolon
- underscore
- unscrupulous
- vitiate
- weasel words
- zeal
Cambridge C1 Advanced
- a blessing in disguise
- acrimonious
- advocate
- ambivalent
- ameliorate
- anathema
- antipathy
- antithetical
- at odds with
- bear in mind
- bombastic
- capitulate
- cathartic
- come to terms with
- compelling
- conflate
- cope with
- curb
- cursory
- cutting-edge
- discrepancy
- disparate
- dogmatic
- draw the line
- exacerbate
- for the time being
- galvanise
- get to grips with
- hinder
- impetuous
- in a nutshell
- in hindsight
- inevitable
- inordinate
- insidious
- jettison
- jump on the bandwagon
- juxtapose
- loophole
- meticulous
- mitigate
- moribund
- nebulous
- on the back burner
- on the verge of
- overhaul
- paragon
- paramount
- penchant
- platitude
- pontificate
- pragmatic
- proclivity
- profound
- prone to
- propensity
- quandary
- redundant
- reluctant
- rescind
- scrutinise
- setback
- staggering
- tackle
- take for granted
- take its toll
- tentative
- verbose
- viable
Cambridge C2 Proficiency
- a foregone conclusion
- abjure
- abrogate
- animadversion
- animus
- apotheosis
- beg the question
- bowdlerise
- byword
- chary
- chasten
- convoluted
- coterminous
- debacle
- desiccate
- dilatory
- edify
- effete
- ersatz
- execrable
- expurgate
- fecund
- fissiparous
- florid
- gainsay
- garner
- histrionic
- ignominious
- imbroglio
- imperturbable
- inimical
- inveigle
- juggernaut
- limpid
- maunder
- meritorious
- nugatory
- obstreperous
- obtuse
- panoply
- penumbra
- perfervid
- perfunctory
- pernicious
- precipitate
- predilection
- proliferate
- recrudescence
- refractory
- sanctimonious
- soporific
- tantamount
- tortuous
- turbid
- turgid
- untenable
- wizened
Character & virtue
- altruism
- altruistic
- beneficence
- benevolence
- blameless
- charitable
- chastity
- circumspection
- compassion
- comport
- conscientious
- constancy
- continence
- conviction
- dauntless
- diligence
- discretion
- dutiful
- earnest
- estimable
- fidelity
- gallantry
- gumption
- high-minded
- honourable
- humility
- incorruptible
- integrity
- intrepid
- irreproachable
- longanimity
- loyalty
- magnanimity
- meekness
- munificence
- philanthropic
- piety
- principled
- prudence
- resolute
- righteousness
- saintly
- sanctity
- scruple
- selflessness
- sincerity
- sobriety
- staunch
- stoical
- stoicism
- temperance
- tenacity
- unimpeachable
- upright
- upstanding
- valour
- virtuous
Cambridge C2 (part 2)
- abate
- abnegate
- admonish
- amorphous
- anachronism
- apocryphal
- apposite
- arcane
- aspersion
- attenuate
- beguile
- bereft
- brusque
- callow
- capacious
- censure
- chastise
- circumvent
- coalesce
- condone
- contrite
- copious
- countenance
- covet
- craven
- debunk
- decry
- deride
- dour
- eclectic
- efficacious
- embellish
- engender
- exhort
- exorbitant
- expedient
- extant
- facile
- fallacious
- felicitous
- flout
- forestall
- furtive
- glib
- harbinger
- imbue
- immutable
- impute
- laudable
- obstinate
- remonstrate
- upbraid
- vacuous
- vestige
- vex
- vitriolic
Idioms & phrasal verbs
- a baptism of fire
- a curate's egg
- a damp squib
- a flash in the pan
- a red herring
- a storm in a teacup
- bank on
- bear out
- bring about
- brush up on
- clamp down on
- clutch at straws
- flesh out
- flog a dead horse
- fob off
- get the wrong end of the stick
- gild the lily
- gloss over
- iron out
- let sleeping dogs lie
- move the goalposts
- mull over
- pander to
- par for the course
