50 Difficult Words with Meanings and
Examples
Abnegation: Renouncing a
belief or doctrine
Example: “I believe in the abnegation of political
power”
Aggrandize : enhance power,
wealth or status
Example: It was an action intended to aggrandize the
Frankish dynasty.
Alacrity : Eagerness
Example: He accepted the invitation with alacrity.
Anachronistic :
misplaced chronologically
Example: He is rebelling against the anachronistic
morality of his parents.
Archetypal : quintessential of a certain kind
Example: She is the archetypal country doctor.
Ascetic : one who
practices self-denial as part of spiritual discipline
Example: She has adopted an ascetic life of prayer,
fasting, and manual labour.
Beguile : influence
someone in a deceptive way
Example: He beguiled the voters with his good looks.
Blandishment :
intentional flattery for persuasion
Example: The blandishments of the travel brochure.
Cajole : persuade by
flattery or coaxing
Example: He hoped to cajole her into selling the house.
Callous : disregard for
others
Example: Her callous comments about the murder made me
shiver.
Camaraderie : a sense of
solidarity arising out of familiarity and sociability
Example: I like the enforced camaraderie of office life.
Circumlocution :
expressing someone in an indirect way.
Example: His admission came after years of
circumlocution.
Clamor : proclaim something
noisily
Example: The questions rose to a clamour in the
meeting.
Cognizant : awareness or
realization
Example: Politicians must be cognizant of the political
boundaries within which they work.
Construe : interpret or
assign meaning
Example: His words could hardly be construed as an
apology.
Convivial : enjoyable
atmosphere or jovial company
Example: It is a convivial cocktail party.
Demagogue : a political
leader who uses rhetoric to appeal to prejudices and desires of ordinary
citizens
Example: The minister is a gifted demagogue with
particular skill in manipulating the press.
Denigrate : belittle someone
Example: There are many doom and gloom merchants who
denigrate their own country.
Didactic : instructive with
a moral intent
Example: It is a didactic novel that set out to expose
social injustice.
Disparate : of a distinct
kind
Example: They inhabit disparate worlds of thought.
Eclectic : deriving the
best ideas and styles from a diverse range of sources
Example: My university is offering an eclectic mix of
courses.
Egregious : reprehensible or
outrageously bad
Example: It is an egregious abuse of copyright.
Embezzlement :
misappropriation of funds
Example: He has charges of fraud and embezzlement.
Enervate : lacking in
vitality or mentally/ morally drained
Example: The weather has an enervating heat today.
Ephemeral : lasting for a
short duration
Example: Fads are ephemeral: new ones regularly drive
out the old.
Equanimity : maintaining
composure in stressful situations
Example: He accepted both the good and the bad with
equanimity.
Fatuous : devoid of
intelligence
Example: It was a fatuous comment.
Gratuitous : uncalled for or
unwarranted
Example: Gratuitous violence was reported.
Iconoclast : someone who
criticizes or attacks cherished ideas and beliefs
Example: His son Gegnesius in 722 was taken to
Constantinople, where he won over to his opinions the iconoclast emperor, Leo
the Isaurian.
Idiosyncratic :
something peculiar to an individual
Example: He emerged as one of the great, idiosyncratic
talents of the nineties.
Incumbent :something that is
morally binding
Example: The government realized that it was incumbent
on them to act.
Inveterate : habitual
Example: She is an inveterate gambler.
Libertarian : someone who
cherishes ideas of free will
Example: He is studying libertarian philosophy.
Licentious : someone who is
promiscuous
Example: The ruler’s tyrannical and licentious
behaviour.
Largess : Kindness or
Generosity in bestowing gifts or money
Example: The king can’t bestow these costly jewels with
such largess
Multifarious :
multifaceted or diverse
Example: The university offers multifarious activities.
Obdurate : being stubborn
and refusing to change one’s opinion
Example: I argued this point with him, but he was
obdurate.
Ostracism : excluding a
person or certain section from society by majority consent
Example: “I argued this point with him, but he was
obdurate”
Pejorative : showing
disapproval
Example: Permissiveness is used almost universally as a
pejorative term.
Pertinacious :
someone who is stubbornly unyielding
Example: She worked with a pertinacious resistance to
interruptions.
Phlegmatic : expressing
little or no emotion
Example: He portrays the phlegmatic British character
on the show.
Promulgate : to broadcast or
announce
Example: These objectives have to be promulgated within
the organization.
Quotidian : something that
is of daily occurrence
Example: The car sped noisily off through the quotidian
traffic.
Recalcitrant :
resistant to authority
Example: A class of recalcitrant fifteen-year-olds
raided the store.
Sanctimonious :
pretense of being morally pious to exhibit moral superiority
Example: What happened to all the sanctimonious talk
about putting his family first?
Solipsism : the
philosophical theory that only the self-existence is known and all that exists
Example: We cannot avoid the popularity of solipsism
mentality.
Travesty : distorting facts
or imitation
Example: The absurdly lenient sentence is a travesty of
justice.
Ubiquitous : omnipresent or
existing everywhere
Example: His ubiquitous influence was felt by all the
family.
Vicissitude : an unwelcome or
unpleasant change in circumstances or fortune
Example: Her husband’s sharp vicissitudes of fortune.
Vociferous : something or
someone who is offensively/ conspicuously loud.
Example: He was a vociferous opponent of the takeover.
20 More Words
Abject : Experienced or present
to the maximum degree
“The result plunged her into abject misery”
Abscond : Leave hurriedly
and secretly
“After her secret was revealed she absconded from the
party”
Bereft : Deprived of or
lacking“
The house bereft of colours and painting”
Calumny : The making of
false and defamatory statements about someone in order to damage their
reputation
“He doesn’t seem like a person who would spread a
calumny of others”
Capitulate : Cease to resist
an opponent or an unwelcome demand
“Our forces were prepared to capitulate enemies”
Umbrage : Annoyance or
offence
“She took umbrage of his rude comment.”
Emollient : Having the
quality of softening or soothing the skin
“I prefer using an emollient shampoo over others”
Dirge : A lament for the dead,
especially one forming part of a funeral rite
“When Rachel sang a dirge for her father, everyone had
teary eyes”
Dispel : make doubt disappear
“The calmness of the morning dispel Ross’s
disappointment”
Epistolary : In the form of
letters
“My grandparent’s college times epistolary collection
is very interesting.”
Exacerbate : To make a
situation, a bad feeling or a problem worse
Example: According to a survey stress can cause or
exacerbate health conditions the humans.
Forbearance :
Self-control, Patience, Tolerance
Example: Without forbearance, Ray wouldn’t have cleared
his house loan.
Gourmand: A person who
likes and enjoys eating food
Example: If you are a dessert gourmand, then you must
try Kentucky Cholocalate Pie.
Heterogeneous :
Diverse in content or character
Example: I gave him heterogeneous ideas for his
master’s thesis topics.
Impecunious : Having less
money or no money at all
Example: After buying a new house, Sam was so
impecunious that he couldn’t even afford Christmas cards.
Pellucid : Clear, Easy to
understand, comprehensible
Example: His pellucid explanation on why he wants to
leave the job made higher authorities release him without any conditions.
Philanthropic :
An organisation or person promoting the welfare of others
Example: Because of the financial aid received by the
philanthropic bodies, Kate managed to complete her higher education.
Protean : Frequently
changing, Trending, Versatile
Example: Vicky Kaushal is a protean actor who is
capable of performing any kind of role.
Spurious : Illegitimate,
False
Example: They made spurious claims of accidents just to
get the insurance funds.

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