Number Word Definition Noun Verb Adjective

1 of or relating to cultivated land or the

agrarian cultivation of land; related to farming; agrarian agrarian
agricultural; rural; rustic; pastoral
 I’m abandoning the city to live an agrarian life.
 The city government has no business in dictating agrarian matters.
2 a noisy acrimonious quarrel; a serious
row dispute; a loud noise or uproar; to have row row
a quarrel
 They had a row and she stormed out of the house.
 The director is at the center of a row over policy decisions.
 They rowed about who would receive the money from the sale.
3 happening in the opposite way of what is
expected, and typically causing wry
ironic irony ironic
amusement because of this;
paradoxical; incongruous
 It was ironic that now that everybody had plenty of money for food, they couldn’t obtain
it because everything was rationed.
 It’s ironic that the racecar driver died while driving one mile to the local supermarket.
 It’s ironic that the man who slept in class scored the highest on the exam.
4 hostile and aggressive; antagonistic;
belligerent belligerent belligerent
pugnacious; bellicose; combative
 He was a belligerent old man who everyone avoided.
 The belligerent actions of the nation’s next door neighbored engendered a great deal of
hostility.
5 not easily convinced; having doubts or
skeptic (person);
skeptical reservations; dubious; take with a skeptical
skepticism
grain of salt
 The public were deeply skeptical about some of the proposals.
 I was skeptical at first, but slowly came around to the idea.
6 the quality of being religious or
piety piety pious
reverent; holiness; devoutness
  The church honored acts of piety and charity.
 The man’s pious nature caused him to feel uncomfortable at the party university.
7 tending to avoid commitment or self-
revelation, especially by replying only
evasive evasion evade evasive
directly; equivocal; prevaricating;
elusive; ambiguous; vague
 She was evasive about her phone number.
 Teenagers tend to be evasive about their love lives.
 The CEO was evasive about his tax-paying behavior.
8 a person who can endure pain or
hardship without showing their feelings;
stoic (stoical) impassive; characterized by a stoicism stoic
calm, austere fortitude;
imperturbable; indifferent
 Depraved though he was, he would not consent to such a sacrifice, and he met his fate
with stoical fortitude.
 The man handled pain so well that I jokingly referred to him as a Stoic.
9 clearly noticeable; evident;
marked pronounced; conspicuous; discernible; marked
manifest
 There was a marked increase in sales after the advertising campaign was introduced.
 I saw a marked difference in his behavior.
10 struggle to surmount; cope with; deal
contend with; assert something as a position in contention contend contentious
an argument; assert; maintain; claim
 She had to contend with his uncertain temper.
 He contends that the judge was wrong.
 Charles Darwin contended that animals were the product of natural selection.
11 a long angry speech of criticism or
tirade accusation; diatribe; harangue; rant; tirade
polemic
 The tirade of abuse the man received was completely unjustified.
  After having his car scratched, the man launched into a long tirade.
12 infuse fill; pervade; permeate infusion infuse
 Her work is infused with an anger born of pain and oppression.
 We need a large infusion of cash if this business is to survive.
13 wrongdoing, especially by a public
malfeasance malfeasance malfeasant
official
 He was removed from any position of authority for malfeasance a decade ago.
 The prime minister must appear before the anti-venality commission on February 27 to
answer the malfeasance charges.
14 invent or concoct (something), typically
with deceitful intent; falsify; fake;
fabricate fabrication fabricate fabricated
counterfeit; construct or manufacture
something; create
 When the city learned that the police officers had fabricated evidence, the citizens
became restive.
 You will have to fabricate an exhaust system for this machine.
15 skill or expertise in a particular activity
prowess or field; aptitude; competence; bravery prowess
in battle
 His prowess as a fisherman is unmatched.
 Your prowess in the war has caught the attention of high ranking officials.
16 irrelevant or unrelated to the subject
extraneous being dealt with; immaterial; extraneous
superfluous
 One is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous material.
 Please do not waste my time with extraneous information.