- pour cold water on
- pull the wool over someone's eyes
- put the cat among the pigeons
- reel off
- rope in
- shore up
- steal someone's thunder
- swings and roundabouts
- talk down to
- the elephant in the room
- the jury is still out
- the penny dropped
- the tip of the iceberg
- the writing is on the wall
- throw down the gauntlet
- tide over
- water down
- wear thin
- weigh in on
- wriggle out of
Literature & the arts
- anagnorisis
- anapaest
- apostrophe
- auteur
- bildungsroman
- caesura
- chiaroscuro
- contrapposto
- craquelure
- diegesis
- doggerel
- ekphrasis
- elegiac
- enjambment
- epistolary
- grisaille
- hamartia
- impasto
- leitmotif
- libretto
- metafiction
- metonymy
- mimesis
- neologism
- oeuvre
- paronomasia
- pastiche
- pentimento
- peripeteia
- picaresque
- portmanteau
- prosody
- quatrain
- scansion
- sestina
- sfumato
- sibilance
- synecdoche
- tenebrism
- triptych
- trochee
- villanelle
- zeugma
Philosophy & ideas
- axiology
- axiom
- compatibilism
- cosmology
- deontology
- determinism
- dialectic
- dogmatism
- dualism
- empiricism
- ephemeral
- episteme
- epistemology
- eschatology
- essentialism
- existentialism
- fallibilism
- hedonism
- hermeneutics
- idealism
- ineffable
- inexorable
- instantiate
- materialism
- metaphysics
- nihilism
- numinous
- positivism
- praxis
- rationalism
- reification
- relativism
- scepticism
- sisyphean
- subsume
- utilitarianism
- vicissitude
Academic writing
- a case in point
- albeit
- appear to
- attribute to
- broadly speaking
- by and large
- conversely
- dearth
- demonstrate
- draw on
- hedging
- hitherto
- in a similar vein
- in light of
- insofar as
- it could be argued that
- it should be noted that
- nominalisation
- notion
- notwithstanding
- paucity
- pertinent
- predicated on
- scope
- signpost
- tenable
- tentatively
- the extent to which
- the former, the latter
- to a certain extent
- to that end
- underpin
- warrant
- with respect to
- with the caveat that
Cambridge C1 (part 2)
- arduous
- assuage
- astute
- austere
- banal
- bolster
- candid
- conundrum
- curtail
- denigrate
- epitome
- exemplify
- extol
- hackneyed
- impasse
- inadvertently
- inept
- innocuous
- inscrutable
- intractable
- juncture
- lucid
- ostentatious
- permeate
- placate
- predicament
- prosaic
- rapport
- reconcile
- relinquish
- succinct
- tacitly
- undermine
- unequivocally
- vehemently
Nature & senses
- alluvial
- apricity
- aurora
- balmy
- brackish
- cascade
- confluence
- coruscate
- crepuscular
- dappled
- deluge
- escarpment
- gloaming
- gossamer
- halcyon
- idyllic
- inclement
- iridescent
- loam
- moraine
- palate
- petrichor
- promontory
- reverberate
- scintillate
- squall
- sultry
- susurration
- susurrus
- torrid
- variegated
- verdant
- vernal
GRE Verbal
- alacrity
- approbation
- ascetic
- belie
- castigate
- deleterious
- desultory
- disparage
- enervate
- enigmatic
- eschew
- excoriate
- fulsome
- inchoate
- inveterate
- laud
- nonplussed
- obviate
- pedantic
- pervasive
- prodigal
- prolix
- propitiate
- qualify
- redoubtable
- salutary
- sanction
- tacit
- tractable
- venerate
- vituperative
- zealot
Beauty & the senses
- aromatic
- becoming
- burnished
- cacophony
- comely
- effluvium
- effulgence
- exquisite
- fetching
- lithe
- luscious
- lustrous
- malodorous
- miasma
- musky
- olfactory
- prepossessing
- ravishing
- resonant
- saccharine
- scintillating
- sensuous
- statuesque
- sumptuous
- svelte
- synaesthesia
- tactile
- translucent
