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Vocabulary Booster Volume I

2 CD Exercise by Gene McKenna
163 words 286 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. abash
    cause to be embarrassed
  2. aboriginal
    having existed from the beginning
  3. abridge
    lessen, diminish, or curtail
  4. acrimonious
    marked by strong resentment or cynicism
  5. acrid
    strong and sharp, as a taste or smell
  6. acute
    ending in a sharp point
  7. adept
    having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude
  8. adhere
    stick to firmly
  9. adorn
    make more attractive, as by adding ornament or color
  10. adroit
    quick or skillful or adept in action or thought
  11. adulation
    exaggerated flattery or praise
  12. affable
    diffusing warmth and friendliness
  13. agrarian
    relating to rural matters
  14. aloof
    distant, cold, or detached in manner
  15. altruistic
    showing unselfish concern for the welfare of others
  16. amend
    make revisions to
  17. allure
    the power to entice or attract
  18. amass
    collect or gather
  19. ambidextrous
    equally skillful with each hand
  20. anarchy
    a state of lawlessness and disorder
  21. anathema
    a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication
  22. annul
    cancel officially
  23. anoint
    administer an oil or ointment to, often ceremonially
  24. antagonist
    someone who offers opposition
  25. antiquated
    so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period
  26. appease
    make peace with
  27. arduous
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
  28. ascertain
    learn or discover with confidence
  29. ascetic
    someone who practices self denial as a spiritual discipline
  30. brevity
    the attribute of being short or fleeting
  31. bureaucracy
    a government administered primarily by nonelective officials
  32. candor
    the quality of being honest and straightforward
  33. cardinal
    a vivid red color
  34. celibate
    abstaining from sexual intercourse
  35. chagrin
    strong feelings of embarrassment
  36. chaste
    abstaining from unlawful sexual intercourse
  37. clandestine
    conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
  38. confidant
    someone to whom private matters are told
  39. congenial
    suitable to your needs
  40. consecrate
    give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause
  41. contrite
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
  42. cosmopolitan
    composed of people from many parts of the world
  43. coup
    a sudden and decisive change of government by force
  44. culpable
    deserving blame or censure as being wrong or injurious
  45. deleterious
    harmful to living things
  46. despondent
    without or almost without hope
  47. dirge
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
  48. dissident
    a person who objects to some established policy
  49. distraught
    deeply agitated especially from emotion
  50. dogmatic
    pertaining to a code of beliefs accepted as authoritative
  51. ebb
    the outward flow of the tide
  52. eclectic
    selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas
  53. eccentric
    conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual
  54. elegy
    a mournful poem; a lament for the dead
  55. embargo
    a government order imposing a trade barrier
  56. embellish
    make more attractive, as by adding ornament or color
  57. eminent
    standing above others in quality or position
  58. empathy
    understanding and entering into another's feelings
  59. enigma
    something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
  60. enmity
    a state of deep-seated ill-will
  61. entail
    have as a logical consequence
  62. epitome
    a standard or typical example
  63. erratic
    liable to sudden unpredictable change
  64. erroneous
    containing or characterized by mistakes
  65. esoteric
    understandable only by an enlightened inner circle
  66. eulogy
    a formal expression of praise for someone who has died
  67. exacerbate
    make worse
  68. expunge
    remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line
  69. extricate
    release from entanglement or difficulty
  70. facade
    the front of a building
  71. fallacious
    containing or based on incorrect reasoning
  72. fallible
    wanting in moral strength, courage, or will
  73. fastidious
    giving careful attention to detail
  74. fatalist
    someone who feels powerless to change his or her destiny
  75. feign
    make believe with the intent to deceive
  76. fractious
    easily irritated or annoyed
  77. frenetic
    fast and energetic in an uncontrolled or wild way
  78. frugal
    avoiding waste
  79. garish
    tastelessly showy
  80. genial
    diffusing warmth and friendliness
  81. hackneyed
    repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
  82. harbinger
    something indicating the approach of something or someone