17 modest unassuming or moderate in the modesty modest
estimation of one’s abilities or
achievements; self-effacing; humble;
(of an amount, rate, or level of
something) relatively moderate, limited
or small; (of clothing) not revealing or
 emphasizing the figure; decorous
 He was a very modest man, refusing to take any credit for the enterprise.
 Drink only modest amounts of alcohol.
 In this school, girls and boys must dress modestly.
18 leave the main subject temporarily in
digress digression digress
speech or writing; deviate; drift; stray
 I have digressed a little from the original plan.
 Actually, that is where I went to university, but I digress. Let me return to my main
point.
19 make (a problem, bad situation, or
exacerbate negative feeling) worse; aggravate; exacerbation exacerbate
inflame; compound
 The forest fire was exacerbated by the lack of rain.
 His already terrible week was exacerbated by the death of his pet.
20 that is solely or no more or better than
mere what is specified; the smallest or mere
slightest; only; merely
 It happened a mere decade ago.
 If I see the merest hit of discontent, we’ll not go on vacation.
21 extremely small; so small as to verge on
minute
insignificance; negligible; slight; minute
(adjective)
infinitesimal
 The continents move a minute fraction each year.
 He will have no more than a minute chance of exercising significant influence.
 Your chances of winning the lottery are minute.
22 exercising a compelling charm that
charismatic inspires devotion in others; having great charisma charismatic
charm or appeal; charming; fascinating
 He was a charismatic leader, and the people loved him.
 The boss used his charisma to hide his other faults.
23 make an emotional appeal; beg;
plead pleading plead
implore; entreat; supplicate
  They pleaded with Carol to come home again.
 The dog pleaded for scraps of food from the dinner table.
24 a split or division between strongly
opposed sections or parties, caused by
schism schism
differences in opinion or belief; split;
rift; rupture; severance
 The political schism in this country between Republicans and Democrats has become a
global embarrassment.
 The schism between the wife and husband could only be rectified in therapy.
25 a person or thing that announces or
harbinger signals the approach of another; herald; harbinger
indication; signal; omen; forewarning
 These flowers are the harbingers of spring.
 The bad grade in his first class was a harbinger of things to come.
26 (of a person or their behavior)
eccentric
unconventional and slightly strange;
eccentric (person); eccentric
abnormal; aberrant; anomalous;
eccentricity
peculiar
 My favorite aunt is very eccentric.
 He enjoys a colorful reputation as an engaging eccentric.
 I find most professors rather eccentric.
27 side by side and facing the same way; up
abreast to date with the latest news, ideas, or abreast (abreast)
information
 The path was wide enough for two people to walk abreast.
 Please keep me abreast of the latest developments.
28 fail to properly appreciate (someone or
something), especially as a result of take for
take for granted
overfamiliarity; assume that something granted
is true without questioning it
 The comforts that people take for granted soon disappear in war.
 Those companies challenged beliefs that everyone else took for granted.
29 (of a slope, flight of stairs, angle, etc.)
rising or falling sharply; nearly
steep steep
perpendicular; abrupt; sharp; (of a
price) not reasonable; excessive; costly
 The price for a new iPhone is quite steep.
 She pushed the bike up the steep hill.
30 a thing that motivates or encourages one
incentive to do something; inducement; motive; incentive incentivize
stimulus; spur; impetus
 There is no incentive for customers to conserve water.
 The mantra of every economist is as follows – people respond to incentives.
31 have an intense feeling of longing for
something, typically something that one
yearn yearning yearn
has lost or been separated from; crave;
desire; covet; hunger for
 She yearned for a glimpse of him.
 He yearned for some delicious Mexican food.
32 become free of an obligation or
commitment; discontinue an activity;
bail out eject; an act of giving financial bail bail out
assistance to a failing business or
economy to save it from collapse
 She bailed out of the corporate rate race as soon as was possible.
 Americans are still angry that the government bailed out failing banks in 2008.
