IELTS Vocabulary Flashcard

The verb "propose" means "to suggest a plan". There are three patterns:

• propose  something
• propose+ Verb-ing
• propse+ that + Subject + Verb

Example sentences:

• The scientists proposed a new theory.
• The mayor proposed a plan for a new bridge.
• Several senators have proposed raising the tax. (Notice the verb "raise" is changed to "raising")
• If a factory were proposed for my community I would feel obligated to support the construction because the positive effects outweigh the negative influences.    
• Britain is about to propose changes to some institutions.
• Federal authorities proposed a ban on smoking in public housing.

If you propose to your girlfriend, you propose getting married. 

Definition: The quality of being worthy of attention; importance:

Example senences:

• Adolescent education was felt to be a social issue of some significance. The significance of the imports is that those books are priced much lower.

Definition: Sufficiently great or important to be worthy of attention;

Example senences:

• a significant increase in sales. There was a significant difference between the colour of an apple and the colour of a banana.

Something substantial is large in size, number, or amount: If you want to say someone spent a lot of money without being too specific, you could say they spent a substantial amount of money. It is used as a way to be vague about just how large something is.

Example sentences:

• A substantial number of people commute to work each day.
• This will save us a substantial (meaning considerable) amount of money/time.
• Activities like that pose a substantial risk of injury.
• She purchased her tickets at a substantial discount.
• Radio astronomy has led to substantial increases in astronomical knowledge.
• There is substantial evidence that certain forms of solar energy either now or within a few years will be economically competitive with conventional sources of heat and power.

Tremendous means extraordinarily large in size, extent, amount, power, or degree.  We often use tremendous when something is very large but in a good way. For example, “Wow that cake is tremendous!” or “I would like a tremendous amount of money. “

Example sentences:

• He has a tremendous amount of energy.
• The engine's power is tremendous.​
• To become a lawyer, you have to learn a tremendous amount of information by heart
• Walking along the Great Wall of China was a tremendous experience.
• She is a writer of tremendous talent.
• That performance was tremendous!​
• This is a tremendous opportunity.

Abundance is a noun that refers to a large quantity, more than what is needed. It's often used to describe positive qualities, such as "an abundance of love."

Let's paraphrase this sentence using the noun "abundance".

• Fine restaurants are abundant in this city.

Here are paraphrased sentences:

• This city has an abundance of fine restaurants.
• The city has fine restaurants in abundance.​

In the last sentence, we used the phrase "in abundance'.

Here are more example sentences:

• The city has fine restaurants in abundance.
• The flowers grew in great abundance.
• The area has an abundance of wildlife.

If you advocate (for) a particular action or plan, you recommend it publicly. There are three patterns:

• advocate (for) something
• advocate + Verb-ing
• advocate + that + Subject + Verb

Here are example sentences:

• I advocate (for) traditional teaching methods.
• They advocate abolishing the income tax. = They advocate that the income tax should be abolished.
• The plan is advocated by the president.
• They formed a group advocating for changes in the school system.

Definition: Enough or more than enough; plentiful

Example sentences:

• A landing between the ground and first floors is ample enough to be used as a study.

Definition: so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period

Example sentences:

• The trailer remake—with its cheesy music, antiquated graphics and gimmicky sound effects—catapults you back into 007’s past.
• The committee has recommended that all antiquated legal procedures should be simplified.

Definition: Attractive or interesting:

Example sentences:

• Hopefully more people will use the route for exercise and it can also be marketed as an appealing attraction from a tourist point of view.
• Working abroad is appealing to many young people

Attain and obtain are two different words that are often confused with each other by writers but both have their own distinct meanings.

Attain is a verb that means to accomplish, reach, or achieve something through effort. You can attain a goal that you set for yourself or attain a high-ranking position at your job. For example,

• After six months, I attained my goal of losing 15 pounds.
• Joe worked so hard he attained the position of Vice President.
• My parents were able to attain the American Dream and so was I.

Obtain is also a verb, but it means to get, to acquire, or to gain possession of something. For example,

• I obtained the latest copy of The Wall Street Journal.

While attain implies there was some effort put forth to produce an outcome, that is not necessarily the case with "obtain". For example,

• In college, you work hard to attain a degree.

