Academic Vocabulary Toolkit 1, Words 41-50

The Academic Vocabulary Toolkit focuses on words used across different subject areas and careers in spoken and written communication. Learn these lists to help you succeed in school and work: Words 1-10, Words 11-20, Words 21-30, Words 31-40, Words 41-50, Words 51-60, Words 61-70, Words 71-80, Words 81-90, Words 91-100
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. emphasize
    stress or single out as important
    I cannot emphasize enough how important having connections is. Forbes (May 31, 2014)
  2. essential
    of the greatest importance
    For some styles of cheese, wood is an essential part of the process. New York Times (Jun 10, 2014)
  3. evidence
    means by which an alleged matter is established or disproved
    Follow the evidence, and always remember: You could be wrong--and there's nothing wrong with that, unless you refuse to admit you were wrong. Los Angeles Times (Jun 9, 2014)
  4. expert
    a person with special knowledge who performs skillfully
    Experts generally agree that the first two years of a cat's life are equal to 25 human years. BBC (Jun 11, 2014)
  5. expertise
    skillfulness by virtue of possessing special knowledge
    "They all have a broad knowledge but also particular expertise of a different genre of music." The Guardian (May 25, 2014)
  6. explain
    make plain and comprehensible
    Even most people who claim to understand it can’t clearly explain it, and you can forgive a certain amount of confusion. Slate (Jun 9, 2014)
    Compare with "define" and "elaborate" in the list for Words 31-40. All three words have similar meanings, but each needs a different amount of details. Explaining something usually needs more details than defining it. Someone who is explaining should stop once something is clear, while someone who is elaborating would go on to add extra details to make the point prettier or more powerful.
  7. explanation
    making something understandable
    A simple explanation of the rules would work wonders. Forbes (Jun 6, 2014)
  8. factor
    anything that contributes causally to a result
    The cause of the crash is under investigation, but authorities say speed may have been a factor. Washington Times (Jun 5, 2014)
    Compare with "cause" in the list for Words 11-20. As this example sentence shows, the two words are synonyms. They are used as nouns here, but they can also both be verbs. As a verb, "factor" is used with the preposition "in" or "into" (for example: speed factored into the crash).
  9. identify
    recognize as being
    “It’s easy to identify the country as the U.S.” Washington Times (Jun 11, 2014)
  10. identity
    the characteristics by which a thing or person is known
    "In the movies, people who are threatened undergo plastic surgery, change their identities, leave the country." The Guardian (Jun 8, 2014)
Created on Fri Jun 06 14:35:24 EDT 2014 (updated Sat Jun 14 08:01:59 EDT 2014)

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