33 occurring at a favorable time;
providential opportune; auspicious; felicitous; providence providential
expedient
 Thanks to that providential snowstorm, the attack had been repulsed.
 Someone bestowed great providence on my life.
34 great sorrow or distress; misery;
woe despondency; things that cause sorry or woe
distress
  They had a complicated tale of woe.
 To add to his woes, customers have been spending less.
35 clear or obvious to the eye or mind;
apparent; evident; palpable; blatant;
manifest overt; (verb) display or show a (quality manifest manifest
of feeling) by one’s actions or
appearance
 The system’s manifest flaws must be repaired.
 Ray manifested signs of severe depression.
36 likely to or liable to suffer from, do, or
experience something, typically
prone prone
something regrettable or unwelcome;
susceptible; vulnerable; liable
 Years of logging had left the mountains prone to mudslides.
 She was prone to despondent moods.
37 lasting or existing for a long or
apparently infinite time; enduring or
perennial perennial
continually recurring; everlasting;
perpetual; unceasing
 His perennial distrust of the media was only exacerbated by recent events.
 This is a perennial plant – you can find it all year.
38 take the place of (a person or thing
supersede previously in authority or use); supersession supersede
supplant; replace
 The older models have now been superseded.
 Surprisingly, and to the delight of the fans, the car in second superseded the one in first
at the last second.
39 generosity in bestowing money or gifts
largesse upon others; munificence; altruism; largesse
philanthropy
 He dispensed his money with largesse.
 The government distributed largesse to the local population.
40 characterized by or suggesting the
practice of severe self-discipline and
ascetic abstention from all forms of indulgence, asceticism ascetic
typically for religious reasons; austere;
abstinent
 He lived an ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and manual labor.
 The man preferred to live ascetically; he abstained from all extravagance.
41 disturb the normal arrangement or
position of (something); disturb the
dislocate dislocation dislocate dislocated
organization of; disrupt; upset; move
from its proper place or position
 Trade was dislocated by the massive famine.
 Thousands of people were dislocated by the war.
 He dislocated his shoulder while exercising.
42 develop gradually, especially from a
evolve simple to a more complex form; evolution evolve evolved
progress
 The company has evolved into a major chemical manufacturer.
 She evolved into an erudite, capable student.
43 severely restrict the scope, extent, or
constrain constraint constrain
activity of; restrict; curb; restrain
 Agricultural development is considerably constrained by climate.
 Prices were constrained by government controls.
44 adopt or support (a cause, belief, or way
espouse espousal espouse
of life); embrace
 She espoused the benefits of abstaining from alcohol.
 He turned his back on the modernism he had espoused in his youth.
45 sparing in the use of words; abrupt;
terse terse
brief; concise; succinct; pithy; laconic
 He had a habit of delivering terse statements.
 The terse response shocked the audience.
46 antithetical directly opposed or contrasted; mutually antithesis antithetical
 incompatible; contradictory;
irreconcilable
 People whose morals are antithetical to mine are not my friends.
 Your theories are antithetical to mine, but perhaps we can reach a consensus.
47 belonging naturally; essential; inherent;
intrinsic intrinsic
innate
 Access to the arts is intrinsic to a high quality of life.
 He had an intrinsic ability to learn languages.
48 combine or unite to form one
amalgamation;
amalgamate organization or structure; merge; fuse; amalgamate
amalgam
meld
 He amalgamated his company with another.
 The man created an amalgam by fusing the two metals together.
49 produce or provide (a natural,
agricultural, or industrial product); give
yield yield yield
way to arguments, demands or pressure,
surrender, capitulate; relent
 This fertile land yields grapes and tobacco in copious amounts.
 The Western powers now yielded when they should have resisted.
50 denoting attitudes, activities, or other
things that have no religious or spiritual
secular secularism secular
basis; nonreligious; related to earthly
matters; temporal
 Secularism rose considerably during the Renaissance.
 Secular office buildings differ markedly from religious structures.
