4000 CPE Vocabulary List

a. being the first of its kind in a region; primitive; native
Her studies of the primitive art forms of the aboriginal Indians were widely reported in scientific journals.

a. unsuccessful; failing to accomplish an intended objective; fruitless
He made two abortive attempts on the French throne.  

v. be full of; be plentiful
The rooms abound with screaming children.

v. wear away by friction; scrape; erode
The sharp rocks did abrade the skin on her legs, so she put iodine on her abrasions.

n. scratch; friction; the process of rubbing away the surface of something
Dust also is a significant cause of the abrasion of book papers and covers.

v. condense; shorten; reduce length of written text
Because the publishers felt the public wanted a shorter version of War and Peace, they proceeded to abridge the novel.

a. abolish, do away with, or annul, especially by authority
He intended to abrogate the decree issued by his predecessor.

a. broken off; very steep; having sudden transitions from one subject to another
Eliza's greeting was delivered in a short, abrupt voice, without a smile, and then she sat down again, fixed her eyes on the fire, and seemed to forget me.

v. leave quickly and secretly and hide oneself, often to avoid arrest or prosecution
The teller who did abscond with the bonds went un-captured until someone recognized him from his photograph on America's Most Wanted.

v. assimilate or incorporate; suck or drink up; occupy full attention
By contrast, what students can absorb from a one-day visit to a college are the tangibles.

v. refrain; hold oneself back voluntarily from an action or practice
After considering the effect of alcohol on his athletic performance, he decided to abstain from drinking while he trained for the race.

a. sparing or moderation in eating and drinking; temperate
Concerned whether her vegetarian son's abstemious diet provided him with sufficient protein, the worried mother pressed food on him.

a. obscure; profound; difficult to understand
She carries around abstruse works of philosophy, not because she understands them but because she wants her friends to think she does.

n. quality of being absurd or inconsistent with obvious truth, reason, or sound judgment; logical contradiction
His story of being kidnapped by little green men is sheer absurdity.

a. plentiful; possessing riches or resources
At his immigration interview, Ivan listed his abundant reasons for coming to America: the hope of religious freedom and the prospect of employment.

v. border upon; adjoin; touch or end at one end or side; lie adjacent
Where our estates abut, we must build a fence.

a. bottomless; very profound; limitless; very bad
She spent hours sitting alone, in abysmal misery, because it seemed to be in plain sight, yet she couldn't define it.

n. a scholar who is skilled in academic disputation
A scientist born after the 1970s was selected as an academician candidate.

v. agree; give consent, often at the insistence of another; concede
The idea that one of the two chief executives should eventually accede to the role, as has happened in the past, would raise fresh doubts about the board's independence.

v. emphasize; stress; pronounce with stress or accent; mark with an accent
John said the overwhelming demand for transportation fuels would again accentuate the need for increased drilling, but that might take months.