- velvety
- voluptuous
- willowy
- winsome
Society & power
- autarky
- bourgeoisie
- clientelism
- coercion
- cronyism
- dissident
- egalitarian
- emancipation
- expropriate
- gentrification
- gentry
- gerontocracy
- indoctrination
- manumission
- meritocracy
- nativism
- nepotism
- nomenklatura
- oligarchy
- pariah
- patriarchy
- plutocracy
- prerogative
- putsch
- secession
- sectarian
- serfdom
- subaltern
- suffrage
- totalitarian
Emotion & the inner life
- abashed
- anguish
- apprehension
- bewilderment
- chagrin
- commiseration
- composure
- desolation
- diffidence
- dread
- empathy
- exasperation
- exhilaration
- fervour
- indignation
- introspective
- jubilation
- nostalgia
- rapture
- remorse
- resentment
- reverence
- sheepish
- veneration
- vexation
- wonderment
Science & reasoning
- abductive
- anomaly
- artefact
- asymptotic
- calibrate
- confound
- conjecture
- converge
- counterintuitive
- deductive
- deterministic
- emergent
- fallacy
- falsifiable
- inductive
- inference
- isomorphic
- mechanistic
- monotonic
- orthogonal
- parsimony
- probabilistic
- provisional
- reproducibility
- rigorous
- stochastic
Mind & character
- aplomb
- capricious
- circumspect
- diffident
- equanimity
- fastidious
- gregarious
- indefatigable
- magnanimous
- mercurial
- obdurate
- perspicacious
- phlegmatic
- pusillanimous
- quixotic
- sanguine
- sedulous
- serendipity
- taciturn
- truculent
Persuasion & rhetoric
- cajole
- declaim
- demagoguery
- enthymeme
- exhortation
- hortatory
- hyperbole
- importune
- incisive
- innuendo
- insinuate
- invective
- minatory
- orotund
- proselytise
- rebuttal
- rejoinder
- rhetoric
- voluble
- wheedle
Power & politics
- autocratic
- cabal
- clandestine
- demagogue
- despot
- filibuster
- hegemony
- hubris
- iconoclast
- ideologue
- machiavellian
- machination
- partisan
- populism
- sinecure
- statecraft
Emotion
- catharsis
- compunction
- ebullient
- effervescent
- elation
- ennui
- frisson
- insouciance
- melancholy
- sangfroid
- saudade
- schadenfreude
- solitude
- sonder
- trepidation
- wistful
botany
- abscission
- epiphyte
- fructify
- glabrous
- marcescent
- mycelium
- panicle
- rhizome
- samara
- saprophyte
- tomentose
- umbel
- xerophyte
Time & change
- antediluvian
- epoch
- evanescent
- incipient
- interminable
- nadir
- nascent
- obsolescence
- perennial
- quiescent
- transient
- zeitgeist
- zenith
metaphysics
Rhetoric
wit
love
Thought & rhetoric
skill
animal behaviour
Money & fortune
Wit & humour
power
Thought & reason
Evocative words
Academia & scholarship
flavour
GRE Verbal (part 2)
courtship
fate
Society & manners
Arts & literature
politics
mockery
wandering
dwelling
zoology
friendship
consciousness
kinship
food
mastery
class
denunciation
evasion
playfulness
expertise
dexterity
reason
craft
logic
folly
weather
satire
ineptitude
decay
marriage
texture
deception
delicacy
toil
the sublime
philosophy of mind
estrangement
colour
Character
poverty
Aesthetics
absurdity
chance
smell
time of day
belief
diligence
greed
aggression
drink
growth
fault-finding
bells
teasing
trickery
thinking
meal
beauty
social ties
epistemology
revelation
deceit
money
candour
attack
appetite
secrecy
antiquity
wind
corruption
gloom
wrongdoer
Society
treachery
integrity
reclining posture
satiety
sound
loyalty
obscurity
season
memory
maxim
bureaucracy
rural idyll
grandeur
banter
fortification
betrothal
lodging
rudeness
landscape
markings
reflection
defence
defamation
falsehood
sarcasm
