The 327 TOEFL Words You Need to Know
Below are the 327 best TOEFL vocabulary words, in alphabetical order.| Word | Definition | Sample Sentence |
| Abundant | Present in large quantities. | Living close to a lake means we have an abundant supply of water. |
| Accumulate | To gradually collect. | Each fall, leaves accumulate in our driveway. |
| Accurate | Correct; free from errors. | Make sure your address is accurate before submitting your online order. |
| Accustomed | Used to something. | Having 8AM classes means I’m accustomed to getting up early. |
| Acquire | To come into possession of. | When my grandmother died, I acquired her cookbook collection. |
| Adamant | Refusing to change an opinion. | The defendant was adamant that he was innocent. |
| Adequate | Enough to suit your needs. | Our house isn’t big, but it’s adequate for the two of us. |
| Adjacent | Close to or next to. | The park is adjacent to the school. |
| Adjust | To change something so it serves its purpose better. | The bike seat may be too high; you’ll probably need to adjust it. |
| Advantage | Something that makes it easier to achieve success. | His height gives him an advantage in basketball. |
| Advocate | To publicly support. | My aunt is a major advocate for women’s’ rights. |
| Adverse | Unfavorable; against one’s desires. | I had an adverse reaction to my medication and had to stop taking it. |
| Aggregate | To combine. | We should aggregate our resources to share them more easily. |
| Aggressive | Assertive and pushy. | The salesperson was very aggressive when trying to get us to buy the television. |
| Allocate | To put aside for a specific purpose. | The village needs to allocate funds for building the new school. |
| Alternative | Another option or choice. | If the ATM is broken, an alternative solution is to stop by the bank. |
| Amateur | Someone who is inexperienced or not highly skilled in a particular area. | He’s an amateur soccer player and is still learning the rules of the game. |
| Ambiguous | Having several potential meanings; unclear and difficult to understand. | When I asked the HR manager what my chances were of getting the job, she gave me a very ambiguous reply. |
| Ambitious | Having large goals. | My son is very ambitious and hopes to be a millionaire by the time he’s thirty. |
| Amend | To change for the better; to improve. | I believe we should amend our country’s tax laws. |
| Ample | Plentiful. | Our new apartment has ample space for the two of us. |
| Anomaly | Deviation from the norm. | The basketball player is the team’s best free thrower, so his missing both shots was an anomaly. |
| Annual | Occurring yearly. | The annual company barbeque takes place every August. |
| Antagonize | To tease or be hostile towards a person or group. | The boy loves to antagonize his little sister by pulling her hair. |
| Attitude | Manner or feeling. | After she got grounded, the teenager had a bad attitude for the rest of the day. |
| Attribute | To give credit. | Be sure to attribute credit to your sources when writing a research paper. |
| Arbitrary | Based on a whim or random decision. | Flipping a coin is an arbitrary way to make a decision. |
| Arduous | Requiring a lot of effort. | After you cross the bridge, there’s an arduous walk up the hill. |
| Assuage | To lessen a negative feeling. | The mother assuaged her child’s fear of the dark. |
| Assume | To suppose without solid proof. | I assumed he was rich because he worked as a lawyer. |
| Augment | To increase or make larger. | She augments her regular salary by babysitting on the weekends. |
| Benefit | Something positive or advantageous. | A benefit of doing homework on Friday is that your weekend will be free. |
| Berate | To scold. | Our neighbor berated us after we broke his window playing baseball. |
| Bestow | To give as a gift. | The medal was bestowed upon him by the president. |
| Boast | To brag or talk with excessive pride. | He always boasts of his talents after he wins a game. |
