Advanced English Vocabulary

For the AP LANG Warriors!!

Accentuate

Accentuate

To stress or emphasize; to intensify

Accessible

Attainable, available; approachable

Adept

Very skilled

Advantageous

Favorable; useful

Aggressive

Actively hostile; assertive; bold

Agitate

To upset or disturb

Alacrity

Cheerful willingness, eagerness; speed

Alleviate

To relieve; to improve partially

Amalgamation

Combination, to combine smaller parts into a whole

Ambiguous

Uncertain; subject to multiple interpretations

Amiable

Likeable, pleasant, friendly

Anachronistic

From an incorrect or a different time period

Ancient

Very old; antique

Arable

Land suitable for cultivation (prepare soil for crops)

Archaic

Outdated; from an earlier time

Astute

Having good judgment

Augment

To expand; extend

Autonomous

Separate, independent

Beneficial

Adantageous, helpful

Benevolent

Helpful and friendly

Cacophony

Jarring, unpleasant noise

Catastrophic

Of, or relating to, a terrible event or complete failure

Censure

To blame; to find fault with and condemn as wrong

Challenge

To question or go against

Circumscribe

To encircle; to set limits on, to confine

Clandestine

Secretive, concealed for a darker purpose

Compassion

Sympathy; helpfulness or mercy

Complement

To complete or perfect

Comprehensive

Very large in scope

Compulsion

An irresistible impulse to act

Conciliatory

Overcoming anger, a fight, distrust, or hostility

Concordant

In agreement; in harmony; listening

Confirm

To say yes, to verify, to say it is true

Conformity

Listening to or acting like others; following the rules; similarity in form, character, or action

Confound

Confused, baffled, perplexed

Contemptuous

Hateful, scornful, disdainful

Controversial

Likely to cause public argument or disagreement

Convergence

The state of separate elements joining or coming together

Conviction

A fixed or strong belief

Crude

Blunt, offensive; unrefined, natural

Curtail

To shorten or to limit

Debacle

A total failure or great disaster

Debilitating

Making something or someone weak; reducing the strength of something or someone

Debunk

To show something is not true

Defensive

Protective

Deferment

Putting on hold; the act of delaying

Deficit

A shortage or loss; the amount a person or team is behind in a game or contest

Deliberation

Careful thought or discussion done in order to make a decision; being slow and careful

Delineate

To describe or to clearly show

Demean

To cause someone or something to seem less important or less worthy of respect; to make fun of or to embarrass

Derelict

Failing to complete a job, duty, or task

Derivative

Copied or adapted; ordinary, or not original

Didactic

Teaching; doing something in a way to teach; teaching something in a way that is annoying or unwanted

Dilatory

Causing a delay; slow to do something

Diminish

To make smaller

Discern

To see, hear, or notice something using senses and effort

Discord

Disagreement or tension; lack of agreement between people, ideas, etc

Discrepancy

A difference especially between things that should be the same

Dismissal

The act of being fired, removed, or sent away

Disparage

To describe someone or something as bad, unimportant, weak, etc.; to speak disrespectfully about