The TOEFL Exam: Essential English Vocabulary: List 5

Set yourself up for success on the TOEFL Exam by mastering these common English vocabulary words.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. abundant
    present in great quantity
    The desert flowers, so abundant in April, were dying now. Stargirl
  2. adjacent
    having a common boundary or edge
    The warm-up hall was adjacent to the main competition hall. Proud
  3. caution
    the trait of being attentive to possible danger
    It was dark inside and he walked with caution. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
  4. cliche
    a trite or obvious remark
    He walked slowly and spoke slowly, and almost everything he said publicly was bland, or a cliche, or just plain stupid. The Milagro Beanfield War
  5. critical
    urgently needed; absolutely necessary
    I got the feeling I was missing one simple, critical piece of information. The Lightning Thief
  6. culminate
    end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage
    Every season culminated with World Championships, unless it was an Olympic year. Proud
  7. decline
    grow smaller
    In the next hundred years, the population of most southern areas declined by at least three-quarters. 1491
  8. determine
    find out or learn with certainty, as by making an inquiry
    It is usually challenging to determine when ancient art was made. Scientific American (Jan 14, 2021)
  9. deviate
    turn aside; turn away from
    He barely looked at the road, yet the tires never deviated so much as a centimeter from the center of the lane. Twilight
  10. flourish
    make steady progress
    We should enhance the department’s mission to help our small businesses grow, expand and flourish. Washington Times (Jan 13, 2021)
  11. generate
    bring into existence
    “But the main lesson was that, like real-world sport, it’s the interaction going on between the people as they play that generates most of the fun.” The Guardian (Oct 21, 2020)
  12. illuminate
    make free from confusion or ambiguity
    Human flaws found in our heroes illuminate truths about ourselves we might not otherwise see. Washington Post (Jul 2, 2020)
  13. impair
    make worse or less effective
    But heavy rain impaired their vision and they were unable to see much more. Seattle Times (Jan 10, 2021)
  14. intrinsic
    belonging to a thing by its very nature
    It was an intrinsic and inescapable part of the culture at the schools I attended. BBC (Mar 28, 2016)
  15. narrative
    an account that tells the particulars of an act or event
    Other times he told a hundred years in one long narrative, blunt and without detail. The Marrow Thieves
  16. normal
    being approximately average or within certain limits
    I remember I felt like I’d never get warm again, even when they told me my body temperature was normal. We Were Liars
  17. recover
    get or find back
    He hoped to recover Cleopatra’s fortune, which he thought might be stashed on board. Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen
  18. revive
    give new life or energy to
    U.N. officials are trying to revive peace talks to end the war. Reuters (Jan 24, 2021)
  19. specify
    decide upon or fix definitely
    Some of the websites don’t even list the prices—like they’re afraid to specify how much the things cost. Out of My Mind
  20. speculate
    believe, especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
    But some physicists speculate that our universe is just one among many. National Geographic (Dec 28, 2020)
Created on Mon Jan 25 11:15:43 EST 2021 (updated Tue Sep 14 12:48:56 EDT 2021)

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