4000 CPE Vocabulary List

bacchanalian:
a. drunken; relating to reveling and drunkenness

backdrop:
n. background; the view behind something

badinage:
n. teasing conversation; good-humored, playful conversation

baffle:
v. frustrate as by confusing or perplexing; impede force or movement of

balance:
n. being in equilibrium; equilibrium; symmetry; stability

bale:
n. a bundle or package of goods in a cloth cover, and corded for storage or transportation

baleful:
a. portending evil; harmful in intent or effect.

balk:
v. stop short and refuse to go on; refuse obstinately or abruptly

ballast:
n. heavy substance used to add stability or weight

ballet:
n. a sort of theatrical representation by dancers

banal:
a. obvious and dull; commonplace; lacking originality

bandmaster:
n. a conductor of a band

bandy:
v. discuss lightly or glibly; exchange words heatedly

bang:
n. a vigorous blow; a conspicuous success

bankrupt:
v. cause to become financially ruin; ruin

bantering:
a. good-natured ridiculing; cleverly amusing in tone

barbecue:
n. a rack to hold meat for cooking over hot charcoal usually out of doors

bard:
n. poet, especially lyric poet

barn:
n. an outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals

barometer:
n. an instrument for determining the weight or pressure of the atmosphere