Top 1000 Vocabulary Words That Everyone Should Know
Page 10 - 901 to 1000 Words
The top 1,000 vocabulary words have been carefully chosen to represent difficult but common words that appear in everyday academic and business writing. These words are also the most likely to appear on the SAT, ACT, GRE, and ToEFL.
To create this list, we started with the words that give our users the most trouble and then ranked them by how frequently they appear in our corpus of billions of words from edited sources. If you only have time to study one list of words, this is the list.
abysmal, poignancy, stilted, effete, provender, endemic, jocund, procedural, rakish, skittish, peroration, nonentity, abstemious, viscid, doggerel, sleight, rubric, plenitude, rebus, wizened, whorl, fracas, conoclast, saturnine, madrigal, discursive, zealot, moribund, modicum, connotation, adventitious, recondite, zephyr, countermand, captious, cognate, forebear, cadaverous, foist, dotage, nexus, choleric, garble, bucolic, denouement, animus, overweening, tyro, preen, largesse, retentive, unconscionable, badinage, insensate, sherbet, beatific, bemuse, microcosm, factitious, gestate, traduce, sextant, coiffure, malleable, rococo, fructify, nihilist, ellipsis, accolade, codicil, roil, grandiloquent, inconsequential, effervescence, stultify, tureen, pellucid, euphony, apocryphal, veracious, pendulous, exegesis, effluvium, apposite, viscous, misanthrope, vintner, halcyon, anthropomorphic, turgid, malaise, polemical, gadfly, atavism, contusion, parsimonious, dulcet, reprise, anodyne, bemused
resembling an abyss in depth; so deep as to be unmeasurable
Example Sentence: After all, many Americans regard this Congress as dysfunctional, with abysmal approval ratings.
—New York Times (Dec 28, 2011)
a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow)
Example Sentence: They were curious about the “near loss” experience—specifically the feelings of poignancy that occur when what we cherish disappears.
—Scientific American (Jan 17, 2011)
artificially formal
Example Sentence: But thanks to the stilted writing and stiff acting, the characters still feel very much like onedimensional figures from a dutiful fable.
—New York Times (Jul 12, 2011)
marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay
Example Sentence: John Bull was an effete old plutocrat whose sons and daughters were given up to sport and amusement.
—Moffett, Cleveland
food for domestic livestock
Example Sentence: "Fools!" she cried, looking in her magic crystal, "he was in the big sycamore under which you stopped to give your horses provender!"
—Housman, Laurence
of or relating to a disease (or anything resembling a disease) constantly present to greater or lesser extent in a particular locality
Example Sentence: Mean-spirited chants and songs are also endemic in British soccer.
—New York Times (Jan 27, 2012)
full of or showing high-spirited merriment
Example Sentence: Her jocund laugh and merry voice, indeed, first attracted my attention.
—Lever, Charles James
of or relating to procedure
Example Sentence: In other words, the rejection was a bureaucratic/procedural decision.
—Scientific American (Feb 1, 2012)
marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness
Example Sentence: She wore her red cap in a rakish manner on the side of her head, its tassel falling down over her forehead between her eyes.
—Sage, William
unpredictably excitable (especially of horses)
Example Sentence: That combined with his calm and reassuring tone made me think of an animal trainer trying to woo skittish wild animals.
—Time (May 20, 2011)
a flowery and highly rhetorical oration
Example Sentence: He had little hope that Gallagher, once embarked on a peroration, would stop until he had used up all the words at his command.
—Birmingham, George A.
a person of no influence
Example Sentence: Was he such a nonentity in every way that she could remain unconcerned as to any fear of danger from him?
—Woolson, Constance Fenimore
marked by temperance in indulgence
Example Sentence: Raw, boozy, untethered performances are heralded as real; the abstemious professional is yawned off the stage.
—Salon (Jul 25, 2011)
having the sticky properties of an adhesive
Example Sentence: Roads were quagmires where travellers slipped and laboured through viscid mud and over icy fords.