| Boost | To help raise or increase something. | I gave him a pep talk to boost his self-esteem before his speech. |
| Brash | Rude and tactless. | The brash man always asked inappropriate questions. |
| Brief | Short (in terms of time). | It will only have a brief meeting, so you’ll still have plenty of time for lunch. |
| Brusque | Abrupt to the point of rudeness. | After being away for so long, I expected more than her brusque greeting. |
| Cacophony | A harsh, unpleasant mixture of noise. | The cuckoo clock shop lets off a cacophony every hour. |
| Cease | To stop. | I wish they would cease arguing. |
| Censure | To express strong disapproval. | Every parent in our district censured the education cuts. |
| Chronological | Arranged in order of time or date. | Put the historical events in chronological order to make them easier to study. |
| Clarify | To make clear; to remove confusion. | I didn’t understand the instructions, so I asked the teacher to clarify them. |
| Coalesce | To combine or grow together. | The people on the street eventually coalesced into a group. |
| Coerce | To force someone to do something against their will. | The young boy was coerced into stealing by his friends. |
| Cognizant | Being aware or having knowledge of something. | Before mountain climbing, you need to be cognizant of the risks. |
| Cohesion | Uniting; becoming one. | Water molecules show strong cohesion when they stick together. |
| Coincide | To occur at the same time. | This year Thanksgiving coincided with my birthday. |
| Collapse | To fall down or break down. | The old building finally collapsed, leaving nothing but a pile of rubble. |
| Collide | To hit one another with a forceful impact. | The two cars collided on the freeway. |
| Commitment | Dedication to a cause or activity. | Joining a school play is a big commitment. You’ll need to practice every evening. |
| Community | A group of people who live or work together. | The Chinese community in my city is hosting a New Year celebration next week. |
| Conceal | To hide. | The mountains concealed the ocean from view. |
| Concur | To agree. | He believes women should be paid as much as men, and I concur. |
| Conflict | A disagreement or fight. | The conflict between the two families has been going on for generations. |
| Constrain | To restrict or repress. | You should move your plant to a bigger pot, otherwise you’ll constrain its roots. |
| Contemplate | To consider thoughtfully. | I spend a lot of time contemplating what career I want to have. |
| Continuously | To go on without stopping. | My neighbors have been continuously blasting their music since last night. |
| Contradict | To give the opposite opinion. | I told the employees that sales were down, but my boss contradicted me and said sales were actually up. |
| Contribute | To give something (usually money or time) to a common fund or cause. | Every roommate contributes part of his paycheck to the grocery bill. |
| Convey | To make known. | I’ve conveyed my interest in working for that company. |
| Copious | Abundant. | He always takes copious notes during class to study later on. |
| Core | Central; of main importance. | Although many employees left the company, the core leadership remained. |
| Corrode | To gradually wear away. | The rust corroded the paint on my car. |
| Cumbersome | Burdensome; clumsy | Trying to carry four grocery bags at once was very cumbersome. |
| Curriculum | The courses given by a school or program. | Our school needs to add more music courses to its curriculum. |
| Data | Facts, statistics, or pieces of information. | The data from these graphs show that yearly temperatures are increasing. |
| Decay | To decline in health or excellence. | After the tree died, its wood began to decay. |
| Deceive | To trick or mislead. | He deceived me by pretending to be a millionaire. |
| Decipher | To find the meaning of. | The spy deciphered the secret code. |
| Declaration | An announcement. | He made a declaration to the office that he was quitting. |
| Decline | 1. To politely refuse.
