Words Every Adult Should Know

A robust vocabulary is essential for effective communication and critical thinking. This list highlights 150 words frequently encountered in serious writing, informed discussion, and professional contexts. Knowing them strengthens your ability to comprehend, analyze, and contribute meaningfully.

Words with Definition and Example Sentences

NO	Word	Definition	Example
1	Abate	To become less intense or widespread	The storm suddenly abated.
2	Aberration	A departure from what is normal or expected	The test results were an aberration.
3	Abhor	To hate deeply	She abhors cruelty of any kind.
4	Acquiesce	To accept without protest	He acquiesced to the demands.
5	Adroit	Skillful or clever	She was adroit at handling the negotiations.
6	Adulation	Excessive praise	The actor enjoyed the adulation of his fans.
7	Adumbrate	To foreshadow or suggest partially	The introduction adumbrates the main points.
8	Affable	Friendly and easy to talk to	He had an affable personality.
9	Alacrity	Eagerness or cheerful readiness	She accepted the invitation with alacrity.
10	Alleviate	To make less severe	The medicine alleviated the pain.
11	Altruism	Selfless concern for others	Her altruism led her to volunteer.
12	Ambiguous	Open to more than one interpretation	The instructions were ambiguous.
13	Ameliorate	To improve or make better	Steps were taken to ameliorate the situation.
14	Amiable	Good-natured and friendly	She was an amiable host.
15	Anachronism	Something out of its proper time	A sword is an anachronism in modern warfare.
16	Antipathy	Strong dislike	She felt antipathy towards injustice.
17	Apathy	Lack of interest or emotion	Voter apathy is a concern in elections.
18	Appease	To calm or satisfy	He tried to appease the angry customer.
19	Arcane	Understood by few	The document was full of arcane legal terms.
20	Articulate	Able to express clearly	He is an articulate speaker.
21	Assuage	To make less severe or intense	She assuaged his fears with kind words.
22	Attenuate	To reduce in force or intensity	The drug attenuates the pain effectively.
23	Audacious	Bold, daring, or fearless	His audacious plan shocked everyone.
24	Austere	Severe or strict in manner	The monk lived an austere life of discipline.
25	Avarice	Extreme greed for wealth	His avarice led to his downfall.
26	Belligerent	Hostile and aggressive	The belligerent nations refused to negotiate.
27	Benevolent	Well-meaning and kindly	The benevolent king helped the poor.
28	Bolster	To support or strengthen	She bolstered her argument with solid evidence.
29	Bombastic	High-sounding but with little meaning	The speech was full of bombastic language.
30	Brazen	Bold and without shame	She made a brazen attempt to lie to the boss.
31	Brusque	Abrupt or blunt in speech or manner	His brusque reply offended many.
32	Cacophony	A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds	The cacophony of the city kept me awake.
33	Cajole	To persuade with flattery or gentle urging	She cajoled him into signing the contract.
34	Callous	Emotionally insensitive or unfeeling	His callous remarks hurt her deeply.
35	Candor	The quality of being honest and frank	I appreciate your candor in this matter.
36	Capricious	Given to sudden changes of mood or behavior	Her capricious nature made her unpredictable.
37	Castigate	To criticize or reprimand severely	The manager castigated the staff for lateness.
38	Catalyst	Something that speeds up a process	Her speech was a catalyst for change.
39	Caustic	Sarcastic in a scathing way; corrosive	His caustic remarks left everyone silent.
40	Chicanery	Deception or trickery	The company was accused of financial chicanery.
41	Chide	To scold or rebuke mildly	The teacher chided the student for being late.
42	Circumspect	Careful to consider all circumstances and consequences	She was circumspect in her decision-making.
43	Coerce	To force someone to do something	He was coerced into signing the confession.
44	Coherent	Logical and consistent	Her argument was clear and coherent.
45	Complacency	A feeling of self-satisfaction, often unaware of danger	His complacency led to mistakes.
46	Confidant	A person with whom one shares a secret	She was his closest confidant.
47	Connive	To secretly allow or be involved in wrongdoing	The guards connived with the prisoners to escape.
48	Cumulative	Increasing in quantity or effect by successive additions	The cumulative effects of pollution are devastating.