—Buck , Charles Neville
a comic verse of irregular measure
Example Sentence: He sang, with accompanying action, some dozen verses of doggerel, remarkable for obscenity and imbecility.
—Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
adroitness in using the hands
Example Sentence: The trick was performed Tuesday by Russell Fitzgerald, an amateur magician known to open meetings with a little sleight of hand.
—Washington Post (Sep 29, 2011)
category name
Example Sentence: Ms. Moss took issue, not surprisingly, with the notion that grouping the performances under the rubric of spirituality was a marketing ploy.
—New York Times (Nov 22, 2010)
a full supply
Example Sentence: Of course at that season, amid the plenitude of seeds, nuts, and berries, they were as plump as partridges.
—Reid, Mayne
a puzzle where you decode a message consisting of pictures representing syllables and words
Example Sentence: They wrote at times with pictures standing for sounds, as we now write in rebus puzzles.
—Park , Robert Ezra
lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness
Example Sentence: Kim Jong II may be increasingly wizened and frail, with fingernails white from kidney disease, but his propaganda apparatus is as vigorous as ever.
—Wall Street Journal (Mar 26, 2010)
a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles (as formed by leaves or flower petals)
Example Sentence: The flowers are waxy, tubular, fragrant, turning their yellow petals backward in a whorl.
—Rogers, Julia Ellen
noisy quarrel
Example Sentence: Other cops were battling each other, going after the kids and clutching empty air, cursing and screaming unheard orders in the fracas.
—Freas, Kelly
someone who attacks cherished ideas or traditional institutions
Example Sentence: Jobs is a classic iconoclast, one who aggressively seeks out, attacks, and overthrows conventional ideas.
—BusinessWeek (Oct 12, 2010)
bitter or scornful
Example Sentence: Only when Bill Lightfoot spoke did he look up, and then with a set sneer, growing daily more saturnine.
—Dixon, Maynard
an unaccompanied partsong for 2 or 3 voices; follows a strict poetic form
Example Sentence: Nevertheless we learn from Malvezzi's publication that the pieces were all written in the madrigal style, frequently in numerous voice parts.
—Henderson, W. J. (William James)
(of e.g. speech and writing) tending to depart from the main point or cover a wide range of subjects
Example Sentence: “Tabloid,” like his previous films, consists largely of long, discursive conversations — in effect monologues directed at an unseen, mostly unheard interlocutor.
—New York Times (Jul 22, 2011)
a fervent and even militant proponent of something
Example Sentence: "The public is going to just think of us as these zealots who want to ban smoking everywhere," he said.
—Seattle Times (Feb 20, 2011)
not growing or changing; without force or vitality
Example Sentence: The entertainment sector there is booming, while Pakistan's is moribund.
—Seattle Times (Dec 3, 2011)
a small or moderate or token amount
Example Sentence: He volunteered a modicum of advice, limited in quantity, but valuable.
—Bolderwood, Rolf
an idea that is implied or suggested
Example Sentence: In Arabic, the word “bayt” translates literally as house, but its connotations resonate beyond rooms and walls, summoning longings gathered about family and home.
—New York Times (Feb 18, 2012)
associated by chance and not an integral part
Example Sentence: The derivation of the word thus appears to be merely accidental and adventitious.
—Stace, W. T. (Walter Terence)
difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge
Example Sentence: The mystery of verse is like other abstruse and recondite mysteries—it strikes the ordinary fleshly man as absurd.
—Gosse, Edmund
a slight wind (usually refreshing)
Example Sentence: The dwellings and public buildings throughout Cuba are planned to give free passage to every zephyr that wafts relief from the oppressive heat.
—Various
cancel officially
Example Sentence: In the midst of executing this order, he got another order countermanding it, and proceeding directly from his direct superior.
—Belloc, Hilaire
tending to find and call attention to faults
Example Sentence: Miss Burton had been very irritable and captious in class, more so even than usual, and most of her anger was vented upon Gerry.
