abash
Category: Vocabulary words
abdicate
Category: Vocabulary words
abdicate [verb]: to renounce or relinquish a throne, right, power, claim, responsibility, or the like, esp. in a formal manner.
..moreaberrant
Category: Vocabulary words
abet
Category: Vocabulary words
abeyance
Category: Vocabulary words
aboriginal
Category: Vocabulary words
aboriginal [adjective]: pertaining to, or typical of aborigines - the original inhabitants of a land.
..moreabridge
Category: Vocabulary words
abridge [verb]: to shorten.
Example: Wherever he goes, Sivaramakrishnan’s name invariably gets abridged to “Siva.”
Related words: abridgable [adjective], abridger [noun]
abstemious
Category: Vocabulary words
abstemious [adjective]: sparing or moderate in eating and drinking.
Example: The abstemious monk lived to be over a hundred years old.
Related words: abstemiously [adverb], abstemiousness [noun]
acclimate
Category: Vocabulary words
acclimate [verb]: to become habituated to a new climate or environment.
Example: It takes the soldiers quite a while to acclimate themselves to the harsh conditions in Siachen.
Related words: acclimatable [adjective], acclimation [noun], acclimatization [noun]
accost
Category: Vocabulary words
accost [verb]: to approach and speak to (especially boldly and aggressively).
Example: I saw a man accost the famous actor and pester him for an autograph.
Related words: accostable [adective]
acquiesce
Category: Vocabulary words
acquiesce [verb]: to assent, submit or comply silently and without protest.
Example: At first, she meekly acquiesced to all of her mother-in-law’s wishes.
Related words: acquiescingly [adverb], acquiescence [noun]
acumen
Category: Vocabulary words
acumen [noun]: keen insight, shrewdnes.
Example: Thanks to his business acumen, Dhirubhai Ambani became one of the richest men in India.
Related words: acuminous [adjective], acuity [noun]
adamant
Category: Vocabulary words
adamant [adjective]: unyielding to requests.
Example: I tried to convince him, but he was adamant.
Related words: adamance [noun], adamantly [adverb]
admonish
Category: Vocabulary words
admonish [verb]: to advise or counsel against something; to reprimand.
Example: My boss admonished me in front of my colleagues.
Related words: admonisher [noun], admonishingly [adverb], admonishment [noun]
adulterate
Category: Vocabulary words
adulterate [verb]: to make impure by adding spurious or inferior substances.
Example: We were startled to discover that the milk had been adulterated with a carcinogenic substance.
Related words: adulterator [noun]
adversity
Category: Vocabulary words
adversity [noun]: misfortune, calamity, or distress.
Example: A saint is someone who can smile even amidst the greatest adversity.
aegis
Category: Vocabulary words
aegis [noun]: protection, support.
Example: The chess competition is being held under the aegis of the local Rotary club.
aesthetic
Category: Vocabulary words
aesthetic [adjective]: beautiful, pleasing to the senses.
Example: Great works of art not only give us aesthetic pleasure but also make us think.
Related words: esthetic [noun], aesthetic [noun], aesthetically [adverb], astheticism [noun], astheticize [verb]
Notes:
Note that “aesthetic” has both noun and adjective usages.
An example for the noun usage:
Picasso created a whole new aesthetic called cubism.
affable
Category: Vocabulary words
affable [adjective]: easy to approach and to talk to, friendly, courteous.
Example: Beneath an affable exterior lay a ruthless dictator.
Related words: affability [noun], affably [adverb]
affinity
Category: Vocabulary words
affinity [noun]: liking, attraction, or inclination.
Example: The boy’s affinity for fast cars worried his mother no end.
aggregate
Category: Vocabulary words
aggregate [adjective]: collected into a whole mass; sum, total, combined.
Example: She did quite well, getting an aggregate score of 1520 in her GRE.
Related words: aggregable [adjective], aggregatory [adjective], aggregately [adjective]
aghast
Category: Vocabulary words
aghast [adjective]: struck with shock or amazement; appalled or terrified.
Example: The world was aghast when the Taliban destroyed the statue of the Buddha at Bamiyan.
alacrity
Category: Vocabulary words
alacrity [noun]: cheerful readiness; briskness or promptness.
Example: Whenever his brother got into trouble at school, Rakesh reported the news to his parents with alacrity.
Related words: alacritous [adjective]
alienate
Category: Vocabulary words
alienate [verb]: to turn away in feelings or affection; to make indifferent or hostile.
Example: Her blunt remarks often alienated her from her friends.
Related words: alienator [noun]
alleviate
Category: Vocabulary words
alleviate [verb]: make less severe; relieve, mitigate
Example: The volunteers tried their best to alleviate the misery of the refugees.
altruism
Category: Vocabulary words
altruism [noun]: the principle of goodwill towards others; unselfishness.
Example: Often, we believe our motives to be altruistic, when they are in fact selfish.
Related words: altruist [noun] , altruistic [adjective], altruistically [adverb]
amalgamation
Category: Vocabulary words
amalgamation [noun]: the action of mixing and blending into a uniform whole.
Example: The coalition was a strange amalgamation of parties with mutually incompatible ideologies.
ambiguous
Category: Vocabulary words
ambiguous [adjective]: having more than one meaning or interpretation.
Example: In ordinary speech, ambiguity is a flaw; but in poetry, it is a virtue.
Related words: ambiguously [adverb], ambiguousness [noun]
ambivalence
Category: Vocabulary words
ambivalence [noun]: uncertainty in the views or attitudes of a person.
Example: The actor Rajnikanth has always seemed ambivalent about entering politics.
Related words: ambivalent [adjective], ambivalently [adverb]
amenable
Category: Vocabulary words
amenable [adjective]: responsive; open to persuasion or advice.
Example: It is difficult to deal with people who are not amenable to reason.
Related words: amenability [noun], amenableness [noun], amenably [adverb]
amorphous
Category: Vocabulary words
amorphous [adjective]: having no definite shape or structure; formless.
Example: It was a large, amorphous organization without a clearly defined hierarchy.
Related words: amorphously [adverb], amorphousness [noun]
anachronistic
Category: Vocabulary words
anachronistic [adjective]: mismatched with the time; not in keeping with historical order.
Example: The movie had many anachronisms, including a Roman soldier wearing a Rolex watch.
Related words: anachronistically [adverb], anachronism [noun]
analogous
Category: Vocabulary words
analogous [adjective]: having a parallel with, or corresponding to, another thing.
Example: A hard disk is analogous to a filing cabinet.
Related words: analogously [adverb], analogy [noun]
anarchy
Category: Vocabulary words
anarchy [noun]: absence of government or law; a state of disorder; chaos.
Example: The opposition claimed that anarchy prevailed on the streets.
Related words: anarchic [adjective]
anathema
Category: Vocabulary words
anathema [noun]: a thing hated or detested; a curse.
Example: Religion, which admits belief without evidence, is anathema to the scientific spirit.
Related words: anathematize [verb]
animus
Category: Vocabulary words
animus [noun]: hatred or enmity.
Example: The animus between the brothers has led to the break-up of one of India’s biggest business houses.
Related words: animosity [noun]
anomalous
Category: Vocabulary words
anomalous [adjective]: deviating from the norm; abnormal.
Example: We had our water-meter changed after it began giving anomalous readings.
Related words: anomalously [adverb], anomalousness [noun]
antipathy
Category: Vocabulary words
antipathy [noun]: a natural aversion or strong dislike.
Example: Mahatma Gandhi’s antipathy towards industrialization is well known.
Related words: antipathist [noun]
antipodal
Category: Vocabulary words
antipodal [adjective]: diametrically opposite.
Example: Her views are usually antipodal to mine, but we get along pretty well.
antiquated
Category: Vocabulary words
antiquated [adjective]: out of date, old-fashioned, obsolete.
Example: The children were intrigued by the antiquated rotary phone.
Related words: antiquatedness [noun]
apathy
Category: Vocabulary words
apathy [noun]: lack of concern; indifference.
Example: Nobody came forward to help the accident victim. The apathy of the onlookers was shameful.
Related words: apathist [noun]
appease
Category: Vocabulary words
appease [verb]: bring to a state of peace, calm down, pacify.
Example: The minister tried to appease the angry mob by promising an impartial judicial inquiry.
Related words: appeasable [adjective], appeasive [adjective], appeasableness [noun], appeaser [noun]
approbation
Category: Vocabulary words
approbation [noun]: approval; sanction.
Example: Even at 35, he is still not sure of himself; he constantly seeks the approbation of his father.
artless
Category: Vocabulary words
artless [adjective]: natural and simple; also, crude and uncultured.
Example: She made an artless comment, which the host pretended not to take notice of.
Related words: artlessly [adverb], artlessness [noun]
Notes: This word has two shades of meaning. The first (natural and simple) has a neutral-positive connotation; the second (crude and uncultured) has a negative connotation.
ascetic
Category: Vocabulary words
ascetic [adjective]: practicing self-denial or abstinence.
Example: My brother declared that he wanted to go to the mountains and lead an ascetic life.
Related words: ascetic [noun], asceticism [noun]
assiduous
Category: Vocabulary words
assiduous [adjective]: diligent and persevering.
Example: The government sought to achieve its aims not through confrontation, but through assiduous diplomacy.
Related words: assiduously [adverb], assiduousness [noun]
assimilate
Category: Vocabulary words
assimilate [verb]: absorb and incorporate; make one’s own.
Example: Traditions that do not assimilate new influences are doomed to become obsolete and die out.
Related words: assimilator [noun], assimilative [adjective], assimilatory [adjective]
audacity
Category: Vocabulary words
audacity [noun]: boldness or daring; impudence.
Example: Yesterday, a total stranger had the audacity to tell me that my profession was worthless.
Related words: audacious [adjective], audaciousness [noun]
auspicious
Category: Vocabulary words
auspicious [adjective]: propitious; favorable; promising success.
Example: The astrologer chose an auspicious day for the marriage.
Related words: auspiciously [adverb], auspiciousness [noun]
austere
Category: Vocabulary words
austere [adjective]: strict and self-disciplined, severely simple.
Example: We led an austere life during the Vipassana meditation course, eating simple vegetarian meals and abstaining from all intoxicants.
Related words: austerely [adverb], austereness [noun]
autonomous
Category: Vocabulary words
autonomous [adjective]: self-governing; independent.
Example: Nobody can tell us what to do; we are an autonomous organization.
Related words: autonomously [adverb]
avarice
Category: Vocabulary words
avarice [noun]: greed; cupidity.
Example: Driven by avarice, the brothers squabbled for years over their father’s property.
Related words: avaricious [adjective], avariciousness [noun]
axiom
Category: Vocabulary words
axiom [noun]: a self-evident truth or rule that requires no proof.
Example: For the Sufi saint, the supremacy of love is axiomatic.
Related words: axiomatic [adjective]
