Vocabulary List for Reading and Writing Comprehension

Abatement - The ending, reduction, or lessening of something.
Accentuate - To make more noticeable or prominent; to emphasize something.
Adept - Skilled or proficient at something.
Adhere - To stick to a surface OR to believe in and follow the practice of a principle or philosophy.
Aesthetics - Set of principles concerned with the nature of beauty and art, especially the appreciation of how things appear.
Affecting - Evoking emotions or feelings.
Ambiguous - Open to more than one interpretation; unclear or inexact because a choice between alternatives has not been made.
Ambivalent - Torn between two options; unable to decide between two things; does NOT mean indifferent (which means not to care).
Amorphous - Having no definite form; shapeless; ALSO lacking organization or being without character or nature.
Antagonistic - Active opposition or hostility towards something or someone.
Antecedent - Preceding in time or order; a thing or event that previously existed; pre-existing.
Arcane - Understood by only a few; obscure; esoteric.
Arduous - Something that is very difficult, requiring strenuous effort.
Ascribe - Attribute something to (a cause or reason).
Assuage - Make less intense or disagreeable; also to satisfy.

Augment - Make greater or better by adding to it.
Banal - Lacking originality; boring or common.
Belies - Fails to give a true notion or impression of something; disguise or contradict.
Benevolent - Kind, considerate, generous.
Buttress - To support or increase the strength of something.

Candor/Candid - Being open and honest; being frank and straightforward.
Circumvent - To evade; to find a way around something; overcome something.
Cited - A quote from a passage, book, research report, etc., as justification for an argument or claim.
Compulsory - Obligatory; something that is absolutely required.
Conjecture - A hypothesis, opinion, or judgment based on incomplete information.
Consensus - A general agreement.
Conspicuous - Standing out or to be clearly visible; attracting notice or attention.
Contentious - Something that causes debate, disagreement, argument, or rancor between people; something controversial.
Contrive - Create or bring about something intentionally or deliberately (though it probably wouldn't have happened naturally).
Copious - A lot of something.
Corroborate - To confirm or give support.

Dearth - An inadequate, small supply; scarcity or lack of something.
Defunct - No longer existing or functioning.
Deliberate - Done consciously or intentionally ALSO done carefully and in an unhurried manner ALSO to think over and debate or discuss thoroughly.
Denigrate - Criticize harshly and unfairly; disparage.
Denounce - To condemn or harshly criticize.
Depict - Show or represent something; also to describe something.
Desultory - Lacking a plan, purpose, or enthusiasm for something.
Discern - To find out or recognize; ALSO "discerning" can be someone who has good judgment.
Disingenuous - Not sincere; not honest.
Disparage - Regard or represent as being of little worth; belittle, deride, discredit.
Disparity - Difference between two things.
Dispersed - Disseminated; widely distributed or spread out.
Disseminate - To distribute, disperse, or spread widely.
Dissonance - A tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious elements; noise.
Dogmatic - To claim principles as incontrovertibly true and without debate.

Eclipse - An obscuring of light; ALSO to make another person or thing seem much less important, good, or famous; a falling into obscurity or decline.
Elicit - To evoke or draw out a response from someone in reaction to one's own actions or questions.
Emissary - A person sent on a special mission, usually in a diplomatic capacity.
Entice - Attract or tempt by offering pleasure or advantage.
Epitomize - A perfect example of something.
Equivocal - Open to debate or to more than one interpretation.
Esteem - Respect and admiration, typically for a person.
Exacerbate - To make more intense or acute; to make something worse.
Exactitude - Being exact, precise, or accurate.
Extrapolate - To estimate or conclude something by extending the line of reasoning; to infer something from known data.

Foible - A minor weakness or eccentricity (unconventional or slightly strange) in someone's character.
Fruitless - Unproductive or useless; failing to achieve the desired result.

Haphazard - Lacking any obvious organization, unplanned, random; reliant on chance.
Harbinger - A person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another person or thing; a forerunner of something.
Hinder - Impede, obstruct, or prohibit.

Idiosyncratic - A unique feature of a person or thing.
Immutable - Unable to be changed or unchanging over time.
Impervious - Not penetrable; cannot be pierced.
Implicit - Implied though not plainly expressed; ALSO, very closely associated with or always to be found in.
Inadvertent - Not resulting from deliberate planning; done by chance or accident.
Incongruous - Not equivalent OR not in harmony with the surroundings.
Indefatigable - Relentless; persisting tirelessly.
Ineluctable - Unable to be resisted or avoided.
Infeasible - Not possible to do easily or conveniently.
Innocuous - Not harmful or offensive; benign.
Insuperable - Nearly impossible to overcome.
Insurmountable - Cannot be overcome, achieved, or beaten.
Intrinsic - Innate; belonging naturally OR something that is essential.
Irrefutable - Impossible to deny or disprove.
Irreproachable - Cannot be criticized or faultless.

Manifest - To make evident or certain by displaying.
Meager - A small amount.
Mediate - Bring about a result OR to intervene between people in order to bring about agreement.
Misanthropic - Disliking humankind and avoiding human society.
Misconstrue - To misunderstand or misinterpret.
Mitigate - Make something less severe, intense, serious, or painful.
Myopic - Nearsighted; shortsighted; lacking imagination, foresight, or intellectual insight; narrow-minded.