—Chaundler, Christine
having the same ancestral language
Example Sentence: The synonyms are also given in the cognate dialects of Welsh, Armoric, Irish, Gaelic, and Manx, showing at one view the connection between them.
—Jenner, Henry
a person from whom you are descended
Example Sentence: His forebears were Greek immigrants who opened a small sandwich shop in Brooklyn, then moved, one after another, to Providence, to sell distinct, delectable wieners.
—New York Times (Sep 24, 2010)
very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold
Example Sentence: He looked gaunt and cadaverous, and much of his old reckless joyousness had left him, though he brightened up wonderfully on seeing an old friend.
—Doyle, A. Conan
to force onto another
Example Sentence: Mr. Knoll added that the 3-D “Star Wars” movies are not “going to be foisted on anybody against their will.”
—New York Times (Sep 29, 2010)
mental infirmity as a consequence of old age; sometimes shown by foolish infatuations
Example Sentence: He is, as you say, a senile old man in his dotage.
—Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
a connected series or group
Example Sentence: Numerous innovators are also worrying away at this nexus of problems.
—Economist (Apr 28, 2011)
characterized by anger
Example Sentence: Jonathan, choleric with indignation, stood by his desk, clenching his hands.
—Mills, Weymer Jay
make false by mutilation or addition; as of a message or story
Example Sentence: But the fact remains that the contradictory and inconsistent things said do reach the public, and usually in garbled and distorted form.
—Unknown
(used with regard to idealized country life) idyllically rustic
Example Sentence: Forty-four years ago, Bill Sievers moved into his neo-Colonial house in Douglaston, Queens, on bucolic Poplar Street, lined with stately trees and equally stately homes.
—New York Times (Mar 26, 2012)
the outcome of a complex sequence of events
Example Sentence: Suppose the truly apocalyptic denouement happens -- no deal is reached, and taxes rise for everyone.
—Salon (Nov 30, 2010)
a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility
Example Sentence: The youthful savages had each an armful of snowballs, and they were pelting the child with more animus than seemed befitting.
—Murray, David Christie
unrestrained, especially with regard to feelings
Example Sentence: He had overweening ambitions even then, along with a highly developed sense of his own importance.
—New York Times (Apr 19, 2010)
someone new to a field or activity
Example Sentence: As yet he was merely a tyro, gaining practical experience under a veteran Zeppelin commander.
—Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)
dress or groom with elaborate care
Example Sentence: He preened on fight nights in a tuxedo, a bow tie and no shirt, and he favored showy rings and bracelets.
—New York Times (Jul 24, 2011)
liberality in bestowing gifts; extremely liberal and generous of spirit
Example Sentence: After being saved by government largesse, they say, big banks then moved to thwart reforms aimed at preventing future meltdowns caused by excessive risk -taking.
—New York Times (Jul 14, 2011)
good at remembering
Example Sentence: The child was very sharp, and her memory was extremely retentive.
—Rowlands, Effie Adelaide
greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation
Example Sentence: For generations in the New York City public schools, this has become the norm with devastating consequences rooted in unconscionable levels of student failure.
—New York Times (Nov 4, 2011)
frivolous banter
Example Sentence: It was preposterous to talk to her of serious things, and nothing but an airy badinage seemed possible in her company.
—Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)
devoid of feeling and consciousness and animation
Example Sentence: Men also are those brutal soldiers, alike stupidly ready, at the word of command, to drive the nail through quivering flesh or insensate wood.
—Stowe, Harriet Beecher
a frozen dessert made primarily of fruit juice and sugar, but also containing milk or egg-white or gelatin
Example Sentence: "One person said it looks like a big lime sherbet ice cream cone!"
—Southern Living (Apr 28, 2010)
marked by utter benignity; resembling or befitting an angel or saint
Example Sentence: She dozed at last, her face serene and beatific.
—Beach, Rex Ellingwood
cause to be confused emotionally
Example Sentence: They were marching in the middle of the street, chanting and singing and disrupting traffic while countless New Yorkers looked on, some bemused, others applauding.