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1. I declined his offer of a ride home. 2. Her health has declined ever since she turned 70. |
| Degrade | To lower in quality. | My attempt at cake degraded into a crumbly mess. |
| Demonstrate | To show. | Let me demonstrate the proper way of throwing a football. |
| Deny | To state that something isn’t true. | He denied being the robber. |
| Deplete | To significantly decrease. | Your shopping sprees have depleted my savings. |
| Deposit | To deliver and leave an item. | Please deposit your books in the bin outside the library. |
| Desirable | Worth having or wanting. | Bravery is a desirable trait for firefighters to have. |
| Despise | To hate. | I despise early morning classes. |
| Detect | To locate something. | The police dog detected the missing child’s scent. |
| Deter | To discourage. | The warning signs on the house deterred trespassers. |
| Deviate | To differ from the norm. | I decided to deviate from my normal route home and took a shortcut. |
| Devise | To plan or create. | The coach devised a plan for winning the game. |
| Diatribe | A sharp criticism or attack. | The politician went into a diatribe against her opponent. |
| Digress | To wander from the main subject. | The teacher digressed from the lecture to discuss the weather. |
| Dilemma | A situation where one must choose between two difficult choices. | The student faced the dilemma of attending school sick or missing her exam. |
| Diminish | To shrink or reduce. | Sprinkle baking soda on the carpet to diminish the stain. |
| Dispose | To get rid of. | I need to dispose of this trash. |
| Disproportionate | Too large or small when compared to something else. | The piece of pie I received was disproportionately small. |
| Disrupt | To interrupt by causing a disturbance. | The protesters disrupted the politician’s speech. |
| Distort | To misrepresent. | The camera filter distorted the image. |
| Distribute | To give portions of something. | Distribute the materials evenly among the class. |
| Diverse | Showing a lot of variety. | This city has a very diverse population. |
| Divert | To cause a change of course. | Because of the accident, the police had to divert traffic down a side street. |
| Dynamic | Constantly changing. | The theater has dynamic shows, so you never know what you’ll see. |
| Ease | To reduce unpleasantness or difficulty. | This prescription will ease your allergies. |
| Efficient | Maximizing productivity. | Now that I’m following a schedule at work, I’m much more efficient. |
| Eliminate | To remove. | Our team lost the match and was eliminated from the competition. |
| Elite | A select, above-average group. | The elite detective team were also sent for when there were big crimes. |
| Eloquent | Moving speech or writing. | Her eloquent writing has gained her many fans. |
| Emphasize | To give special importance to when speaking or writing. | The teacher emphasized the due date of the project. |
| Endure | To suffer through something difficult with patience. | He has endured four knee operations so far. |
| Enhance | To intensify or magnify. | The falling snow enhanced the beauty of the small village. |
| Epitome | A perfect example of something. | The duchess is the epitome of class. |
| Equivalent | Equal. | Twenty-four is equivalent to two dozen. |
| Erroneous | Incorrect. | He apologized for his erroneous statement. |
| Estimate | An approximate value. | Try to get an estimate of the number of people attending the concert. |
| Evade | To avoid or escape. | By hiding in the bathroom, we were able to evade the intruder. |
| Evaluate | To assess. | At the end of the class, every student will evaluate how well the professor taught. |
| Evidence | Facts or information that help prove or disprove something. | These fossils are evidence of evolution. |
| Evolve | To gradually change. | The small school evolved into a world-class institution. |
| Exemplary | Worthy of imitation. | She is an exemplary student, and you should copy her study habits. |
| Exclude | To leave out. | The young boy was excluded from his friends’ soccer game. |
| Exclusive | Not admitting the majority. | We may not be able to get in since that club is very exclusive. |
| Expand | To increase in size. | Adding air to bike tires will cause them to expand. |
| Expertise | Expert knowledge or skill in a particular field. | The surgeon’s expertise is knee surgeries. |
| Exploit | To use selfishly. | The company exploited its workers by making them work long hours. |
