4000 CAE Vocabulary List

a. beyond or outside of immediate interest; coming at a subsequent time or stage
Nowadays, people are alive to certain ulterior consequences that were at first overlooked.

a. final; being the last or concluding; fundamental; elemental; extreme
As the ultimate arbiter of the Constitution, the Supreme Court occupies a central place in our government scheme.

n. last offer; final statement of terms made by one party to another
He said it was a warning, not an ultimatum, aimed only at the capital's bandits.

a. uniform; in complete agreement
At last, we got the unanimous decision.

a. impassable; unable to be bridged or crossed; impossible to span
It is a broad, unbridgeable river.

a. violent; not restrained or controlled
They observed that, throughout history, experiments in unbridled democracy led to chaos.

a. strange; mysterious; peculiarly unsettling, as if of supernatural origin or nature
Every night we hear the great owls hoot and laugh in uncanny fashion.

a. not surveyed or investigated; not charted or recorded on a map or plan
Her election would also take France into totally uncharted territory - with a woman as president for the first time in its history.

a. lacking conscience; greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation
Such irrationality has its roots in unconscionable prejudice.

v. experience; suffer; pass through
In February, a court ruled that Mr. Doe should undergo a DNA test.

a. short-handed; clandestine; marked by deception
This kind of underhanded behavior is the reason that independent bookstores are going out of business.

a. lying under or beneath something; basic; implicit; taking precedence; prior
We face a combination of changes in underlying conditions not seen in almost a century.

v. weaken by wearing away base or foundation; injure or impair; dig a mine or tunnel beneath
We should not allow this moment to undermine our commitment to South Africa, the constitution, and the reconstruction.

v. draw a mark or line under; emphasize; stress
Addressing the jogging class, Kim would underscore the importance to runners of good nutrition.

v. bring up out of the earth; dig up; bring to public notice; uncover
When they unearth the city, the archeologists find many relics of an ancient civilization.

a. jobless; idle; out of work
Unemployed workers marched on the capital.

ad. irregularly; in an unequal or partial manner
The main problem with regular backpacks is that the weight is unevenly distributed.

a. not bound by chains or shackle; not restricted
In the right hands, there's nobility in unfettered eccentricity.

v. extend or stretch out to a greater or the full length; happen
At last, it tried to unfold its arms and took the hookah out of its mouth again.

n. fabulous animal with one horn
Adding consistency and predictability to magic just means a unicorn is a horse with a horn.