cognition
colour / sky
anger
roundabout speech
mercy
remorse
defiance
light
elite
indulgence
propriety
plunder
despair
reconciliation
unease
discord
gluttony
radiance
speech
Language & rhetoric
exile
praise
surroundings
connoisseur
hunger
pleasant sound
precision
joy
servility
spoilage
dread
dejection
civil conflict
diet
perception
music technique
taste
clamour
resilience
wickedness
belonging
itinerancy
landscape / water
weariness
threshold
error
singing
aesthetics
collective nouns
change
wealth
ageing
aristocracy
inheritance
irritability
resentment
trembling voice
reparation
enjoyment
sense of place
stealthy movement
tireless effort
corruptibility
complicity
flight from justice
forgiveness
self-restraint
bitterness
foreshadowing
wind / landscape
friendliness
brawl
body posture
choral music
far places
certainty
habitat
passion
ambition
usurpation
sound in language
nativeness
desire
anticlimax
bliss
siege
inadvertent disclosure
cheerfulness
refuge
threatening gesture
uproar
rhythm
music passage
honesty
ill-temper
specious reasoning
exuberant movement
light / colour
gallantry
walking
awkward climbing
metallic noise
clear sound
deserved punishment
fabrication
collusion
dismay
fearful posture
crackling
disappointment
slow movement
tasting
territory
inhabitant
uprooting
displacement
funeral song
insincerity
dissipation
disclosure
perseverance
sorrow
home life
courage
indignation
sweet sound
insolence
flagrant wrong
hostility
arrival
ethics
clearing blame
departure
discourse
atonement
remonstrance
mitigation
destruction
voice register
remote refuge
foolishness
wildness
flippancy
light movement
expressive movement
clumsy struggle
dramatic gesture
patience
endurance
texture / landscape
transience
restless roaming
playful movement
weather / touch
gesturing
cryptic speech
pompous speech
cunning
harsh voice
circular motion
remote region
impaired gait
crouching
domineering
relentlessness
challenge
escaping punishment
unreformable
laziness
revolt
irony
pranks
shallowness
lamentation
jokes
merriment
lament
tearfulness
immorality
melody
agility
figure of speech
landscape / sea
lazy posture
clumsy gait
running
heavy gait
unsteady movement
pretence
eating
sentimentality
dishonesty
affected gait
doubt
fraud
penalty
generosity
light / sky
aroma
colour / weather
respectful gesture
condemnation
hiding
journey
sound words
disgrace
prophetic speech
new money
minor offence
strolling
oratory
persistence
infidelity
spinning
patronage
mournful sound
musical texture
extravagance
prohibition
sound / water
theft
victory
misgiving
suppression
complaint
philosophy
remedy
staggering
abstraction
return
clemency
daydream
bloodshed
showy gait
swift movement
quick movement
rebellion
longing
eternity
moralising
hollow voice
awkward gait
rapport
supple movement
sliding movement
fellowship
temporary stay
resonance
soft speech
sound / wind
tracking
spread posture
detached sound
loud voice
harsh sound
conquest
obsolescence
arrogance
excess
manners
precarious balance
landscape / smell
audacity
bias
light / dark
lament song
tone quality
alarm sound
attachment
stillness
lethargy
unsteady gait
weary walking
seasonal journey
parody
heavy movement
depravity
wailing
offence
modesty
flattery
wavelike movement
exposure
indecision
conceit
feud
hunting
pardonable fault
appearance of truth
vindication
revenge
weather / sky
loud protest
swaying gait
traveller
world-weariness
reflex movement
twisting motion
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