| Expose | To reveal or unmask. | The emails presented exposed the company’s corruption. |
| Extension | An act of making something longer. | If you’re sick on the day the paper is due, the teacher may give you an extension on the due date. |
| Extract | To get or remove something. | The dentist extracted one of my teeth. |
| Famine | A time when there is an extreme lack of food. | Millions of children in Ethiopia died due to the famine there. |
| Feasible | Possible to do. | This study plan you made for me sounds feasible, even with my work schedule. |
| Finite | Having an end or limits. | Remember that life is finite; you’re not immortal. |
| Flaw | A feature that ruins the perfection of something. | I got the diamond for a reduced price since the stone had a flaw. |
| Fluctuate | To change continually. | I’m not sure what to wear since the temperature has been fluctuating so much. |
| Focus | The central point or idea. | The program is going to focus on environmental issues. |
| Fortify | To strengthen. | The king decided to fortify the castle walls to protect them during attacks. |
| Framework | A skeletal structure designed to support something. | Skyscrapers must have a strong framework to support all the floors. |
| Frivolous | Unnecessary; of little importance | You must stop spending your money on frivolous purchases. |
| Function | A purpose natural to a person or thing. | The function of petals is to attract insects to the plant. |
| Fundamental | Of primary importance. | Learning scales is fundamental to being a good piano player. |
| Gap | A space in between to objects. | Be careful to avoid the gap between the two steps. |
| Garbled | Communication that is distorted and unclear. | Our answering machine is so bad that people’s voices are always garbled. |
| Generate | To produce. | The fire generates heat, which keeps the room warm. |
| Grandiose | Pompous; overly important. | The actress had only one small part before she got grandiose ideas of her fame. |
| Hackneyed | Overused and unoriginal. | HIs poems contain many hackneyed phrases. |
| Haphazard | Lacking planning. | There was no schedule, so the event was very haphazard. |
| Harsh | Not gentle; unpleasant. | Her comments on my performance were very harsh and not kind at all. |
| Hasty | In a hurry. | In order to avoid the police, the robbers made a hasty retreat. |
| Hazardous | Full of risk. | The nuclear reactor has a lot of hazardous waste. |
| Hesitate | To pause, often due to reluctance. | She hesitated before entering the abandoned building. |
| Hierarchy | A ranking system. | In the office hierarchy, the manager is higher than the associate. |
| Hindrance | Something that causes delay or resistance. | Her hatred of public transportation is a hindrance when trying to get around New York City. |
| Hollow | Empty inside. | The dead tree is hollow. |
| Horror | An intense feeling of fear. | The haunted house filled me with horror. |
| Hostile | Extremely unfriendly. | My ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend was very hostile towards me. |
| Hypothesis | An unproven idea that attempts to explain something. | You’ll need to conduct an experiment to test your hypothesis. |
| Identical | Exactly the same. | The twins were completely identical. |
| Illiterate | Unable to read. | Because he’d never been able to attend school, the man was illiterate. |
| Illustrate | To explain by using an example. | The professor illustrated the lesson with a personal story. |
| Impact | Effect or influence. | His moving words had a large impact on me. |
| Impair | To worsen. | Drinking alcohol will impair your driving abilities. |
| Implement | To carry out. | We will implement the new schedule starting next semester. |
| Imply | To strongly suggest. | My mother implied that I was the one who forgot to take out the trash. |
| Impose | To force upon. | After the riots, the mayor imposed a curfew on the town. |
| Impoverish | To reduce to poverty. | These medical bills are going to impoverish me. |
| Incentive | A reason to do something. | I hate my job, but the big paychecks are a good incentive to stick with it. |
| Incessant | Continuing without pause. | I can’t sleep because of the dog’s incessant barking. |
| Incidental | A minor part. | Don’t worry about your grade on this quiz; it’s only an incidental part of your grade. |
| Incite | To urge on. | The ringleader incited the soldiers to rebellion. |
| Inclination | A preference. | My inclination is to go to bed early. |