—Time (Oct 28, 2011)
a miniature model of something
Example Sentence: The building, he said, is "a microcosm of what Shanghai was all about."
—Wall Street Journal (Apr 30, 2010)
not produced by natural forces
Example Sentence: Indeed, the Chinese make a factitious cheese out of peas, which it is difficult to discriminate from the article of animal origin.
—Cameron, Charles Alexander, Sir
have the idea for
Example Sentence: Mr. Lucas’s most recent project, still gestating, is a collaboration with Cuban musicians.
—New York Times (May 9, 2011)
speak unfavorably about
Example Sentence: For Grover Cleveland there were no longer enemies to traduce and vilify.
—Straus, Oscar S.
a measuring instrument for measuring the angular distance between celestial objects; resembles an octant
Example Sentence: For example, a sextant could be used to sight the sun at high noon in order to determine one’s latitude.
—Scientific American (Mar 8, 2012)
the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair)
Example Sentence: They sat down, and Saint-Clair noticed his friend's coiffure; a single rose was in her hair.
—M?rim?e, Prosper
easily influenced
Example Sentence: “The Americans are seen as naïve malleable tools in the hands of the Brits.”
—New York Times (Nov 30, 2011)
having excessive asymmetrical ornamentation
Example Sentence: The upper part of the case is decorated with elaborately carved and gilt rococo motifs.
—Bedini, Silvio A.
become productive or fruitful
Example Sentence: Thence they grow, expand, fructify, and the result is Progress.
—Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
someone who rejects all theories of morality or religious belief
Example Sentence: “He’s a loner nihilist who believes in nothing,” Mr. Lu said.
—New York Times (Nov 6, 2011)
omission or suppression of parts of words or sentences
Example Sentence: He speaks in ellipses, often leaving sentences hanging, and fiddles apologetically with his Black Berry.
—The Guardian (Jun 28, 2010)
a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction
Example Sentence: The Nobel Prize, considered one of the highest accolades in literature, is given only to living writers.
—Seattle Times (Oct 6, 2011)
a supplement to a will; a testamentary instrument intended to alter an already executed will
Example Sentence: The codicil to her will, which she had spoken of with so much composure, left three hundred pounds to Stella and me.
—Fothergill, Jessie
be agitated
Example Sentence: Like thousands of fellow students, he was roiled with emotions, struggling to come to grips with an inescapable reality.
—New York Times (Nov 26, 2011)
lofty in style
Example Sentence: A large part of his duties will be to strut about on the stage, and mouth more or less unintelligible sentences in a grandiloquent tone.
—Smith, Arthur H.
lacking worth or importance
Example Sentence: But as the months went by, Mr. Kimura had an unexpected epiphany: His business, which he thought was inconsequential, mattered to a lot of people.
—Wall Street Journal (Nov 11, 2011)
the property of giving off bubbles
Example Sentence: Both were in the very sparkle and effervescence of that fanciful glee which bubbles up from the golden, untried fountains of early childhood.
—Stowe, Harriet Beecher
deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or worthless
Example Sentence: Far from being engines of economic growth, Egypt's leading cities are stultified.
—Inc (Feb 12, 2011)
large deep serving dish with a cover; for serving soups and stews
Example Sentence: Soups are presented in big tureens and can be quite good.
—New York Times (Apr 13, 2012)
(of language) transparently clear; easily understandable
Example Sentence: Caribou Island is a scant 300 pages, and written in prose as pellucid as the rivers he used to fish as a boy.
—The Guardian (Jan 1, 2011)
any agreeable (pleasing and harmonious) sounds
Example Sentence: It depends somewhat on usage and on euphony or agreeableness of sound.
—Hamilton, Frederick W. (Frederick William)
being of questionable authenticity
Example Sentence: We're reminded of the story, possibly apocryphal, that they used to play the Beach Boys' Smiley Smile in psychiatric wards to calm patients.