-but-

• Once you graduate you will obtain your diploma.

This is a very subtle difference, but it is important to recognize it. In this example, you are working hard to attain your academic degree, but you physically obtain and take ownership of the piece of paper that is your diploma once you graduate.

Colossal can refer to an item's physical size, like a giant redwood tree, but it can also be used to describe the force or scope of something — like the colossal force of a thunderstorm that knocked down the redwood tree, or the colossal scope of your school project on the history of the redwoods that seems like it will never, ever end.  

Example sentences:

• Their business partnership turned out to be a colossal (meaning massive) failure.
• The meeting was a colossal (meaning huge, enormous) waste of time.
• There has been a colossal waste of public money.
• The task they face is colossal.
• The scope of this project is colossal.

The word conform means following or complying with the rules or law. Someone who usually agrees without giving trouble is a conformist. The word can mean to agree or obey. It is sometimes used with the prepositions to or with minus an object.

Example sentences:

• The animals' behavior conforms to a common pattern.
• Our budget numbers conform with official estimates.
• The building doesn't conform to local regulations.
• She refuses to conform to society's traditional image of a mother.
• Employees have to conform with company rules.
• Citizens should conform to the laws of the land.

Conform is also used to describe the act to do what other people do or to behave in a way that is accepted by most people. Look at the example below:

• Most teenagers feel pressure to conform.

Definition: Compliance with standards, rules, or laws

Example senences:

• The staff expressed the hope that the administration and governing board would act in conformity with these standards. (be in conformity with)

Definition: to communicate; to make something known to others

Example sentences:

• It is extremely rare for a government to refuse publicly to accept an ambassador, meaning that most rejections are conveyed privately.
• A logo should immediately convey a company’s identity.

Definition: expression of an unfavorable opinion

Example sentences:

• The diplomat explained that people were booing, an expression of disapproval.

Definition: Pay no attention to; ignore:

Example sentences:

• They disregarded the no parking signs and were ticketed by the police

Definition: something that captures the imagination

Example sentences:

• The dramatic finish to the game left us speechless.
• Half an hour of exercise a day can have a dramatic effect on your physical well being.

Definition: to make something more than what it is

Example sentences:

• Narcissists typically enjoy conflict and will readily lie or exaggerate to gain the upper hand.
• Like other controversial topics, it is a subject where media coverage is likely to play a role in exaggerating misconceptions.

Definition: to an extreme degree

Example sentences:

• The camera app itself is similar to the stock Android one, and photos are taken exceedingly quickly.

Excess is too much of something, like big-time overindulgence. It is often used in phrases like 'to excess' and "in excess of". 

The phrase “to excess" refers to exceeding the proper amount or degree. For example:

• Eating to excess makes your stomach hurt.
• Spending to excess means you can't pay your credit card bills.

The phrase “in excess of” refers to more than. For example:

• Avoid deposits in excess of $20,000, you will be taxed too much = This means, don’t deposit more than $20,000 at one time, as you will incur high taxes.
• Last year's profits were in excess of one billion dollars.

Excess can also be an adjective to describe "more than is required or needed". For example:

• Excess water spills over the top of the bathtub.
• The oceans and ecosystems can only absorb 3.1 billion tons of carbons leaving an excess of 4.1 billion tons unable to be absorbed. The excess carbon remained in the atmosphere and increased the advancement of climate change.​

Doing something excessively means you are doing it more than a normal amount.

• A person who suffers from OCD may excessively wash their hands.
• People who win the lottery typically spend their money excessively.
• Restaurant meals are often portioned excessively, and some meals can contain as much as an entire day's worth of calories.

Gigantic is an adjective used to describe something that's really big, as though it were made for a giant. You might call a skyscraper a gigantic building, especially if it towers over other buildings nearby.

Example sentences:

• Gigantic (meaning huge, monstrous) waves were crashing on the beach.
• He made a gigantic (meaning huge) mistake when he quit his job.
• She owns a gigantic house.
• She has a gigantic appetite.

Definition: of little importance or influence or power; of minor status

Example sentences:

• If the company can get over entrenched competition and some not insignificant cultural barriers, there’s no reason why America couldn’t get hooked on Line.