| Incompetent | Incapable; lacking ability. | The incompetent worker was fired from his job. |
| Inconsistent | Changing randomly. | His pitching has been very inconsistent all season. |
| Indefatigable | Untiring. | She is an indefatigable hiker and can walk all day. |
| Indisputable | Not able to be challenged. | She’s the indisputable star of the basketball team. |
| Ineffective | Not producing any major impact. | The drug was shown to be ineffective at curing cancer. |
| Inevitable | Unable to be avoided. | Even if you’re healthy, death is inevitable in the end. |
| Infer | To guess based on evidence. | I inferred that she was annoyed based on her body language. |
| Inflate | To increase in size. | Getting a promotion has really inflated his ego. |
| Influence | The ability to have an impact of something. | The older sister has been a positive influence on her younger siblings. |
| Inhibit | To hinder or restrain. | This cleaning spray inhibits the growth of bacteria. |
| Initial | The first. | She was the initial president of the company. |
| Inquiry | An investigation to determine the truth. | Congress launched an inquiry after the senator was accused of taking bribes. |
| Integral | Necessary to complete the whole. | You can’t quit. You’re an integral part of this team. |
| Integrate | To combine. | When making a cake, you need to fully integrate the wet and dry ingredients. |
| Interpret | To explain the meaning of something. | I need you to interpret this German speech for me. |
| Intervene | To come between people, objects, or an event and change what is happening. | When the toddlers couldn’t share their toys, their mothers had to intervene. |
| Intrepid | Fearless. | The intrepid mountain climber reached the top of Mt. Everest. |
| Intricate | Highly detailed. | The pattern on this blanket is so intricate. |
| Invasive | Intrusive. | We found the stranger’s questions too personal and very invasive. |
| Investigate | To examine or study. | The police are going to investigate the crime scene. |
| Irascible | Easy to anger. | Even though my grandfather seems irascible, he’s actually very loving. |
| Irony | The use of words to give a meaning opposite to their literal meaning. | “I love spending my Friday nights doing homework,” she said with irony. |
| Irresolute | Uncertain. | Not sure which direction to go in, he stood irresolute. |
| Jargon | Words specific to a certain job or group. | To be a successful doctor, you’ll need to learn a lot of medical jargon. |
| Jointly | Together. | The newlyweds jointly opened up a bank account. |
| Knack | A special talent or skill. | My brother has a real knack for solving tricky math problems. |
| Labor | Work or effort. | Building a house requires a lot of labor. |
| Lag | To fall behind. | I stayed with the front group of runners for the first few miles, but after that I began to lag. |
| Lampoon | To mock or ridicule. | The cartoonist lampooned the president’s speech. |
| Languish | To become weak; to be neglected. | During winter break, my plants languished since I was visiting my parents and couldn’t water them. |
| Lecture | A talk given to an audience. | The professor will give a 30 minute lecture before the quiz. |
| Leery | Wary. | I’m leery of taking the dark-looking shortcut. |
| Legitimate | Lawful. | The way he became mayor is completely legitimate. |
| Lenient | Merciful; less harsh. | The judge gave the criminal a lenient sentence due to his bad childhood. |
| Likely | Probable. | I don’t have much homework, so it’s likely I’ll be able to go out tonight. |
| Ludicrous | Ridiculous. | His claims about me are absolutely ludicrous. |
| Maintain | To continue at the same level. | She has maintained the same weight since high school. |
| Major | Very important. | This test is a major part of your final grade. |
| Manipulate | To influence, especially in an unfair way. | He tried to manipulate the results of the election. |
| Maximize | To increase to the greatest possible size. | The store’s goal this year is to maximize its profit. |
| Measure | To find the size and dimensions of something. | By measuring the tree, I found it was seven feet tall. |
| Mediocre | Ordinary, average. | The meal the chef made was only mediocre. |
| Mend | To fix. | My mother will mend the hole in my shirt. |
| Method | A way of doing something. | Her method for making bread takes three days. |
| Migrate | To move from one place to another. | Every fall, the geese migrate to Florida. |