49	Cynical	Believing people are motivated by self-interest	His cynical attitude made him hard to trust.
50	Dearth	A scarcity or lack of something	There’s a dearth of clean drinking water.
51	Deference	Respectful submission or yielding to another	She bowed her head in deference to the queen.
52	Demure	Reserved, modest, and shy	Her demure demeanor impressed the elders.
53	Deride	To mock or ridicule	Critics derided his first film.
54	Despot	A ruler with absolute power and authority	The country suffered under the rule of a despot.
55	Diligent	Showing care and hard work in duties	She was a diligent student who always completed tasks.
56	Disparate	Essentially different in kind	The two cultures were completely disparate.
57	Elated	Very happy or proud	He was elated at the news of his promotion.
58	Eloquent	Fluent and persuasive in speech or writing	The leader gave an eloquent speech.
59	Embezzle	To steal money entrusted to one’s care	He was arrested for embezzling company funds.
60	Empathy	The ability to understand and share others’ feelings	She showed great empathy for the victim.
61	Enmity	The state of being actively opposed or hostile	There was long-standing enmity between the two rivals.
62	Erudite	Having or showing deep knowledge	The professor was known for his erudite lectures.
63	Extol	To praise highly	The coach extolled the team’s performance.
64	Fabricate	To invent or create, often with intent to deceive	He fabricated the story to avoid punishment.
65	Feral	In a wild state, especially after escape from captivity	The feral cat avoided all human contact.
66	Flabbergasted	Extremely surprised or shocked	She was flabbergasted by the news of her promotion.
67	Forsake	To abandon or give up	He decided to forsake his old habits.
68	Fractious	Irritable and quarrelsome	The fractious child threw a tantrum in the store.
69	Furtive	Attempting to avoid notice or attention	He cast a furtive glance at the clock.
70	Gluttony	Excessive eating or drinking	His gluttony led to health problems.
71	Gratuitous	Unnecessary or uncalled for	The film had gratuitous violence.
72	Haughty	Arrogantly superior and disdainful	Her haughty attitude made her unpopular.
73	Hypocrisy	Claiming to have moral standards not reflected in behavior	His hypocrisy was exposed by his actions.
74	Impeccable	Perfect; without fault or error	She had impeccable manners at the event.
75	Impertinent	Not showing proper respect; rude	The student’s impertinent question shocked the teacher.
76	Implacable	Unable to be calmed or pacified	The enemy was implacable and relentless.
77	Impudent	Boldly disrespectful	His impudent remarks offended everyone.
78	Inane	Silly or lacking sense	He made an inane comment during the meeting.
79	Incessant	Continuing without pause or interruption	The incessant noise kept me awake.
80	Inept	Lacking skill or ability	His inept handling of the situation made things worse.
81	Infamy	Being well known for a bad quality or deed	The dictator’s name lives in infamy.
82	Inhibit	To restrain or prevent from acting	Fear can inhibit a person’s ability to speak in public.
83	Innate	Existing from birth; natural	She has an innate talent for music.
84	Insatiable	Impossible to satisfy	His insatiable curiosity led him to explore the unknown.
85	Insular	Isolated or narrow-minded	His insular views made him resistant to change.
86	Intrepid	Fearless and adventurous	The intrepid explorer ventured into the jungle.
87	Inveterate	Having a habit that is long-established and unlikely to change	He’s an inveterate smoker.
88	Jubilant	Extremely joyful and triumphant	The crowd was jubilant after the victory.
89	Judicious	Having or showing good judgment	She made a judicious investment decision.
90	Lament	To mourn or express sorrow	They lament the loss of their beloved pet.
91	Lucid	Clear and easy to understand	His explanation was lucid and helpful.
92	Miserly	Stingy; unwilling to spend money	The miserly man refused to donate to charity.
93	Mitigate	To make less severe or painful	The doctor gave medicine to mitigate the pain.
94	Modicum	A small amount	She had only a modicum of experience in the field.
95	Morose	Gloomy or sullen	He became morose after hearing the bad news.
96	Myriad	A countless or extremely great number	There are myriad stars in the sky.
97	Naive	Lacking experience or sophistication	She was naive to believe the scammer.
98	Noxious	Harmful, poisonous, or very unpleasant	The noxious fumes forced people to evacuate the building.
99	Obtuse	Slow to understand; dull	He was too obtuse to grasp the hint.
100	Officious	Assertive of authority in an annoying way	The officious clerk kept interrupting our conversation.
