คำศัพท์ IELTS ที่ใช้บ่อย - essential words level 12

A catch 22 situation is a little tricky to describe. It means that you are unable to do something, until you first meet the prerequisite. However, you are unable to meet the prerequisite until you can do the first thing.

An example would be if you had very low grades and get kicked out of your university. You want to transfer to another school that has better classes and professors, but you are unable to get into that school until you raise your grades. Another example would be if you are freshly out of college and you want to get a job, but every job requires experience. You first have to get experience to get a job, but you can’t get a job without experience.

Example sentence:

• It's a Catch 22 situation here. Nobody wants to support you until you're successful, but without the support how can you ever be successful?​

Remember! If you describe a situation as a Catch-22, you mean it is an impossible situation because you cannot do one thing until you do another thing, but you cannot do the second thing until you do the first thing. It’s a no-win dilemma or paradox, similar to damned if I do, damned if I don’t. For example, you can’t get a job without experience, but you can’t get experience unless you have a job. it’s a Catch-22.

Definition: An entertainer who performs spectacular gymnastic feats.

Example sentences:

• The Moscow State Circus is famous worldwide thanks to its spectacular displays from acrobats.

Definition: a stunt performed by an acrobat

Example sentences:

• Stunt doubles do acrobatic stunts such as leaping off buildings, walking through fire and running across trains, cranes and automobiles.

Definition: Secure firmly in position; Provide with a firm basis or foundation

Example sentences:

• Gold anchored national economies, providing the basis for their currencies.

Definition: grow and flourish

Example sentences:

• The tap-to-pay system will compete with this new application in the burgeoning mobile payments market.
• The burgeoning population of major cities is increasing a demand for more service.

The embodiment of something gives concrete form to an abstract idea. A flag is the embodiment of a country. When you talk about embodiment, you’re talking about giving a form to ideas that are usually not physical: like love, hate, fear, justice, etc. 

Example sentences:

• She's the embodiment of all our hopes.
• Some consider him the (very) embodiment of evil.​
• He was the embodiment of the English gentleman.

To embody a role is to fill it completely. If you embody someone, you put him or her "in-body," as when an actor gives a complete and compelling representation of a character. Used in a sentence, “The award-winning actress studied for weeks so could properly embody the character she was playing.”

You can also use embody to describe character traits you see in a person, like, “He embodies truth,” or, “She is the embodiment of goodness.”

The embodiment of something gives concrete form to an abstract idea. A flag is the embodiment of a country. 

Example sentences:

• He is a leader who embodies courage.
• The legislature embodied a revenue provision in the new law.
• The new law embodies a revenue provision.

To enlighten someone means to explain something clearly to him. If your friend is behaving strangely but insists she has a reason for it, you could ask her to enlighten you.We use enlighten as a verb meaning to clear up, to remove confusion. For example, “Can you enlighten me? I don’t understand the wedding plans.”

Have you ever thought long and hard about a problem and then, suddenly, experienced an "ah-ha!" moment? If your answer is yes, then congratulations! You were enlightened or in possession of a clear understanding of what was otherwise mysterious. Let's look at an example sentence

• Children are often enlightened frequently as they are learning about the world.

Enlightenment is education or awareness that brings change, such as your enlightenment about nutrition that leads you to throw out every last bit of your family's junk food. Used in a sentence, “I had an enlightenment that led me to stop drinking alcohol.”

Envision is a synonym of imagine and means to picture something in one’s mind. To picture something happening in the future or the creation of an image that you think exist.

The word “envision” in a sentence is commonly followed by an object.

Here are some example sentences:

• The inventor envisioned many uses for his creation.
• She envisioned a better life for herself.

If you're talking about a typical example of something, call it the epitome. The cartoon character Garfield is the epitome of the fat, lazy, food-obsessed cat. 

Exemplary people excel at what they do and are excellent examples to others.  Something exemplary is so good that it is an example for others to follow. When something is the best it can be or reaches the highest point, it is exemplary and thus worth imitating.

The word exemplary sounds similar to “example” so remember an exemplary person sets a good example. Used in a sentence, “Todd has exemplary behavior, he never gets in trouble.”

Here are example sentences:

• Many people think that Donald Trump's behavior is not exemplary for kids.
• I would like to express my appreciation to CFO Michael Johnson for his exemplary leadership and dedicated service to our company over the past two challenging years.

If A exemplify B, A is the perfect(typical) example of B. 

Look at the following sentences:

• The behavior of a harmless king snake resembling a venomous coral snake is a typical example of visual mimicry. = The behavior of a harmless king snake resembling a venomous coral snake exemplifies visual mimicry.

While exemplifying sounds like a complicated word, it is actually just clarifying something by explaining. Used in a sentence “His story was exemplifying what happened the night of the murder.

Definition: a distinct feature or element in a problem

Example sentences:

• The Cold War has ended; technology has refashioned the biggest industries and the tiniest facets of everyday life.
• You should first consider every facet of what your new life would be like if you are thinking quitting your job to become a freelancer.