| Minimum | The smallest or lowest amount possible. | You need to get a minimum of 70% on the test to pass the class. |
| Misleading | Giving the wrong idea. | The advertisement for the weight loss pills is very misleading since studies have shown they’re ineffective. |
| Modify | To change. | I need to modify my style so it looks more professional. |
| Morose | Gloomy, depressed. | The boy was morose after hearing he didn’t make the football team. |
| Negligent | Lazy, neglectful. | The negligent babysitter invited her friends over while the children were upstairs. |
| Nonchalant | Indifferent, unexcited. | I was hurt when my friend greeted me so nonchalantly. |
| Obey | To follow orders or instructions. | My dog always obeys me when I ask her to sit. |
| Obtain | To get. | The spy obtained the secret codes we need. |
| Obvious | Easily understood. | The large poster of Michael Jackson over her bed made it obvious who her favorite singer was. |
| Opponent | Someone on the opposite side for a game or contest. | The soccer player blocked her opponent’s shot at the goal. |
| Oppress | To unfairly burden. | For the past ten generations the royal family has oppressed the peasants by keeping them in poverty. |
| Origin | The source; where something began. | The explorers are trying to find the origin of the Nile. |
| Paradigm | A typical example of something. | This work of art is a paradigm of the period; you’ll see many examples of it in the museum. |
| Parsimonious | Frugal, stingy. | The parsimonious woman only donated a dollar to charity. |
| Partake | To join in. | My leg was feeling much better, so I decided to partake in the soccer match. |
| Partial | Preferring one option over others. | We can get strawberry ice cream, but I’m actually more partial to chocolate. |
| Paucity | Something existing in very small amounts; scarcity. | During the drought, the town had a paucity of fresh water. |
| Peak | The highest or most important point. | Winning the championship was the peak of his career. |
| Peripheral | Located on the side or edge. | There are some peripheral fights going on at the outdoor concert. |
| Permeate | To penetrate or pass through. | Let the maple syrup permeate your waffles before eating them. |
| Persist | To continue, especially when facing opposition. | I may have lost my last six games, but I will continue to persist trying to win. |
| Pertain | Relate. | How does your question pertain to the lecture? |
| Phase | A period or stage in a process. | In high school, I went through a phase where I only wore black clothes. |
| Poll | A record of opinions or votes. | The polls show that my candidate is going to win the election. |
| Potent | Powerful. | Only take one sleeping pill since they’re very potent. |
| Pragmatic | Practical, sensible. | Your boyfriend is too dramatic. I think you need a more pragmatic man. |
| Praise | To give approval or admiration. | The book is the best I’ve ever read; I can’t praise it enough. |
| Precede | To come before. | The flower girls preceded the bride when they walked down the aisle. |
| Precise | Exact. | When collecting data, it’s important that your measurements are very precise. |
| Prestigious | Having a high reputation. | Harvard is one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States. |
| Prevalent | Widespread. | If more people don’t start washing their hands, disease will become more prevalent. |
| Primary | First; most important. | Maeve’s primary goal in life is to become a doctor. |
| Prior | Previous or earlier. | Prior to becoming a teacher, Elena worked as a book editor. |
| Proceed | To continue doing something. | I’m sorry for interrupting; please proceed with your speech. |
| Progeny | Offspring. | The dog’s progeny all have yellow fur. |
| Promote | To further to progress of something. | I’m promoting this new indie movie so that more people will buy tickets to it. |
| Prosper | To do well. | Dave hopes his new business will prosper and make him a millionaire. |
| Proximity | Nearness in time or space. | The twins hated to be apart, so they bought houses in close proximity to each other. |
| Quarrel | Disagreement or fight; to have an argument. | Nina and her boyfriend always quarrel over money. |
| Range | The distance between two things, often the maximum and the minimum. | The range of ages at the concert spanned from 12 to 65. |
| Rank | An official position or station. | Archibald was promoted to the rank of first captain. |
| Rebuke | To sternly disapprove or reprimand. | After staying out too late, Grace received a rebuke from her parents. |
