Hard English Words
100 hard English words with meaning, a quick set to evaluate vocabulary skills of native English speakers, especially for 12th graders and college freshpeople.
| Introduction |
These 100 hard English words are for 12th graders to check vocabulary skills in minutes. As we know, a young adult, like a student being leaving high school for college, has 20K active words plus other 20K passive words on average. How to evaluate vocabulary skills easily and handily? Here you have an option: 100 difficult words in English. It is selected from high school's academic classes and readings and is a good sample set to quickly check your English vocabulary level.
| Hard English Words |
Hard English Words
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abjure
abrogate
abstemious
acumen
antebellum
auspicious
belie
bellicose
bowdlerize
chicanery
chromosome
churlish
circumlocution
circumnavigate
deciduous
deleterious
diffident
enervate
enfranchise
epiphany
equinox
evanescent
expurgate
fatuous
feckless
fiduciary
filibuster
gamete
gauche
gerrymander
hegemony
hemoglobin
homogeneous
hubris
hypotenuse
impeach
incognito
incontrovertible
inculcate
infrastructure
interpolate
irony
jejune
kinetic
kowtow
laissezfaire
lexicon
loquacious
lugubrious
metamorphosis
mitosis
moiety
nanotechnology
nihilism
nomenclature
nonsectarian
notarize
obsequious
oligarchy
omnipotent
orthography
paradigm
parameter
pecuniary
photosynthesis
plagiarize
plasma
polymer
precipitous
quasar
quotidian
recapitulate
reciprocal
reparation
respiration
sanguine
soliloquy
subjugate
suffragist
supercilious
tautology
taxonomy
tectonic
tempestuous
thermodynamics
totalitarian
unctuous
vehement
fervid
vortex
winnow
wrought
xenophobe
yeoman
ziggurat
Word and Definition List
abjure
v. formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure
abrogate
v. revoke formally, repeal or do away with (a law, right, or formal agreement)abstemious
a. sparing in consumption of especially food and drink, marked by temperance in indulgenceacumen
n. shrewdness shown by keen insight, a tapering pointantebellum
a. belonging to a period before a war especially the American Civil Warauspicious
a. auguring favorable circumstances and good luckbelie
v. represent falsely, be in contradiction withbellicose
a. having or showing a ready disposition to fightbowdlerize
v. edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicatechicanery
n. the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)chromosome
n. a threadlike strand of DNA in the cell nucleus that carries the genes in a linear orderchurlish
a. having a bad disposition, rude in a mean-spirited and surly waycircumlocution
n. a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things, an indirect way of expressing somethingcircumnavigate
v. travel around either by plane or ship, go around or avoid (an obstacle)deciduous
a. shedding foliage at the end of the growing season, being shed at the end of a period of growthdeleterious
a. harmful to living things, causing harm or damagediffident
a. showing modest reserve, lacking self-confidenceenervate
v. weaken mentally or morally, disturb the composure ofenfranchise
v. grant freedom to; as from slavery or servitude, grant voting rightsepiphany
n. a divine manifestation, twelve days after Christmasequinox
n. either of two times of the year when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator and day and night are of equal lengthevanescent
a. tending to vanish like vapor, soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearingexpurgate
v. edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicatefatuous
a. devoid of intelligence, silly and pointlessfeckless
a. generally incompetent and ineffectual, not fit to assume responsibilityfiduciary
a. involving trust, referring to paper currency depending on securities for its valuefilibuster
n. a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speechesgamete
n. a mature sexual reproductive cell having a single set of unpaired chromosomesgauche
a. lacking social polish, lacking ease or gracegerrymander
v. divide unfairly and to one's advantage, of voting districtshegemony
n. the dominance or leadership of one social group or nation over othershemoglobin
n. function primarily to transport oxygen from the lungs to the body tissueshomogeneous
a. all of the same or similar kind or naturehubris
n. overbearing pride or presumption, excessive pride or self-confidencehypotenuse
n. the side of a right triangle opposite the right angleimpeach
v. challenge the honesty or veracity of, bring an accusation against; level a charge againstincognito
a. with your identity concealedincontrovertible
a. necessarily or demonstrably true, impossible to deny or disproveinculcate
v. teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitionsinfrastructure
n. the basic structure or features of a system or organizationinterpolate
v. estimate the value of, insert words into texts, often falsifying it therebyirony