Definition: make more extreme; raise in quantity, degree, or intensity

Example sentences:

• Even in this heightened state of cyberattacks, reasonable security measures can be taken to ensure that data and applications are safeguarded in the cloud.
• A very successful interview can heighten a candidate's chances to get a job.

Definition: free from undue bias or preconceived opinions

Example sentences:

• While consultants often claim that they provide an impartial assessment of a bank’s problems, they are also handpicked and paid by those same banks.

An implication is something that is suggested, or happens, indirectly. When you left the gate open and the dog escaped, you were guilty by implication. "Implication has many different senses: Usually used in the plural, implications are effects or consequences that may happen in the future. You might ask, "What are the implications of our decision?"

Example sentences:

• We must consider the long-term implications of the new trade policies. (This means we must consider the effect the policies may have in the future)
• The closing of the factory has economic implications for the entire community
• The low level of current investment has serious implications for future economic growth.
• The research has far-reaching implications for medicine as a whole.
• In refusing to believe our story, he is saying by implication that we are lying.

Definition: incapable of being avoided or prevented

Example sentences:

• Change is inevitable, so preparation is key to maneuver fluidly with the changes.
• Virtually every parent has faced the inevitable problem of disciplining a child for conduct that merely replicates the parent’s own actions.

Something inexplicable can't be explained. It doesn't make sense. You don't want to come to the beach on the most beautiful day of the year? That's inexplicable! Remember that “in” can mean “not” and explicable sounds like explainable, which helps you remember that inexplicable means “not explainable.” Used in a sentence, “The jury’s decision was inexplicable, as there is no way he was guilty!”

Example sentences:

• He had a series of seemingly inexplicable accidents.
• His behavior was extraordinary and inexplicable.

Definition: the early stage of growth or development

Example sentences:

• How much they would lose or gain is a matter of speculation because the legislation is still in its infancy.
• The technology is in its infancy, and changing consumer behavior is half the work.

If you say that something is manifest, you mean that it is clearly true and that nobody would disagree with it if they saw it or considered it. For example:

• Their sadness was manifest in their faces.

The word manifest can be a verb. If you manifest a particular quality, feeling, or illness, or if it manifests itself, it becomes visible or obvious for everyone to notice. For example:

• You might manifest your dislike of school food by stirring it around into a big pile of slop on your tray.
• Their frustration and anger will manifest itself in crying and screaming. 
• A second highly important trait of a good neighbor is to be helpful. This trait additionally manifests itself in various ways. When attempting a household project it is nice to know that a neighbor can be helpful in providing missing supplies or a guiding hand. ​

A manifestation is the public display of emotion or feeling.  An example of manifestation is when a person makes a disgusted face when they eat something they don’t like, or a wife smiles when she sees her husband, thus showing her love for him. Used in a sentence, “You can take this as a manifestation of my love”

Example sentences:

• The first manifestations of her behavior problems occurred soon after she left home.
• Her work with the poor was a manifestation of her compassionate nature.

There is another meaning of manifestation.  A manifestation can be an event, action, or object that clearly shows or embodies something abstract or theoretical. Example sentences:

• New York is the ultimate manifestation of American values.
• Sea-level rise, changes in the jet stream and different water patterns in the Atlantic Ocean are some global manifestations of climate change.

Definition: having many aspects

Example sentences:

• She sees reducing sex assault rates on campus as a multifaceted problem with which universities are just beginning grapple.
• Terrorism is a multifaceted problem, so the solutions should address the political, economic, social and religious layers.
• You need to be multifaceted—and probably multi-personality—and extraordinarily keen to understand the countries you are operating in.

Use the adjective obsolete for something that is out of date. It is a very handy adjective for anything that is no longer used, from words to factories to computer software to ways of thinking. Something that is obsolete has usually been replaced by a newer, shinier innovation.

Example sentences:

• The system was made/rendered obsolete by their invention.
• So much equipment becomes obsolete almost as soon as it's made.
• Their work is now rendered obsolete by machines
• Compact discs made records and cassettes obsolete.
• Downloadable digital music files made compact discs obsolete.

Definition: The quality of being peculiar

Example sentences:

• I just kind of conjured them up out of my subconscious and put them in order of ascending peculiarity.

Definition: Having great power, influence, or effect

Example sentences:

• He gave a potent speech at the convention
• The venom of the coral snake is extremely potent

Use the adjective precarious when something is unstable, dangerous or difficult and likely to get worse. Are you totally broke and the people you owe money to keep calling? You'rein a precarious financial situation! Precarious always signals that help is needed desperately. If your life is precarious or you are in a precarious situation, things could become difficult, maybe even dangerous, for you. If your footing or hold on something is precarious, it is unstable or not firmly placed, so that you are likely to slip or lose your grip. Used in a sentence, “She put herself in a precarious situation by purchasing a car she couldn’t afford.”

Example sentences:

• He earned a precarious livelihood/living by gambling.
• She was in a state of precarious (meaning delicate) health.
• The government is in a precarious position.
• The strong wind almost knocked him off of his precarious perch on the edge of the cliff.
• Our financial situation had become precarious.
• They looked rather comical as they crawled up precarious ladders.