| Recapitulate | To give a brief summary. | At the end of his speech, the politician made sure to recapitulate his main points. |
| Recede | To retreat. | Two days after the flood, the seawater finally began to recede from our house. |
| Recommend | To present someone with confidence and approval. | I need to ask Mr. Smith if he’ll recommend me for this leadership position. |
| Reform | To make changes that improve something. | Melanie’s father is in charge of reforming to school system. |
| Regulate | To supervise or control a process so that it functions correctly. | Ben needs to regulate how much he eats in order to stay at a healthy weight. |
| Reinforce | To strengthen with added support. | The builders reinforced the house’s wooden frame with steel beams. |
| Reject | To say no to something that is offered. | Lydia rejected my invitation to the homecoming dance. |
| Release | To free; to allow to be known. | The CEO decided to release the company’s profits from last year. |
| Rely | To depend on. | I rely on coffee to get my through my mornings. |
| Reproach | To express disapproval or disappointment. | The coach reproached the players for failing to play their best. |
| Require | To need for a specific purpose. | The camping trip requires that every participant bring their own food and sleeping bag. |
| Resent | To feel bitterness or anger towards someone or something. | I’ve always resented my sister because she is my mother’s favorite child. |
| Resign | To give up an office or position. | Due to his declining health, the mayor decided to resign from office. |
| Resist | To withstand the effect of. | Resist the impulse to have ice cream for breakfast. |
| Resolve | To come to a firm decision. | Matt resolved to get better grades next semester by studying every night. |
| Restrict | To confine or keep within limits. | My doctor told me to restrict myself to one glass of wine a day. |
| Retain | To continue to do something or keep something. | I’ve decided to retain my normal hairstyle. |
| Retract | 1. To draw back in. 2. To withdraw something after it’s found to be untrue. | 1. I felt calmer after the lion retracted its claws. 2. After numerous errors were found, the newspaper retracted the story. |
| Retrieve | To bring back. | Alexis got out of the car to retrieve the ball her little brother had thrown. |
| Rhetorical | Used just for style or impact. | You aren’t expected to actually answer rhetorical questions. |
| Rigid | Stiff; unyielding. | The boys’ father was happy to see the base of the treehouse was rigid and sturdy. |
| Rotate | To turn. | Rotate the sculpture so I can see the other side. |
| Safeguard | Something that serves as protection or ensures safety. | A retirement fund is one way to safeguard your finances for the future. |
| Scrutinize | To very carefully examine. | The judges were looking for perfection, so they scrutinized every entry. |
| Section | A part of the whole. | This section of the stadium dressed completely in red. |
| Select | To choose. | Jane selected a blue dress to wear to the wedding. |
| Sequence | Things that follow each other in a certain order. | Librarians need to know how order books in the correct sequence. |
| Severe | 1. Harsh or strict. 2. Grave, critical. | 1. The robbers suffered severe consequences for stealing. 2. My uncle is currently battling a severe illness in the hospital. |
| Shallow | Not deep. | You don’t need to worry about getting your dress wet. The water is very shallow here. |
| Shelter | To protect from something harmful. | The empty barn gave the men shelter during the storm. |
| Shrink | To become smaller. | Hopefully this cream will cause my scar to shrink. |
| Significant | Important, noteworthy. | The Gettysburg Address was a significant event during the Civil War. |
| Source | A person, place, or thing where something was obtained. | You shouldn’t use Wikipedia as a source when writing school papers. |
| Sparse | Thinly scattered. | The farm was almost empty; there were just a few sparse trees here and there. |
| Specify | To clearly indicate which one. | You need to specify which size shirt you want before I can order it. |
| Speculate | To form a theory without strong evidence. | My sister loves to speculate on the private lives of celebrities. |
| Solitary | Alone; without others. | The hermit lives a solitary existence deep in the mountains. |
| Somber | Gloomy; depressing. | After losing the competition, the chess players were very somber. |
