Vocabulary Building: Advanced Words and Definitions for Students

Punctilious

Marked by or showing careful attention to set forms or details.

Blithesome

Carefree and happy and lighthearted.

Ostentatious

Attracting or seeking to attract attention.

Edict

A proclamation having the force of law.

Copious

Yielding something abundantly.

Pellucid

Easy to understand.

Vindicate

To free from allegation or blame.

Maelstrom

A powerful whirlpool in the sea or a river.

Interlocutor

One who takes part in dialogue or conversation.

Unilateral

Done or undertaken by one person or party.

Scintillating

Brilliantly lively, stimulating, or witty.

Erudition

The quality of having or showing great knowledge or learning; scholarship.

Performative

Relating to or marked by public, often artistic performance.

Circumvent

Find a way around an obstacle.

Assiduous

Showing great care, attention, and effort.

Cathartic

Providing psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions; causing catharsis.

Juxtapose

To place (different things) side by side as to compare them or contrast them or to create an interesting effect.

Ambivalent

Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

Avant-garde

Favoring or introducing experimental or unusual ideas.

Perfunctory

Lacking in interest or enthusiasm.

Impetuous

Acting or done quickly without thought or care.

Cynical

Distrustful of human nature and motives.

Incessant

Continuing or following without interruption.

Apathy

Lack of feeling or emotion.

Recursive

Characterized by recurrence or repetition.

Homogeneous

Of the same or a similar kind or nature.

Confederation

An organization which consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league.

Litotes

Understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary.

Ubiquitous

existing or being everywhere at the same time

Abstain

to choose not to do or have something

Fortuitous

occurring by chance; lucky

Affinity

an attraction to or liking for something

Whimsical

playfully quaint or fanciful, especially appealingly and amusingly

Affluent

abundance of property: wealth

Bombastic

high-sounding but with little meaning; inflated

Cacophony

harsh or jarring sound : dissonance

Lambent

glowing, gleaming, or flickering with a soft radiance

Abrogate

to abolish by authoritative action

Egregious

especially : conspicuously bad

Enumerate

to specify one after another

Exuberant

joyously unrestrained and enthusiastic

Arrant

being notoriously without moderation

Archaic

very old or old-fashioned

Conciliate

to gain by pleasing acts

Actuate

to put into action or motion

Aggrandize

to make great or greater

Anachronistic

belonging or appropriate to a period other than that being portrayed

Eccentric

departing from what is usual/conventional

Serendipity

make an unexpected or fortunate discovery

Felicitious

very well suited or expressed

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

extraordinarily good; wonderful

Arbiter

a person who settles a dispute or has ultimate authority in a matter

Haughty

arrogantly superior and disdainful

Multifarious

having or occurring in great variety

Proponent

one who argues in favor of something; an advocate

Alchemy

process that transforms something in a mysterious or impressive way