4000 CPE Vocabulary List

a. demanding much work or care; tedious
When putting together his dictionary of the English language, Doctor Johnson undertook a laborious task.

n. maze; the complex structure of interconnecting passages
Michelle, one thing contributing to this labyrinth is the nation's biggest private employer, Wal-Mart.

n. delicate decorative fabric woven in an open web of symmetrical patterns; rope; cord that is drawn through eyelets
When having brought her ironing-table to the nursery hearth, she allowed us to sit about it, and while she got up Mrs. Reed's lace frills and crimped her nightcap borders.

a. weeping or inclined to weep; tearful; showing sorrow
His voice has a lachrymose quality more appropriate to a funeral than a class reunion.

a. lacking purpose or zest; halfhearted; lacking spirit or liveliness
Because Gatsby had his mind more on his love life than on his finances, he did a very lackadaisical job managing his money.

a. dull; lacking luster or shine
We were disappointed by the lackluster performance.

a. brief; effectively cut short; marked by the use of few words
Many of the characters portrayed by Clint Eastwood are laconic types: strong men of few words.

v. delay; drag; the act of slowing down or falling behind
I'm sure you've experienced jet lag before.  

a. slow; sluggish; wasting time
The sailor had been taught not to be laggard in carrying out orders.

v. grieve; express sorrow; regret deeply
Even advocates of the war lament the loss of so many lives in combat.

v. ridicule; subject to abusive ridicule expressed in work of art
The articles lampoon the pretensions of some movie moguls.

n. a protective ornamental shade used to screen a light bulb from direct view
A lampshade is a fixture covering the light bulb on a lamp to diffuse the light it emits.

n. a large continuous extent of land
The research aims to assess Canada's landmass response to climate change as captured by long-term satellite earth observation records.

n. slide of a large mass of dirt and rock down a mountain or cliff; overwhelming electoral victory
Roosevelt defeated Hoover in a landslide.

a. lacking energy or vitality; weak; sluggish; lacking spirit or liveliness
Her siege of illness left her languid and pallid.

v. lose animation; be or become weak or feeble; lose strength or vigor
Left at Miss Minchin's school for girls while her father went off to war, Sarah Crewe refused to languish.

n. the feeling of lack of interest or energy; depression
His friends tried to overcome the languor into which he had fallen by taking him to parties and to the theater.

n. pantry; place where food is kept
Bill did on returning home from school to check what snacks his mother had in the larder.

n. generous gift; money or gifts bestowed
Lady Bountiful distributed largess to the poor.

v. any of various small, singing passerine birds of the family Alaudidae; one who wakes early
A lark is singing over the head, and the air is filled with the scent of hay.