| Soothe | To calm or comfort. | The mother sang a lullaby to soothe her crying baby. |
| Squalid | Filthy and unpleasant. | The shelter was squalid and overcrowded. |
| Stable | Unlikely to change or fail. | We’re lucky to live in a country with such a stable government. |
| Stagnant | Sluggish, showing little movement. | With few new jobs created, the economy has remained stagnant for the past five years. |
| Strategy | A plan to reach a desired outcome. | The football team will need a good strategy to win the game tomorrow. |
| Subsequent | Coming after something in time. | The first king was a good ruler, but subsequent kings have all been corrupt. |
| Substitute | A person or thing acting in place of another. | If you don’t have sugar, honey makes a good substitute for this recipe. |
| Subtle | Difficult to notice right away. | Maya’s perfume was very subtle; you had to get close to her to smell it. |
| Sufficient | Enough to serve a particular purpose. | Make sure you have sufficient food for the camping trip. |
| Summarize | To briefly give the main points. | The class didn’t have time to read the book, so the professor summarized it for them. |
| Supervise | To oversee work or a process. | My dad didn’t think we were old enough to build the fort on our own, so he supervised us. |
| Supplant | To take the place of something else. | The king was supplanted by his treacherous younger brother who locked him in the dungeon. |
| Suspend | 1. To temporarily stop. 2. To hang something from somewhere. | 1. The power outage suspended the school concert. 2. The lamp is suspended from the high ceiling. |
| Suspicious | Having the belief that someone is doing something dishonest or illegal. | The couple became suspicious when they saw strange men removing their neighbor’s expensive electronics during the night. |
| Sustain | To keep going. | I stopped trying to sustain the friendship after he made fun of how I looked. |
| Symbolic | Serving as a symbol. | A cross is symbolic of Christianity. |
| Technical | Relating to a specific subject or craft. | The laptop manual is full of technical terms only a computer expert can understand. |
| Terminal | Situated at the end. | Everyone on the train must get off at the terminal stop. |
| Tolerate | To put up with. | I tolerate the rude man since he is my husband’s best friend. |
| Transfer | To move from one place to another. | Ben’s work is going to transfer him from Chicago to Detroit. |
| Transition | Changing from one state or condition to another. | The transition from student to employee can often take awhile to get used to. |
| Transparent | 1. See-through material. 2. Easy to detect. | 1. The glass vase is completely transparent. 2. Her attempt to flatter the movie star was very transparent. |
| Tuition | The fee for instruction at a school. | College tuition prices have gone up in recent decades. |
| Unobtrusive | Not attracting attention. | The prince’s bodyguards had mastered the art of being unobtrusive. |
| Unscathed | Unharmed. | Ian was lucky to walk away from the car crash unscathed. |
| Upbeat | Happy; optimistic. | Even when she’s having a bad day, my mom always has an upbeat attitude. |
| Unjust | Unfair. | Since I tried my hardest on the exam, I felt my teacher’s criticism of me was unjust. |
| Vacillate | To waver or be indecisive. | She vacillated between the two dresses before finally deciding to wear a skirt. |
| Valid | Just; well-founded. | The soldiers had valid concerns about the battles they’d be facing. |
| Vanish | To disappear quickly. | The plane vanished behind the clouds. |
| Vary | To be different from something else in a group. | |
| Verdict | A judgement or decision. | The jury delivered a guilty verdict. |
| Vestige | A small trace of something that is disappearing or has already disappeared. | The empty castle still had a few vestiges of its former wealth. |
| Vial | A small container used to hold liquids. | The chemist carefully filled the vial with the bubbling solution. |
| Vilify | To speak poorly of; to slander. | Mark was vilified by his angry ex-girlfriend. |
| Voluminous | Taking up a lot of space. | The puffy wedding dress had voluminous sleeves. |
| Whereas | On the contrary. | I always save my money whereas my brother is constantly in debt. |
| Wholly | Completely. | The monk is wholly devoted to his faith. |
| Widespread | Occurring over a large region. | There is widespread poverty across that country. |
| Wilt | To droop and become limp. | Plants will wilt if you don’t water them regularly. |