If something is happening or positioned precariously, it's in danger. A glass could be precariously balanced on the edge of a table. You're living precariously if you jump up and down on a lake that's not totally frozen. In your late teens, you're precariously close to the brink of adulthood. When you have one college class left, you're precariously close to having to find a job. Some people like living precariously: they enjoy danger. Other people just get stressed out and prefer to live carefully.

Example sentences:

• The vase was placed precariously close to the edge of the table.
• One of my grocery bags was still precariously perched on the car bumper.​
• The hunter-gatherer lifestyle today survives precariously in remote regions.

Precariousness is a state of being in danger or unsure about something. The precariousness of a small child balancing on a rock wall might cause you to wait below with your arms outstretched, ready to catch her. 

Example sentences:

• The precariousness of your financial situation will not allow us to give you a loan.
• It’s that very precariousness, the authors argue, that can reinforce the power of the normal, as people constantly try to approximate it.

Definition: An earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances

Example senences:

• There are substantial precedents for using interactive media in training

Definition: Strengthen (an existing feeling, idea, or habit):

Example sentences:

• She said the educational system reinforces the idea that there is only one right answer, stifling creativity

Definition: Make an exact copy of; reproduce

Example sentences:

• Cloning will be used for far more than replicating a mammal or reproducing a child. A lot of immigrants finish up replicating the culture they came from.

Retro- means back, -spect- means look (think: spectacles), so the word means literally 'a looking back.'  

"Retrospective" can be an adjective, meaning relating to the past or something that happened in the past. For example:

• Many people take a retrospective look at their lives on birthdays or on New Year's Eve to evaluate events and see how well they've met their goals.
• You could call the yearly evaluation you get from your boss a retrospective review of your work.
• The museum is having a retrospective exhibit of the artist's early works.
• They issued a retrospective report.

"Retrospective" can be a noun.  An art exhibit that covers an artist's entire career is called a retrospective because it looks back at the work the artist has produced over many years.

The phrase "in retrospect" means when thinking about the past or something that happened in the past​ Here are example sentences:

• In retrospect, I should have realized I was going to fail the class.
• In retrospect, I made the right decision.​

Definition: sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction

Example sentences:

• The trade numbers are robust which means consumer confidence is good and we returned a budget surplus.
• He also operates a robust wholesale business, where he delivers his loaves to cafes, restaurants, and other shops downtown.

Definition: concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; not deep or penetrating emotionally or intellectually

Example sentences:

• The fashion industry is often seen as superficial, or for the eyes of the rich and famous only.
• It seems that nowadays the internet makes it almost too easy for the business to establish a superficial relationship with the customer.

When one thing represents something else that's more abstract, it is symbolic 

The phrase "be symbolic of" is often used. For example:

• The hockey team’s mascot was very symbolic of the team
• Wedding rings are symbolic of eternal love.
• The dove is symbolic of peace.
• Yellow clothes are worn as symbolic of spring.
• The change from long to short hair is symbolic of the woman's need for change in her whole life.

COLLOCATIONS

a symbolic gesture

• They fired arrows out to sea in a symbolic gesture of defiance.

a symbolic act

• Lighting the Olympic flame is a symbolic act.

symbolic importance/significance

• The capture of the city was of great symbolic importance.

largely symbolic

• The vote was largely symbolic.

purely symbolic

• Our protest was meant to be purely symbolic.

Use the verb symbolize when you use an image, shape, color, or other simple visual to stand for something else, like when you wear black to symbolize that you're mourning a loss.

Example sentences:

• The lion symbolizes (meaning represents) courage.
• Let’s all wear white to work tomorrow to symbolize we are united as coworkers.”​
• She came to symbolize the women's movement in America
• The use of light and dark symbolizes good and evil.

Tangible and intangible are antonyms. Tangible is something that you can touch or something that can be perceived by your senses. Normally, children are only encouraged by tangible rewards.

If you say, “Wow! You did great” it won’t go very far with a seven-year-old. However, if you say “Wow! You did great!” and also give the child a sticker, they will likely be more excited because the sticker is tangible and something they can look at and feel.

On the contrary, intangible things can not be touch, felt, smelt or tasted. Feelings are intangible because even though you can’t feel them with your senses, you can feel them in your heart. For example, if you are sad, you aren’t able to pick up your sadness and throw it away. You also may feel a lot of joy from intangible things, such as a promotion. Even though your desk stays the same, your pride may be bursting at the seams.

Definition: subject to sharply varying moods; likely to perform unpredictably

Example sentences:

• At the best of times, the temperamental rains come for three or four months and turn dusty plains into green pastures, forests and fields.
• "He can be temperamental, of course ... But when it comes to a crisis, he's the one who is most composed."

Definition: with no preconceptions

Example sentences:

• Even when business leaders do everything they can to ensure that their data are accurate and unbiased, errors can still occur.
• He's proud to be a political scientist, one who takes seriously his responsibility to offer unbiased analysis.

Definition: without a good reason or cause; inappropriate

Example sentences:

• The assumption that a single gene is causative can lead to unwarranted conclusions and an over- interpretation of any genuine genetic linkage.
• In the credit card industry, there are 1,000 rules regarding the use of so-called firewalls that block unwarranted access to sensitive information.