—The Guardian (Jan 20, 2011)
precisely accurate
Example Sentence: For proof, we cite the following veracious narrative, which bears within it every internal mark of truth, and matter for grave and serious reflection.
—Roby, John
having branches or flower heads that bend downward
Example Sentence: And all around, far out of reach, the trees of the forest were swaying restlessly, their long, pendulous branches, like tentacles, lashing out hungrily.
—Bates, Harry
an explanation or critical interpretation (especially of the Bible)
Example Sentence: Its musical significance has been presented with illuminating exegesis by more than one commentator.
—Forkel, Johann Nikolaus
a foul-smelling outflow or vapor (especially a gaseous waste)
Example Sentence: However, acting on my best judgment, I struck a downward course, and then suddenly a horrible effluvium was wafted to my nostrils.
—Mitford, Bertram
being of striking appropriateness and pertinence
Example Sentence: He was quite capable of meaningful, apposite phrases about the game, even though distant sports editors did not encourage them enough.
—The Guardian (Aug 18, 2010)
having the sticky properties of an adhesive
Example Sentence: Sluggish, blind crawling things like three-foot slugs flowed across their path and among the tree trunks, leaving viscous trails of slime behind them.
—Various
someone who dislikes people in general
Example Sentence: And shaking his head like a misanthrope, disgusted, if not with life, at least with men, Patout led the horse to the stable.
—Dumas père, Alexandre
someone who makes wine
Example Sentence: The question remains, he said, whether established vintners will change their winemaking practices or “continue to sell their schlock .”
—New York Times (Oct 27, 2010)
idyllically calm and peaceful; suggesting happy tranquillity
Example Sentence: He now seemed to have entered on a halcyon period of life—congenial society, romantic and interesting surroundings.
—Kennard, Nina H.
suggesting human characteristics for animals or inanimate things
Example Sentence: The same anthropomorphic fallacy that accords human attributes to giant corporations like BP distorts clear thinking about how to limit their political influence.
—Salon (Jul 28, 2010)
ostentatiously lofty in style
Example Sentence: His waspish wit can make him entertaining company at a party, but there is little evidence of that in his largely turgid prose.
—The Guardian (Jul 17, 2010)
physical discomfort (as mild sickness or depression)
Example Sentence: Initially, many doctors discounted sufferers’ feelings of generalized malaise as nothing more than stress or normal fatigue.
—Time (Dec 22, 2011)
of or involving dispute or controversy
Example Sentence: His works include several dogmatic and polemical treatises, but the most important are the historical.
—Various
a persistently annoying person
Example Sentence: Mr. Phelps is regarded here as the ultimate example of an irritating local gadfly.
—New York Times (Oct 9, 2010)
a reappearance of an earlier characteristic
Example Sentence: Criminal atavism might be defined as the sporadic reversion to savagery in certain individuals.
—Symonds, John Addington
an injury that doesn't break the skin but results in some discoloration
Example Sentence: My falling companion, being a much stouter man than myself did not fare so well, as his right shoulder received a severe contusion.
—Bevan, A. Beck ford
excessively unwilling to spend
Example Sentence: Pill-splitting is catching on among parsimonious prescription-takers who want to lower costs.
—Forbes (Mar 4, 2010)
pleasing to the ear
Example Sentence: Ever and anon the dulcet murmur of gurgling streams broke gently on the ear.
—Madison, Lucy Foster
repeat an earlier theme of a composition
Example Sentence: The live set reprises material from this remarkable group's earlier Aurora CD.
—The Guardian (Jan 6, 2011)
capable of relieving pain
Example Sentence: But philosophy failed, as it will probably fail till some far-off age, to find an anodyne for the spiritual distresses of the mass of men.
—Dill, Samuel
perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements; filled with bewilderment
Example Sentence: They were marching in the middle of the street, chanting and singing and disrupting traffic while countless New Yorkers looked on, some bemused, others applauding.
—Time (Oct 28, 2011)