Important English Vocabulary For Different Competitive Exams
The list of difficult English words are given below which are important for different competitive exams like UPSC, SSC CGL, CAT, SAT, TOEFL among others.
| Word | Meaning |
| Abdicate | to step down from a position of power or responsibility |
| Abhor | to hate very, very much; to detest |
| Abject | hopeless; extremely sad and servile; defeated |
| Abortive | unsuccessful |
| Absolute | total; unlimited; perfect |
| Absolve | to forgive or free from blame; to free from sin; to free from an obligation |
| Abstruse | hard to understand |
| Abysmal | extremely hopeless or wretched; bottomless |
| Accolade | an award; an honour |
| Acerbic | bitter; sour; severe |
| Acrid | harsh; like acid |
| Acrimonious | full of spite; bitter; nasty |
| Acumen | keenness of judgement; mental sharpness |
| Adamant | stubborn; unyielding; completely inflexible |
| Adherent | follower; supporter; believer |
| Admonish | to scold gently; to warn |
| Adulation | wild or excessive admiration; flattery |
| Affable | easy to talk to; friendly |
| Agnostic | one who believes that the existence of a god can be neither proven nor disproven |
| Alacrity | cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond |
| Aloof | uninvolved |
| Amiable | friendly, agreeable |
| Apathy | lack of interest; lack of feeling |
| Apocalypse | a prophetic revelation, especially one concerning the end of world |
| Arbiter | one who decides; a judge |
| Arcane | mysterious; known only to a select few |
| Arduous | hard; difficult |
| Assiduous | hardworking; busy; quite diligent |
| Astute | shrewd; keen in judgement |
| Augment | to make bigger; to add to; to increase |
| Avarice | greed; excessive love of riches |
| Belligerent | combative; quarrelsome; waging war |
| Bemused | confused; bewildered |
| Benign | gentle; not harmful |
| Blasphemy | irreverence; an insult to something held sacred; profanity |
| Cacophony | harsh-sounding mixture of words, voices, or sounds |
| Cadence | rhythm; the rise and fall of sounds |
| Cajole | to persuade someone to do something he or she doesn’t want to do |
| Callow | immature |
| Capricious | unpredictable; likely to change at any moment |
| Castigate | to criticize severely |
| Chagrin | humiliation; embarrassed disappointment |
| Chimera | an illusion; a foolish fancy |
| Clandestine | secret |
| Complacent | self-satisfied |
| Cynic | one who deeply distrusts human nature |
| Daunt | to make fearful; to intimidate |
| Deference | respect; courtesy |
| Depravity | extreme wickedness or corruption |
| Destitute | extremely poor; utterly lacking |
| Docile | easily taught; obedient |
| Dogmatic | arrogantly assertive of unproven ideas |
| Ebullient | bubbling with excitement |
| Eclectic | choosing the best from many sources |
| Egalitarian | believing in the social and economic equality of all people |
| Explicit | clearly and directly expressed |
| Fastidious | difficult to please; wanting everything to be perfect |
| Fecund | fertile; productive |
| Futile | useless; hopeless |
| Garrulous | talkative |
| Gratuitous | (used about an action) lacking any good reason or purpose and often having harmful effects |
| Gregarious | sociable |
| Harbinger | a forerunner; a signal of |
| Hedonism | the pursuit of pleasure as a way of life |
| Imminent | just about to happen |
| Impeccable | flawless; entirely without sin |
| Incorrigible | incapable of being reformed |
| Ironic | easily angered or provoked; irritable |
| Lament | to mourn |
| Loquacious | talking a lot or too much |
| Malaise | feeling uneasy or queasy |
| Maudlin | silly and sentimental |
| Maverick | a nonconformist; a rebel |
| Mendacious | lying; dishonest |
| Mendicant | a beggar |
| Milieu | environment; surroundings |
| Moribund | dying |
| Mundane | ordinary |
| Nefarious | evil; flagrantly wicked |
| Obdurate | stubborn and insensitive |
| Obfuscate | to darken; to confuse; to make confusing |
| Oblivion | total forgetfulness |
| Panacea | something that cures everything |
| Parsimonious | very unwilling to spend money or use resources |
| Paucity | scarcity |
| Peccadillo | a minor offense |
| Pernicious | having a very harmful or evil effect on somebody/something, in a way that is slow and not easily noticeable |
| Predilection | a natural preference for something |
| Profligate | wasting money, time, etc. or using it in a careless way |
| Quixotic | extremely idealistic; unrealistic and impractical |
| Rapacious | aggressively greedy or grasping |
| Recalcitrant | stubbornly defiant of authority or control; disobedient |
| Renaissance | a rebirth or revival |
| Renounce | to formally give up or resign |
| Replenish | to fill again |
| Reprehensible | worthy of blame or censure |
| Rudimentary | basic, crude, unformed or undeveloped |
| Sacrilege | a violation of something sacred; blasphemy |
| Sacrosanct | sacred |
| Sagacious | shrewd; keen in judgement |
| Sanguine | cheerful; optimistic; hopeful |
| Scrupulous | strict; careful; hesitant for ethical reasons |
| Solicitous | eager and attentive |
| Subversive | corrupting; overthrowing; undermining; insurgent |
| Succinct | brief and to the point; coincise |
| Surreptitious | sneaky; secret |
| Tacit | understood but not actually said |
| Taciturn | untalkative by nature |
| Tantamount | equivalent to |
| Tenacious | persistent; stubborn; not letting go |
| Trepidation | fear; apprehension |
| Turpitude | shameful wickedness; depravity |
| Ubiquitous | being everywhere at the same time |
| Usurp | to seize wrongfully |
| Vehement | intense; forceful; violent |
| Veracity | truthfulness |
| Versimilitude | looking like the real thing |
| Vicarious | felt or experienced by watching or reading about somebody else doing something, rather than by doing it yourself |
| Vindicate | to clear from all blame or suspicion; to justify |
| Vindictive | to justify |
| Vocation | an occupation |
| Volition | will; conscious choice |
| Wanton | (used about an action) done in order to hurt somebody or damage something for no good reason |
| Winsome | charming in a childlike or naive way |
Also refer :
- Top 50 Science MCQs For Competitive Exams
- Know About The Different Financial Sector Regulators In India