Here are 100 advanced
English words which should you be able to use them in a sentence will impress
even educated native speakers! Perfect if you want to impress the examiner in
examinations like: IELTS, TOEFL and Cambridge CAE and CPE.
Part One:
-aberration
(n.) something
that differs from the norm (In 1974, Poland won the World Cup, but the success
turned out to be an aberration, and Poland have not won
a World Cup since).
-abhor
(v.) to
hate, detest (Because he always wound up getting hit in the head when he tried
to play cricket, Marcin began to abhor the sport).
-acquiesce
(v.) to
agree without protesting (Though Mr. Pospieszny 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.)
-alacrity
(n.) eagerness,
speed (For some reason, Simon loved to help his girlfriend whenever he could,
so when his girlfriend asked him to set the table he did so with alacrity.)
-amiable
(adj.) friendly
(An amiable fellow, Neil got along with just about
everyone.)
appease
(v.) to
calm, satisfy (When Jerry cries, his mother gives him chocolate to appeasehim.)
-arcane
(adj.) obscure,
secret, known only by a few (The professor is an expert in arcaneKashubian
literature.)
-avarice
(n.) excessive
greed (The banker’s avarice led him to amass an
enormous personal fortune.)
-brazen
(adj.) excessively
bold, brash, clear and obvious (Critics condemned the writer’sbrazen attempt
to plagiarise Frankow-Czerwonko’s work.)
-brusque
(adj.) short,
abrupt, dismissive (Simon’s brusque manner sometimes
offends his colleagues.)
-cajole
(v.) to
urge, coax (Magda's friends cajoled her into drinking
too much.)
-callous
(adj.) harsh,
cold, unfeeling (The murderer’s callous lack of remorse
shocked the jury.)
-candor
(n.) honesty,
frankness (We were surprised by the candor of the
politician’s speech because she is usually rather evasive.)
-chide
(v.) to
voice disapproval (Hania chided Gregory for his vulgar
habits and sloppy appearance.)
-circumspect
(adj.) cautious
(Though I promised Marta’s father I would bring her home promptly by midnight,
it would have been more circumspect not to have
specified a time.)
-clandestine
(adj.) secret
(Announcing to her boyfriend that she was going to the library, Maria actually
went to meet George for a clandestine liaison.)
-coerce
(v.) to
make somebody do something by force or threat (The court decided that David
Beckham did not have to honor the contract because he had been coercedinto
signing it.)
-coherent
(adj.) logically
consistent, intelligible (William could not figure out what Harold had seen
because he was too distraught to deliver a coherent statement.)
-complacency
(n.) self-satisfied
ignorance of danger (Simon tried to shock his friends out of theircomplacency by
painting a frightening picture of what might happen to them.)
-confidant
(n.) a
person entrusted with secrets (Shortly after we met, he became my chiefconfidant.)
-connive
(v.) to
plot, scheme (She connived to get me to give up my
plans to start up a new business.)
-cumulative
(adj.) increasing,
building upon itself (The cumulative effect of hours
spent using the World English website was a vast improvement in his vocabulary
and general level of English.)
-debase
(v.) to
lower the quality or esteem of something (The large raise that he gave
himself debased his motives for running the charity.)
-decry
(v.) to
criticize openly (Andrzej Lepper, the leader of the Polish Self Defence partydecried the
appaling state of Polish roads.)
-deferential
(adj.) showing
respect for another’s authority (Donata is always excessivelydeferential to
any kind of authority figure.)
-demure
(adj.) quiet,
modest, reserved (Though everyone else at the party was dancing and going
crazy, she remained demure.)
-deride
(v.) to
laugh at mockingly, scorn (The native speaker often derided the
other teacher’s accent.)
-despot
(n.) one
who has total power and rules brutally (The despot issued
a death sentence for anyone who disobeyed his laws.)
-diligent
(adj.) showing
care in doing one’s work (The diligent researcher made
sure to double check her measurements.)
-elated
(adj.) overjoyed,
thrilled (When he found out he had won the lottery, the postman was elated.)
-eloquent
(adj.) expressive,
articulate, moving (The best man gave such an eloquent speech
that most guests were crying.)