Definition: of great size or importance

Example sentences:

• The magnitude of shock waves determines the damage that occurs during an earthquake.
• Industrial transformations of this magnitude didn’t just pop up every day, and the potential for growth was mind-boggling.

Definition: be amazed at; express astonishment or surprise about something

Example sentences:

• It was absolutely a marvel to see exactly how many different websites the free applications would make connections back to from a device.
• The Great Wall of China is one of the world's marvels.

Definition: A relatively small group of people, especially one commonly discriminated against in a community, society, or nation, differing from others in race, religion, language, or political persuasion

Example sentences:

• It seems extraordinary that as liberals we now feel secure enough to impose our own orthodoxies on the dissenting minorities within our community.

A myriad or myriads of people or things is a very large number or a great variety of them. For example:

• They face a myriad of problems bringing up children. 
• The car comes in a myriad of colors. (meaning in many colors)
• There is a myriad of possibilities.
• Our cable providers offer a myriad of channels to watch!
• His brother owns a myriad of video games, more than I've ever seen!

Be aware that "a myriad of things" is singular. 

The word 'myriad' can be used as an adjective, meaning having a large number or great variety.  Here are example sentences:

• The old system's problems were myriad.
• She looked up at the myriad star.

Something that's out-of-date is either old-fashioned or so old that it's invalid. An expired driver's license is out-of-date, and the out-of-date milk in your refrigerator is pretty likely to smell sour.  Another way to be out-of-date is to be hopelessly unfashionable, like grandparents' out-of-date kitchen, with its appliances from 1970. You can also use the words obsolete or outdated as synonyms for out-of-date, for most things.

Definition: in a way clearly seen; not done secretly

Example sentences:

• It is important as a scientist, irrespective of belief, to be as objective as possible and steer clear of overtly political, advocacy, or activist stances.

Definition: being almost of the same type or time;comparable

Example sentences:

• The road runs parallel to the Ottawa River

Definition: Continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition:

Example sentences:

• The attorney's persistent questioning weakened the witness.

Definition: Existing in or yielding great quantities; abundant:

Example sentences:

• Animals were plentiful for hunting, and there was an abundance of wild cereals on the mountain ridges

Definition: to a great depth psychologically

Example sentences:

• Trade, technology and socio-economic change can affect agriculture just as profoundly as changes in rainfall and temperature.
• There are many economists who are profoundly skeptical about China's official data, who think the true figure is a good deal lower.

Proponent means someone who is in favor of something. 

Example sentences:

• She has always been a strong proponent of women’s rights.
• He was identified as a leading proponent of the values of progressive education.​
• He is a leading proponent of gun control.
• You might be a proponent of longer vacations, but your parents are proponents of a longer school year.

Definition: Continue to have (something); keep possession of

Example sentences:

• Built in 1830, the house retains many of its original features

Definition: (Especially of food, money, or some other resource) insufficient for the demand

Example sentences:

• They saw their families and communities through difficult times, when money was scarce and the demands of rural life were very demanding.

Definition: almost not

Example sentences:

• The tender young trees lining the pedestrian walkways would scarcely offer much shade for your picnic.

Definition: The state of being scarce or in short supply; shortage

Example sentences:

• In a market economy it is as easy to fall as to rise, but in periods of scarcity and famine, easier to survive within such a system than outside it. the growing scarcity of resources.

Definition: Confirm or support (something that has been questioned):

Example sentences:

• The release of the film could be halted if a plagiarism claim is upheld by a High Court judge next week.

Definition: not clear; ambiguous

Example sentences:

• My parents are vague about it in their accounts

We often use "vast" to describe something that is large by distance. Things that are described as vast include oceans, seas, deserts, and the surface of the moon. For example

• A vast desert lay before us. 
• I would be very scared to be lost in the vast sea

The following collocations are often used

• the vast majority of something
• vast amounts of something = enormous amount of something = immense amount of something​​
• a vast difference between

Example sentences:

• She has a vast amount of knowledge on this subject.
• Medical students are required to learn and retain vast amounts of knowledge on the path to becoming physicians;
• A large shopping center would require a vast amount of space
• The policy is supported by the vast majority of citizens.
• The vast majority of people in Australia live in big cities.
• In the vast majority of cases, lung cancer is caused by smoking.
• There is a vast difference between them.