Top 100 Vocabulary Words That Adults Should Know
100 flashcards
- Empathy
- the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.
- Enigma
- a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation:
- Epitome
- a person or thing that is typical of or possesses to a high degree the features of a whole class
- Epiphany
- a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.
- Epitaph
- a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument about the person buried at that site.
- Erudite
- characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly
- Existential
- pertaining to existence. EX: an existential hero.
- Exponential
- of or relating to an exponent or exponents.
- Formative
- giving form or shape; forming; shaping; fashioning; molding
- Holistic
- incorporating the concept of holism, or the idea that the whole is more than merely the sum of its parts, in theory or practice
- Homonym
- a word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning, whether spelled the same way or not, as heir and air
- Hubris
- excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance.
- Hyperbole
- obvious and intentional exaggeration.
- Incongruous
- out of keeping or place; inappropriate; unbecoming
- Infamy
- extremely bad reputation, public reproach, or strong condemnation as the result of a shameful, criminal, or outrageous act
- Initiation
- formal admission or acceptance into an organization or club, adult status in one's community or society, etc.
- Innate
- existing in one from birth; inborn; native; nherent in the essential character of something
- Intellectual
- appealing to or engaging the intellect
- Interactive
- acting one upon or with the other.
- Irony
- the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning
- Jargon
- the language, especially the vocabulary, peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group
- Juxtaposition
- an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.
- Malapropism
- an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound.
- Magnanimous
- generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness; high minded; noble
- Mentor
- a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.
- Metaphor
- a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance. Something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.
- Meticulous
- taking or showing extreme care about minute details; precise; thorough
- Mnemonic
- assisting or intended to assist the memory
- Monologue
- a prolonged talk or discourse by a single speaker, especially one dominating or monopolizing a conversation.
- Motif
- a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work.
- Myriad
- a very great or indefinitely great number of persons or things. EX: the myriad stars of a summer night.
- Nemesis
- something that a person cannot conquer, achieve
- Nominal
- being such in name only; so-called; putative
- Norms
- a standard, model, or pattern.
- Obfuscate
- to confuse, bewilder, or stupefy.
- Obtuse
- not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; not sensitive or observant; dull.
- Acquiesce
- to assent tacitly; submit or comply silently or without protest; agree
- Onomatopoeia
- the formation of a word, as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.
- Ostentatious
- characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress others: an ostentatious dresser.
- Oxymoron
- a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in "cruel kindness" or "to make haste slowly.
- Paradox
- a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
- Paraphrase
- a restatement of a text or passage giving the meaning in another form, as for clearness; rewording.
- Pedantic
- overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, especially in teaching.
- Pedagogy
- the art or science of teaching
- Perusal
- a reading
- Phonemes
- any of a small set of units, usually about 20 to 60 in number, and different for each language, considered to be the basic distinctive units of speech sound by which morphemes, words, and sentences are represented.
- Phonological
- the study of the distribution and patterning of speech sounds in a language and of the tacit rules governing pronunciation.
- Plagiarism
- an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author:
- Plethora
- overabundance; excess:
- Posthumously
- arising, occurring, or continuing after one's death: a posthumous award for bravery.
- Preposition
- any member of a class of words found in many languages that are used before nouns, pronouns, or other substantives to form phrases functioning as modifiers of verbs, nouns, or adjectives, and that typically express a spatial, temporal, or other relationship, as in, on, by, to, since.
- Pretentious
- characterized by assumption of dignity or importance, especially when exaggerated or undeserved
- Pseudonym
- a fictitious name used by an author to conceal his or her identity; pen name.
- References
- a mention; allusion.
- Reflection
- a fixing of the thoughts on something; careful consideration.
- Rubric
- any established mode of conduct or procedure; protocol
- Sardonic
- characterized by bitter or scornful derision; mocking; cynical; sneering: a sardonic grin.
- Satire
- the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
- Simile
- a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in "she is like a rose.".
- Soliloquy
- the act of talking while or as if alone.
- Superfluous
- being more than is sufficient or required; excessive. unnecessary or needless.
- Syntax
- the study of the patterns of formation of sentences and phrases from words.
- Thesis
- a proposition stated or put forward for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or to be maintained against objections:
- Validity
- legal soundness or force.
- Vernacular
- using plain, everyday, ordinary language.
- Virtual
- being such in power, force, or effect, though not actually or expressly such
- Vocational
- a strong impulse or inclination to follow a particular activity or career.
- Acronym
- a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a set phrase or series of words and pronounced as a separate word
- Ambiguity
- doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention
- Analogy
- a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based
- Anachronism
- something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time: The sword is an anachronism in modern warfare.
- Andragogy
- the methods or techniques used to teach adults
- Antithesis
- opposition; contrast
- Antonym
- a word opposite in meaning to another.
- Articulate
- expressed, formulated, or presented with clarity and effectiveness
- Assonance
- partial agreement or correspondence. resemblance of sounds.
- Benchmarking
- a standard of excellence, achievement, etc., against which similar things must be measured or judged
- Brainstorming
- a conference technique of solving specific problems, amassing information, stimulating creative thinking, developing new ideas, etc., by unrestrained and spontaneous participation in discussion.
- Circumspect
- watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent
- Clandestine
- characterized by, done in, or executed with secrecy or concealment, especially for purposes of subversion or deception; private or surreptitious
- Cognition
- the act or process of knowing; perception
- Collaborate
- to work, one with another; cooperate, as on a literary work
- Colloquial
- characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary or familiar conversation rather than formal speech or writing; informal.
- Connotation
- something suggested or implied by a word or thing, rather than being explicitly named or described
- Contrived
- obviously planned or forced; artificial; strained
- Conundrum
- a riddle, the answer to which involves a pun or play on words; anything that puzzles
- Correlation
- mutual relation of two or more things, parts
- Criterion
- a standard of judgment or criticism; a rule or principle for evaluating or testing something.
- Cumulative
- increasing or growing by accumulation or successive additions
- Curriculum
- the regular or a particular course of study in an education
- Deference
- respectful submission or yielding to the judgment, opinion, will
- Developmental
- the act or process of developing; growth; progress
- Dialect
- a special variety of a language
- Diction
- style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words
- Didactic
- intended for instruction; instructive
- Dissertation
- any formal discourse in speech or writing.
- Divergent
- differing; deviating.
- Egregious
- extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant
- Eloquence
- the practice or art of using language with fluency and aptness.
- Emergent
- coming into view or notice; issuing.