51 make a physical attack on; strike; attack
or bombard with something undesirable
assault assault assault
or unpleasant; a physical attack;
battery; violence
 He assaulted a police officer and thus was immured in prison for a long time.
 Her right ear was assaulted with clangorous music.
52 miserliness excessive desire to save money; extreme miser (person); miserly
 meanness; the quality of being small or
miserliness
inadequate; meagerness
 The party earned a damaging reputation for miserliness by cutting pensions.
 The relative miserliness of the prizes involved made the competition meaningless.
53 the state of being famous or well known
notoriety for some bad quality or deed; infamy; notoriety notorious
disrepute
 Jesse James was the most notorious outlaw from the Old West.
 His refusal to accept blame or apologize only increased his notoriety amongst the public.
54 a person, especially a man, who behaves
without moral principles or a sense of
libertine responsibility, especially in sexual libertine (person) libertine
matters; characterized by disregard of
morality; philanderer; playboy
 He refused his more libertine impulses.
 His notoriety as a libertine hindered his finding success.
55 a large-scale systematic plan or
arrangement for attaining some
scheme;
particular object or putting a particular
scheme schemer; scheme scheming
idea into effect; to make plans,
scheming
especially in a devious way or with
intent to do something illegal or wrong
 This company utilized a clever marketing scheme to sell its products.
 He schemed to bring about the collapse of the government.
56 make great efforts to achieve or obtain
strive something; struggle or fight vigorously; strive
endeavor; labor
 National movements were striving for independence.
 Scholars must strive against bias.
57 undergo great mental anguish through
agonize worrying about something; worry; fret; agony agonize
brood; overthink
  I didn’t agonize over the problem.
 She agonized over her decision of whether to move abroad.
58 the magnitude or intensity that must be
exceeded for a certain reaction,
threshold threshold
phenomenon, result or condition to
occur or be manifested
 Nothing happens until the signal passes the threshold.
 I’ve reached my threshold on dealing with these irksome children.
59 loyal, reliable, and hardworking;
stalwart stalwart stalwart
staunch; steadfast;
 He remained a stalwart supporter of the cause.
 The stalwarts of free markets will not be swayed.
60 (especially of a process or organization)
just coming into existence and beginning
nascent to display signs of future potential; nascence nascent
budding; developing; embryonic;
incipient; fledgling
 The nascent private space industry is growing rapidly.
 The nascent economic recovery will hopefully bring this country out of a recession.
61 subdue (someone or something) by
force; quell; restrain, prevent, or
repress inhibit; suppress (a though, feeling, or repression repress repressed
desire) in oneself so that it becomes or
remains unconscious; curb
 The uprisings were repressed.
 Isabel couldn’t repress a sharp cry of fear.
 The thought that he had killed his brother was so terrible that he repressed it.
62 regard or represent as being of little
disparage worth; belittle; denigrate; deprecate; disparagement disparage
trivialize
 He never missed an opportunity to disparage his competitors.
 The man’s disparagement of his co-workers had gone too far.
63 silly; stupid; foolish; fatuous; idiotic;
inane inanity inane
ludicrous
 Don’t constantly badger people with inane questions.
 The intellect had to repress his disdain for the inane questions.
64 intricate and refined skill; expertise;
panache; mastery; polish; do
finesse finesse finesse finesse
(something) in a subtle and delicate
manner
 He played the piano with great finesse.
 Clients want advice and action that calls for considerable finesse.
 His third shot, which he attempted to finesse, failed by a fraction.
65 providing necessary support to the
primary activities or operation of an
ancillary ancillary ancillary
organization, institution, industry or
system; auxiliary; supporting
 The development of ancillary services to support its products.
 The police needed ancillary evidence to solve the crime.
66 a confused mixture; jumble; ragbag;
hodgepodge hodgepodge hodgepodge
miscellany
 Rob’s living room was a hodgepodge of modern furniture and techniques.
 Your hodgepodge writing needs to be finely tuned before you’re ready for university.