101	Ominous	Giving the impression that something bad will happen	The dark clouds looked ominous.
102	Opulent	Rich, luxurious, or lavish	They lived in an opulent mansion.
103	Orator	A skilled public speaker	The orator held the crowd’s attention with ease.
104	Ostentatious	Showy or pretentious display	His ostentatious jewelry caught everyone’s eye.
105	Parched	Extremely dry or thirsty	After the hike, she was parched and needed water.
106	Perfidious	Deceitful and untrustworthy	He was betrayed by his perfidious friend.
107	Precocious	Showing early development or maturity	The precocious child could read at age three.
108	Pretentious	Attempting to impress by affecting greater importance	His pretentious attitude annoyed his peers.
109	Procrastinate	To delay or postpone action	Don’t procrastinate; finish your work now.
110	Prosaic	Lacking imagination or excitement; dull	His writing style is prosaic and uninspired.
111	Prosperity	The state of being successful or wealthy	Education is key to national prosperity.
112	Prudent	Wise and careful about practical matters	It’s prudent to save for emergencies.
113	Quell	To put an end to, usually by force	Police tried to quell the riot.
114	Querulous	Complaining in a whining manner	The querulous customer annoyed the manager.
115	Rancorous	Filled with resentment or bitterness	Their breakup was followed by a rancorous feud.
116	Recalcitrant	Stubbornly resistant to authority or control	The recalcitrant student refused to obey the rules.
117	Repudiate	To reject or disown	She repudiated the unfair accusations.
118	Reticent	Not revealing one’s thoughts or feelings readily	He was reticent about his past.
119	Reverence	Deep respect for someone or something	The monk bowed with reverence before the altar.
120	Ruse	A trick or strategy used to deceive	The spy used a clever ruse to escape.
121	Sage	A wise person, especially an elderly one	The village elder was regarded as a sage.
122	Scrutinize	To examine very carefully	She scrutinized the document for any errors.
123	Spontaneous	Performed or occurring without premeditation	His laughter was spontaneous and contagious.
124	Spurious	Not genuine; false or fake	The claim was based on spurious evidence.
125	Submissive	Ready to conform or obey	She was quiet and submissive in meetings.
126	Substantiate	To provide evidence to support a claim	Can you substantiate your statement with facts?
127	Subtle	Not obvious; delicate or precise	The perfume had a subtle scent of roses.
128	Superficial	Existing or occurring at the surface level	He gave a superficial explanation of the issue.
129	Superfluous	Unnecessary or excessive	Delete any superfluous words in your essay.
130	Surreptitious	Kept secret, especially because it would not be approved	She took a surreptitious glance at the answer sheet.
131	Tactful	Showing sensitivity in dealing with others or difficult issues	She was tactful in handling the complaints.
132	Tenacious	Persistent; not giving up easily	He is a tenacious negotiator.
133	Tranquil	Calm, peaceful, and quiet	The lake was tranquil in the early morning.
134	Transient	Lasting for a short time	Their happiness was transient.
135	Ubiquitous	Present or existing everywhere	Mobile phones are now ubiquitous.
136	Uncanny	Strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way	He had an uncanny ability to guess people’s thoughts.
137	Urbane	Courteous and refined in manner	The urbane host charmed all the guests.
138	Venerate	To regard with great respect	Students venerate their teachers.
139	Veracity	Truthfulness; accuracy	He questioned the veracity of the witness’s testimony.
140	Verbose	Using more words than needed	Her verbose explanation confused everyone.
141	Vex	To annoy, irritate, or worry	Loud noises vex him during work.
142	Vicarious	Experienced through another person	She felt vicarious joy watching her friend succeed.
143	Vilify	To speak ill of; defame	The media tried to vilify the politician.
144	Virtuoso	A person highly skilled in a particular art	He is a virtuoso on the violin.
145	Vitriolic	Filled with bitter criticism	Her vitriolic remarks hurt everyone’s feelings.
146	Vivacious	Attractively lively and animated	She has a vivacious personality that lights up the room.
147	Volatile	Likely to change rapidly and unpredictably	The stock market is extremely volatile.
148	Wary	Cautious and watchful	Be wary of suspicious emails.
149	Whimsical	Playfully quaint or fanciful	The whimsical artwork delighted the children.
150	Zeal	Great energy or enthusiasm	He worked with zeal to complete the project.