-embezzle
(v.) to
steal money by falsifying records (The accountant was fired for embezzling€10,000
of the company’s funds.)
-empathy
(n.) sensitivity
to another’s feelings as if they were one’s own (I feel suchempathy for
my dog when she’s upset so am I!)
-enmity
(n.) ill
will, hatred, hostility (John and Scott have clearly not forgiven each other,
because the enmity between them is obvious to anyone in
their presence.)
-erudite
(adj.) learned
(My English teacher is such an erudite scholar that he
has translated some of the most difficult and abstruse Old English poetry.)
-extol
(v.) to
praise, revere (Kamila extolled the virtues of a
vegetarian diet to her meat-loving boyfriend.)
-fabricate
(v.) to
make up, invent (When I arrived an hour late to class, I fabricated some
excuse about my car breaking down on the way to work.)
-feral
(adj.) wild,
savage (That beast looks so feral that I would fear
being alone with it.)
-flabbergasted
(adj.) astounded
(Whenever I read an Agatha Christie mystery novel, I am alwaysflabbergasted when
I learn the identity of the murderer.)
-forsake
(v.) to
give up, renounce (I won't forsake my conservative
principles.)
-fractious
(adj.) troublesome
or irritable (Although the child insisted he wasn’t tired, hisfractious behaviour
- especially his decision to crush his jam sandwiches all over the floor -
convinced everyone present that it was time to put him to bed.)
-furtive
(adj.) secretive,
sly (Claudia’s placement of her drugs in her sock drawer was not as furtive as
she thought, as the sock drawer is the first place most parents look.)
-gluttony
(n.) overindulgence
in food or drink (Helen’s fried chicken tastes so divine, I don’t know how
anyone can call gluttony a sin.)
-gratuitous
(adj.) uncalled
for, unwarranted (Every evening the guy at the fish and chip shop gives me
a gratuitous helping of vinegar.)
-haughty
(adj.) disdainfully
proud (The superstar’s haughty dismissal of her
co-stars will backfire on her someday.)
-hypocrisy
(n.) pretending
to believe what one does not (Once the politician began passing legislation
that contradicted his campaign promises, his hypocrisy became
apparent.)
-impeccable
(adj.) exemplary,
flawless (If your grades were as impeccable as your
brother’s, then you too would receive a car for a graduation present.)
-impertinent
(adj.) rude,
insolent (Most of your comments are so impertinent that
I don’t wish to dignify them with an answer.)
-implacable
(adj.) incapable
of being appeased or mitigated (Watch out: once you shun Grandmother’s cooking,
she is totally implacable.)
-impudent
(adj.) casually
rude, insolent, impertinent (The impudent young woman
looked her teacher up and down and told him he was hot.)
-incisive
(adj.) clear,
sharp, direct (The discussion wasn’t going anywhere until her incisivecomment
allowed everyone to see what the true issues were.)
-indolent
(adj.) lazy
(Why should my indolent children, who can’t even pick
themselves up off the sofa to pour their own juice, be rewarded with a trip to
Burger King?)
-inept
(adj.) not
suitable or capable, unqualified (She proved how inept she
was when she forgot two orders and spilled a pint of cider in a customer’s
lap.)
-infamy
(n.) notoriety,
extreme ill repute (The infamy of his crime will not
lessen as time passes.)
-inhibit
(v.) to
prevent, restrain, stop (When I told you I needed the car last night, I
certainly never meant to inhibit you from going out.)
-innate
(adj.) inborn,
native, inherent (His incredible athletic talent is innate,
he never trains, lifts weights, or practices.)
-insatiable
(adj.) incapable
of being satisfied (My insatiable appetite for blondes
was a real problem on my recent holiday in Japan!)
-insular
(adj.) separated
and narrow-minded; tight-knit, closed off (Because of the sensitive nature of
their jobs, those who work for MI5 must remain insular and
generally only spend time with each other.)
-intrepid
(adj.) brave
in the face of danger (After scaling a live volcano prior to its eruption, the
explorer was praised for his intrepid -attitude.)
-inveterate
(adj.) stubbornly
established by habit (I’m the first to admit that I’m an inveteratecider
drinker—I drink four pints a day.)