67 based on, concerned with, or verifiable
empiricism;
by observation or experience rather than
empirical empiricist empirical
theory or pure logic; experiential;
(person)
practical; heuristic
 They provided considerable empirical evidence to support their argument.
 As a scientist, I am merely concerned with empirical matters.
68 oppressively constant; incessant;
relentless persistent; unabating; harsh or relentlessness relent relentless
inflexible
 The relentless heat of the desert has claimed many lives.
 He was a patient but relentless student.
69 in an initial stage; beginning to happen
or develop; (of a person) developing into
incipient incipient incipient
a specified type or role; emergent;
dawning;
 He could feel incipient anger building up after the teacher repudiated his claim.
 We seemed more like friends than incipient lovers.
70 not securely held or in position;
precarious precariousness precarious
dangerously likely to fall or collapse
 The construction company threw out all precarious ladders.
 She made a precarious living by writing.
71 the ability to make good judgements and
quick decisions, typically in a particular
acumen acumen
domain; shrewdness; acuity;
sharpness; astuteness
 He had much business acumen.
 His acumen for negotiating deals was unrivaled.
72 fame or recognized superiority,
especially within a particular sphere or
eminence eminence eminent
profession; distinction; renown;
prestige
 He was one of the world’s most eminent statisticians.
 She received eminence for her skill in filmmaking.
73 make (someone or something) seem
belittle unimportant; disparage; denigrate; belittlement belittle
deprecate
 All of the employees belittled the role of the manager.
 To make himself feel better, he often belittled others.
74 (of a person or their actions) without
thinking or caring about the
reckless recklessness reckless
consequences of an action; rash;
heedless; impetuous; impulsive
 Reckless driving is a real problem in California.
  His handling of this entire mess has been nothing but reckless.
75 certain to happen; unavoidable;
inevitable inevitability inevitable
inexorable; ineluctable
 War is inevitable.
 Only two things in life are truly inevitable – death….and taxes.
76 accuse someone of something,
especially an offense under the law; an
charge charge charge
accusation, typically one formally made
against a prisoner brought to trial
 They were charged with assault; jail time was likely.
 He appeared in court on a charge of attempted murder.
77 (especially of something undesirable or
rife (adjective
rife harmful) of common occurrence;
and adverb)
widespread; universal; ubiquitous
 This world is rife with crime.
 Speculation ran rife that he was an arms dealer.
78 involve (someone) deeply in an
embroil argument, conflict, or difficult situation; embroil embroiled
entangle; ensnare; enmesh
 She became embroiled in a dispute between two women she hardly knew.
 I don’t want to get embroiled in your crazy schemes.
79 abstinence from alcoholic drink;
moderation or self-restrain, especially in
temperance temperance temper
eating and drinking; sobriety; self-
restraint; prohibition
 The temperance movement in the United States in the 1930s proved to be a mistake.
 Their idealism was tempered with a solid dose of pragmatism.
80 making a loud, confused noise;
tumultuous uproarious; clamorous; vociferous; tumultuous
vehement
 After the performance, the crowd erupted in tumultuous applause.
 The government collapsed, and the country became a tumultuous mess.
81 innate inborn; natural; inherent; intrinsic innate
 She had an innate ability to perform markedly well on tests.
 It’s very difficult to fight our innate nature.
82 looking back on or dealing with past
events or situations; an exhibition or
retrospective compilation showing the development of retrospective
the work of a particular artist over a
period of time
 Our survey was retrospective; we hoped to glean more information from the past.
 The artist hosted a retrospective of his work, but nobody attended.
83 (especially of an argument, story, or
sentence) extremely complex and
convoluted convolute convoluted
difficult to follow; complicated;
elaborate; involved
 Its convoluted narrative encompasses all manner of digressions.
 Walnuts come in hard and convoluted shells.
84 culpable deserving blame; guilty; accountable culpability culpable
 Sometimes you’re just as culpable when you watch something as when you actually
participate.
 The court determined that the suspect was culpable in the murder of the young woman.
85 leadership or dominance, especially by
hegemony one country or social group over others; hegemony hegemonic
dominance; supremacy
 Germany was united under Prussian hegemony after 1871.
 The United States undertook a hegemonic role after World War II.
86 exercising power in a cruel or arbitrary tyrant (person);
tyrannical tyrannical
way; dictatorial; despotic; autocratic tyranny
 Her father was portrayed as tyrannical and unloving.
 The tyrant was finally overthrown after decades in power.
87 vain; in vain having or showing an excessively high vain
opinion of one’s appearance, abilities or
worth; conceited; narcissistic;
 producing no result; useless; futile;
pointless
 Their flattery made him vain.
 The child made a vain attempt to tidy up the room.
88 wary and unwilling to take risks;
circumspect circumspection circumspect
cautious; chary
 The officials were very circumspect in their statements.
 Students should exercise circumspection when walking around south Los Angeles.
89 form a theory or conjecture about a
subject without firm evidence;
hypothesize; surmise; invest in stocks,
speculate speculation speculate speculative
property, or other ventures in the hope
of gain but with the risk of loss; gamble
on
 My colleagues speculate about my private life.
 He didn’t look as though he had the money to speculate in stocks.
90 the possibility or likelihood of some
future event occurring; a person
regarded as likely to succeed or as a
prospect potential customer; candidate; to search prospect prospect prospective
for mineral deposits in a place,
especially by means of drill or
excavation
 There was no prospect of a reconciliation.
 Clients deemed likely prospects for active party membership were sought out.
 The company is also prospecting for gold.
91 a person who is among the first to
explore or settle a new country or area;
colonist; frontiersman; to develop or
pioneer pioneer pioneer pioneering
be the first to use or apply (a new
method, area of knowledge, or activity);
launch; instigate
  The pioneers of the Wild West are both famous and notorious.
 He has pioneered a number of innovative techniques.
92 publicly denounce; condemn; censure;
decry decry
criticize; lambaste
 They decried the human rights abuses.
 The employees decried their horrible working conditions.
a system of government in which most
of the important decisions are made by
bureaucrat bureaucratic
state officials rather than by elected
93 bureaucracy (person); (negative
representatives; (adjective) overly
bureaucracy connotation)
concerned with procedure at the expense
of efficiency or common sense
 Without fail, the larger a bureaucracy is, the worse it functions.
 His bureaucratic nature drew the ire of all people standing in line.
94 showing the indifference to comfort or
luxury traditionally associated with
spartan spartan
ancient Sparta; austere; harsh; frugal;
stringent; strict; stern
 Their spartan living accommodations made it difficult to host guests.
 He lived an ascetic, spartan life.
95 a broad strip or area of something; a
swath swath
large area
 Vast swaths of the countryside are being developed.
 He covered giant swaths of the country on his motorbike.
96 (of a young person) in the process of adolescent
adolescent developing from a child into an adult; (person); adolescent
teenage; pubescent adolescence
 I will not soon forget the joys of adolescence.
 We don’t allow adolescents on these premises.
97 advocate a person who publicly supports or advocate advocate
recommends a particular cause or (person)
policy; champion ; proponent; publicly
 recommend or support; urge
 He was an untiring advocate of economic reform.
 They advocated an ethical foreign policy.
98 something that completes or enhances
something else with added to it;
supplement supplement supplement
adjunct; add an extra element or
amount to; augment; boost; swell
 The handout is a supplement to the official manual.
 She took the job to supplement her husband’s income.
99 made necessary by particular
circumstances or regulations; essential;
requisite requisite requisite
vital; a thing that is necessary for the
achievement of a specified end
 The application will not be processed until the requisite fee is paid.
 She believed privacy to be a requisite for a peaceful life.
100 difficult to carry or move because of its wield (to
unwieldy unwieldy
size, shape, or weight; cumbersome carry)
 The first mechanical clocks were large and unwieldy.
 That is an unwieldy proposition.