n. a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occursjejune
a. lacking in nutritive value, displaying or suggesting a lack of maturitykinetic
a. relating to the motion of material bodies and the forces associated therewithkowtow
v. try to gain favor by cringing or flatteringlaissezfaire
n. unwillingness to get involved in or influence other people's activitieslexicon
n. a reference book containing an alphabetical list of words with information about themloquacious
a. full of trivial conversation, tending to talk a great deal; talkativelugubrious
a. excessively mournful, looking or sounding sad and dismalmetamorphosis
n. a complete change of physical form or substance especially as by magic or witchcraftmitosis
n. type of cell division that results in two daughter cells each having same number and kind of chromosomes as parent nucleusmoiety
n. one of two basic subdivisions of a tribe, one of two (approximately) equal partsnanotechnology
n. the branch of engineering that deals with things smaller than 100 nanometers (especially with the manipulation of individual molecules)nihilism
n. rejection of all religious and moral principlesnomenclature
n. a system of words used to name things in a particular disciplinenonsectarian
a. not involving or relating to different religious sects or political groupsnotarize
v. authenticate as a notary, acknowledge or attest as a notary publicobsequious
a. attempting to win favor from influential people by flatteryoligarchy
n. a political system governed by a few peopleomnipotent
a. having unlimited power, having virtually unlimited authority or influenceorthography
n. a part of language study that deals with letters and spellingparadigm
n. the generally accepted perspective of a particular discipline at a given timeparameter
n. any factor that defines a system and determines (or limits) its performancepecuniary
a. relating to or involving money, consisting of or measured in moneyphotosynthesis
n. synthesis of compounds with the aid of radiant energy (especially in plants)plagiarize
v. take without referencing from someone else's writing or speech; of intellectual propertyplasma
n. the colorless watery fluid of the blood and lymph that contains no cells, but in which the blood cells are suspendedpolymer
n. a naturally occurring or synthetic compound consisting of large molecules made up of a linked series of repeated simple monomersprecipitous
a. done with very great haste and without due deliberation, extremely steepquasar
n. massive and extremely remote celestial objectquotidian
a. found in the ordinary course of events, occurring every dayrecapitulate
v. repeat an earlier theme of a composition, repeat stages of evolutionary development during the embryonic phase of lifereciprocal
a. of or relating to the multiplicative inverse of a quantity or functionreparation
n. compensation exacted from a defeated nation by the victors, compensation (given or received) for an insult or injuryrespiration
n. the bodily process of inhalation and exhalation, the process of taking in oxygen from inhaled air and releasing carbon dioxidesanguine
n. a blood-red color, confidently optimistic and cheerfulsoliloquy
n. a (usually long) dramatic speech intended to give the illusion of unspoken reflections, speech you make to yourselfsubjugate
v. put down by force or intimidation, make subservient, force to submit or subduesuffragist
n. an advocate of the extension of voting rights (especially to women)supercilious
a. having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy, expressive of contempttautology
n. (logic) a statement that is necessarily true, useless repetitiontaxonomy
n. practice of classifying plants and animals according to their presumed natural relationshipstectonic
a. pertaining to the structure or movement of the earth's crust ,of or pertaining to construction or architecturetempestuous
a. (of the elements) as if showing violent anger, characterized by violent emotions or behaviorthermodynamics
n. the branch of physics concerned with the conversion of different forms of energytotalitarian
a. characterized by a government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized controlunctuous
a. unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speechvehement
a. marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions; inclined to react violentlyfervid
a. characterized by great force or energy, intensely enthusiastic or passionate, especially to an excessive degreevortex
n. a powerful circular current of water, the shape of something rotating rapidlywinnow
v. blow away or off with a current of air, separate the chaff from by using air currentswrought
a. shaped to fit by or as if by altering the contours of a pliable mass (as by work or effort)xenophobe
n. person having dislike of or prejudice against people from other countriesyeoman
n. officer in the (ceremonial) bodyguard of the British monarchziggurat
n. a rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians