SSC CGL Tier 1 Vocabulary and Idioms Compilation

A comprehensive vocabulary compilation of high-register words, idioms, phrases, and passage vocabulary based on SSC CGL Tier 1 previous year question patterns.

Abnegate (v)

To give up or deny oneself (a right, a pleasure)

Puissant (adj)

Powerful, mighty

Nebulous (adj)

Vague

Erudite (adj)

Deeply learned; scholarly

Encomium (n)

A formal, glowing tribute of praise

Caustic (adj)

Biting and sarcastic; burn or corrosive

Evanescent (adj)

Vanishing quickly; fading away

Lachrymose (adj)

Tearful; given to weeping

Deleterious (adj)

Harmful to health or well-being

Cacophony (n)

A harsh, jarring mix of sounds

Subterfuge (n)

A trick or deceit used to dodge or achieve something

Extirpate (v)

To root out and destroy completely

Callow (adj)

Inexperienced and immature

Placatory (adj)

Meant to calm or appease

Fulsome (adj)

Excessive, effusive, cloying (especially of praise)

Apogee (n)

The highest point

Mendacious (adj)

Given to lying; untruthful

Quixotic (adj)

Idealistic in a wildly impractical way

Implacable (adj)

Impossible to appease or calm down

Obsequious (adj)

Servilely eager to please, subservient, ingratiating, sycophantic

Soporific (adj)

Sleep-inducing; dulling

Propitious (adj)

Favourable; promising good luck

Oppugn (v)

To challenge or dispute

Illuminate (v)

To light up; to make clear

Demur (v)

To object or hesitate

Zany (adj)

Comically eccentric, quirky, kooky, goofy, clownish

Garrulous (adj)

Talkative, especially about trivial things

Incessant (adj)

Never stopping, unremitting, perpetual, relentless, chronic

Piquant (adj)

Pleasantly sharp or spicy; stimulating

Intransigent (adj)

Refusing to compromise or change stance

Pulchritude (n)

Physical beauty

Incorrigible (adj)

Beyond correction or reform

Exiguous (adj)

Meagre; extremely scanty

Abrogate (v)

To repeal or abolish officially

Haphazard (adj)

Random; lacking plan or order

Incandescent (adj)

Glowing with heat; brilliantly bright

Eulogy (n)

Speech or writing of high praise, often for the dead

Turpitude (n)

Moral depravity; wickedness

Cogent (adj)

Clear, logical and convincing

Lassitude (n)

Weariness; lack of energy

Invective (n)

Abusive, insulting language

Ebullient (adj)

Bubbling over with enthusiasm

Sagacious (adj)

Wise and shrewd in judgement

Complaisant (adj)

Willing to please; agreeable

Opprobrium (n)

Public disgrace; harsh censure

Felicitous (adj)

Well-chosen; apt

Dilatory (adj)

Slow to act; causing delay

Refulgent (adj)

Shining brilliantly

Circumspect (adj)

Cautious; weighing consequences

Obdurate (adj)

Stubbornly hard-hearted; unyielding

Cadaverous (adj)

Corpse-like; pale and gaunt

Coruscate (v)

To sparkle or flash

Pusillanimous (adj)

Cowardly; lacking courage

Obfuscation (n)

Deliberately making something unclear

Vociferous (adj)

Loud and insistent in speech

Chicanery (n)

Trickery, especially in argument or law

Furtive (adj)

Sly; done secretly

Perspicuous (adj)

Clearly expressed; easy to understand

Transitory (adj)

Short-lived; not permanent

Trenchant (adj)

Sharp and incisive (of words or style)

Nugatory (adj)

Worthless; futile

Vindicate (v)

To clear of blame; to justify

Sentient (adj)

Able to feel and perceive

Dissemble (v)

To hide one's true feelings or motives

Impecunious (adj)

Having little or no money

Ostentatious (adj)

Showy; meant to impress

Ephemeral (adj)

Lasting a very short time

Redolent (adj)

Smelling of; strongly suggestive of

Awry (adj)

Off course; crooked

Lugubrious (adj)

Mournful; gloomy

Asperity (n)

Harshness of tone or manner

Pernicious (adj)

Harmful in a gradual, insidious way

Incipient (adj)

Just beginning to appear

Truncated (adj)

Shortened by cutting off a part

Pulverize (v)

To crush into powder

Festivity (n)

Joyful celebration

Recalcitrance (n)

Stubborn resistance to authority

Palliate (v)

To ease a problem without curing it

Anachronistic (adj)

Belonging to the wrong era; outdated

Prosaic (adj)

Dull and unimaginative

Phlegmatic (adj)

Calm; not easily excited

Conflagration (n)

A huge, destructive fire

Esoteric (adj)

Understood by only a select few

Quell (v)

To put down; to suppress

Schizotypal (adj)

Marked by odd, eccentric thinking and behaviour (psychology term)

Cavil (v)

To raise petty objections

Munificent (adj)

Extremely generous

Assiduous (adj)

Diligent; persevering

Hobson’s choice

No real choice; take what is offered or nothing

Make no bones about it

Speak or act frankly, without hesitation

Two strings to one’s bow

Have a second option or skill to fall back on

Show the white feather

Show cowardice

Bury the hatchet

End a quarrel and make peace

Blow hot and cold

Keep changing one’s attitude or opinion

Steal a march on

Gain an advantage by acting first, unnoticed

Fiddle while Rome burns

Waste time on trifles while a crisis rages

Carry coals to Newcastle

Do something pointless or unnecessary

Toe the line

Obey the rules; conform

Chew the cud of reflection

Ponder something slowly and carefully

Cry stinking fish

Run down one’s own goods or efforts