IELTS Vocabulary ebook

Definition: to give as a gift or to give time or effort to something

Example sentences:

• The office was bestowed on him by the chief of state. In 1903 it was decided to bestow degrees on women, and in 1904 to establish women's scholarships.

Definition: (Of language) used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary

Example sentences:

• colloquial and everyday language.

Definition: Causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial:

Example sentences:

• The most contentious issue is likely to be a provision encouraging commissioners to facilitate voluntary co-operation by witness to be heard in private.

When you contrive, you make a plan or a plot. Even though contrive often has a false or cunning feel to it, it is not always a bad thing. Mental effort is always required though, as contrive is often used in connection with inventing schemes and plans to make something happen.

Example sentences:

• The prisoners contrived a way to escape.
• Native Americans contrived [=designed] weapons out of stone, wood, and bone.

Definition: Act against (something) in order to reduce its force or neutralize it

Example sentences:

• Unequally spaced white stripes painted across the road leading up to an off-ramp have been used to create an illusion that counteracts motion adaptation and reduces driving speed.

Definition: escape, either physically or mentally

Example sentences:

• In March, when we are antsy for all things spring yet blooms elude us, we can enjoy dried flowers from natural food and ethnic markets.
• The criminal has eluded the police for months.

Definition: (Of an attitude, habit, or belief) firmly established and difficult or unlikely to change; ingrained:

Example sentences:

• In 1995, Lai founded Apple Daily, taking on Hong Kong's entrenched newspapers in a fierce price war.

Definition: Lose or be deprived of (property or a right or privilege) as a penalty for wrongdoing

Example sentences:

• Those unable to meet their taxes were liable to forfeit their property

Definition: Widespread destruction:

Example sentences:

• A tornado is a funnel-shaped cloud that descends on land, creating havoc and destruction in its wake.

Definition: The ideas and manner of thinking characteristic of a group, social class, or individual

Example sentences:

• But these social ideologies were united in their underlying belief that economic progress was the way to go.

Definition: Too many to be counted (often used hyperbolically)

Example sentences:

• I sat surrounded by flowers and portraits and innumerable tributes to him.

Definition: Diversify (a thing or things) with other things at intervals:

Example sentences:

• Now, during the US war on Iraq, news from the frontlines is seamlessly interspersed with news from the stock markets.

Definition: to be stretched; easily shaped

Example sentences:

• The dancers are attractive, agile, limber and fully equipped for contemporary ballet’s technical demands.

Definition: A movement or series of moves requiring skill and care;A carefully planned or cunning scheme or action

Example sentences:

• Snowboarders performed daring manoeuvres on precipitous slopes. It would seem a shame to turn down such a cunning manoeuvre without a compelling need.

Definition: very small; of little consequence

Example sentences:

• The sale of the building had a minuscule effect on the profits of the corporation.
• To determine a planet’s mass, astronomers typically measure the minuscule movement of the star caused by the gravitational tug of an orbiting planet.

Definition: A subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound:

Example sentences:

• It's not a point of view I've ever heard before, and I may not entirely have got the subtler nuances of it.

Definition: an opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence

Example sentences:

• Our professor encouraged us to dream big about what our life could be like, and not be "boxed in" by ideologies or preconceptions about others.
• It was a lesson in the ugliness of preconceptions, the peril of jumping to conclusions.

Definition: produced or growing in extreme abundance

Example sentences:

• While people can certainly be allergic to eating fish, viewing their aquatic beauty should not cause profuse sneezing.
• The esteemed university was issuing profuse apologies this week after hundreds of early applicants were mistakenly informed that they had been accepted.

Definition: Sending out light; shining or glowing brightly:

Example sentences:

• The bright light was radiant with the morning rays of red, orange, pink, and gold, reflecting brilliantly on the glasslike water.

Definition: Say or do something to remove the doubts and fears of (someone)

Example sentences:

• Her smile reassures David the outfit he chose was a wise decision.

Definition: Bitter indignation at having been treated unfairly

Example sentences:

• There is much poverty and anguish in the world, and it breeds resentment and envy.

Definition: Involving or limited to basic principles;Relating to an immature, undeveloped, or basic form

Example sentences:

• A large proportion are children who have barely obtained rudimentary education and live in shacks without basic amenities. The first digit, or dew claw, is rudimentary but clawed and does not contact the ground.

Definition: The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues; A play, novel, film, or other work that uses satire

Example sentences:

• Through humour, satire, and a range of experiments with language, the collection offers an oblique commentary on Caribbean society. The film is an incisive satire on religion and British society, with the Church of England hierarchy particularly coming in for a skewering.

Definition: widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing

Example sentences:

• A person in this stage also participates in transforming racial and cultural stereotypes, biases, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. People just do not understand the issues, or have stereotyped views of how a lesbian or gay man behaves and use it as a basis to criticise their lifestyle.

Definition: Fail to resist pressure, temptation, or some other negative force:

Example sentences:

• Young people who feel good about themselves are less likely to succumb to negative pressure.

Definition: Strong, healthy, and full of energy:

Example sentences:

• The hunger I felt was the kind you could only get after using up large amounts of energy on vigorous physical activity.
• Her vigorous defense of the case impressed everyone.

Definition: the highest point; the point above the observer that is directly opposite the nadir on the imaginary sphere against which celestial bodies appear to be projected

Example sentences:

• She leveraged her newfound power, bringing the country to the zenith of its post-World World II influence in Europe.
• I have a personal affection for Lincoln’s second inaugural address, and I believe it should be elevated to the zenith of presidential speeches.