  83. hedonist
    someone motivated by desires for sensual pleasures
  84. impeccable
    without error or flaw
  85. imperious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
  86. implicit
    suggested though not directly expressed
  87. impudence
    the trait of being rude and impertinent
  88. impunity
    exemption from punishment or loss
  89. inane
    devoid of intelligence
  90. indigent
    poor enough to need help from others
  91. innate
    present at birth but not necessarily hereditary
  92. indolent
    disinclined to work or exertion
  93. insipid
    lacking interest or significance or impact
  94. insurgent
    in opposition to a civil authority or government
  95. insurrection
    organized opposition to authority
  96. introspective
    given to examining own sensory and perceptual experiences
  97. jaded
    exhausted
  98. judicious
    marked by the exercise of common sense in practical matters
  99. lucid
    transparently clear; easily understandable
  100. ludicrous
    inviting ridicule
  101. malevolent
    wishing or appearing to wish evil to others
  102. melancholy
    a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed
  103. mercenary
    a person hired to fight for another country than their own
  104. misanthrope
    someone who dislikes people in general
  105. morbid
    suggesting the horror of death and decay
  106. muse
    reflect deeply on a subject
  107. narcissist
    someone who is excessively self-centered
  108. nemesis
    a personal foe or rival that cannot be easily defeated
  109. notoriety
    the state of being known for some unfavorable act or quality
  110. nuance
    a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude
  111. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
  112. obsolete
    no longer in use
  113. omniscient
    knowing, seeing, or understanding everything
  114. ornate
    marked by complexity and richness of detail
  115. orthodox
    adhering to what is commonly accepted
  116. ostentatious
    intended to attract notice and impress others
  117. ostracize
    expel from a community or group
  118. overt
    open and observable; not secret or hidden
  119. palpable
    capable of being perceived
  120. paragon
    a perfect embodiment of a concept
  121. pastoral
    devoted to raising sheep or cattle
  122. perspicacious
    mentally acute or penetratingly discerning
  123. pertinent
    being of striking appropriateness
  124. pious
    having or showing or expressing reverence for a deity
  125. pithy
    concise and full of meaning
  126. placate
    cause to be more favorably inclined
  127. plausible
    apparently reasonable, valid, or truthful
  128. precarious
    not secure; beset with difficulties
  129. prophetic
    foretelling events as if by supernatural intervention
  130. proponent
    a person who argues for a cause or puts forward an idea
  131. propriety
    correct behavior
  132. prowess
    a superior skill learned by study and practice
  133. quandary
    state of uncertainty in a choice between unfavorable options
  134. quintessential
    representing the perfect example of a class or quality
  135. quixotic
    not sensible about practical matters
  136. raze
    tear down so as to make flat with the ground
  137. rebuttal
    the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary argument
  138. recluse
    one who lives in solitude
  139. redundant
    more than is needed, desired, or required
  140. refute
    overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof
  141. reminisce
    recall the past
  142. reticent
    reluctant to draw attention to yourself
  143. retribution
    a justly deserved penalty
  144. retroactive
    affecting things past
  145. revere
    regard with feelings of respect
  146. rue
    feel sorry for; be contrite about
  147. rustic
    characteristic of rural life
  148. sacrilegious
    grossly irreverent toward what is considered holy
  149. scrupulous
    characterized by extreme care and great effort
  150. servile
    submissive or fawning in attitude or behavior
  151. skeptical
    marked by or given to doubt
  152. sporadic
    recurring in scattered or unpredictable instances
  153. stoic
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive
  154. subjugate
    make subservient; force to submit or subdue
  155. succinct
    briefly giving the gist of something
  156. superficial
    of, affecting, or being on or near the surface
  157. tangible
    perceptible by the senses, especially the sense of touch
  158. terse
    brief and to the point
  159. trepidation
    a feeling of alarm or dread
  160. unruly
    unable to be governed or controlled
  161. vicarious
    experienced at secondhand
  162. virtuoso
    someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
  163. zeal
    a feeling of strong eagerness
Created on Sat Aug 11 04:16:58 EDT 2012 (updated Tue Aug 14 07:11:30 EDT 2012)

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