IELTS3-5-05.10.

2021

1. Thwart: prevent (someone) from accomplishing something; I don't think that will thwart our
purposes.
2. Sickeningly: in a disgusting manner or to a disgusting degree, sickeningly sweet; sickeningly
excessive violence
3. Envision(v.): to picture in the mind; to imagine (e.g. "I envisioned a utopian society without poverty
or strife")
4. humanistic; humanistic perspective; humanistic psychology relating to humanism
5. dormant (adj.); dormant volcano inactive; in a state of suspension; sleeping
6. obsolete, archaic, antiquated out-of-date, no longer in use; Will computers render books obsolete?;
With technological changes, many traditional skills have become obsolete
7. prodigious (adj.) immense; extraordinary in bulk, size, or degree; He was a man of prodigious
energy; His insatiable curiosity was matched by prodigious energy; They faced a prodigious amount
of work and the odds were against them
8. robust strong and healthy; vigorous; His robust strength made him survive the disaster; He looks
robust and healthy enough; The company is taking a more robust approach to management.
9. clandestine (adj.) secret, concealed; underhanded; We waited until after our parents went to sleep
to have our clandestine meeting about their surprise party; At a clandestine meeting, the two spies
exchanged secret information
10. staunch loyal and committed in attitude; Because Alice is a staunch fan of Sarah Wittier's
writing, she has read all of Wittier's books; The union has shown a staunch commitment to providing
industrial workers with decent salaries and medical insurance
11. adamant unyielding; firm in opinion; Robert, a first year physics student, is adamant in his
decision to peruse a career in engineering; Mom, why are you adamant about me going to school
everyday?; Adamant about winning next year's 10K race, Laura followed a strict training plan.
12. ludicrous ridiculous, laughable, absurd; The ludicrous movie is about a dog that becomes the
president of a country; The idea of comparing Lee's pizza driver salary with the earnings of a
professional athlete is ludicrous; Because John is too lazy to work, his dream of becoming a
billionaire is quite ludicrous.
13. burgeoning expanding or growing rapidly; As car prices go down, car dealers are expecting sales
to burgeon.; The best business decisions will allow a company to burgeon and increase profits.
14. bodacious excellent, admirable, or attractive; After working for several years on the Sistine
Chapel, Michelangelo's bodacious masterpiece has been admired by millions of people; Finishing the
race in record time made a bodacious ending to Sarah's career of running marathons even though she
was running with a prosthetic leg.
15. monumental Massive, very great, very important; The company has enjoyed monumental success
this year, reaching record breaking heights; Although it was a monumental upset for the team, the
coach encouraged the team to view the significant setback as a lesson.
16. haughty arrogantly superior and disdainful; Because she was not nice, the haughty girl had few
friends; Everyone likes Jenna because she is down-to-earth and not haughty.
17. commodious spacious, roomy; I finally found an inexpensive hotel with rooms that are
commodious enough for the whole family; I love this commodious bathtub because I can stretch out
fully
18. capacious spacious; When Janet bought a capacious home, she was finally able to use all the
furniture she had been keeping in storage; Since we have over five hundred people coming to the
wedding, we need to find a capacious venue.
19. minuscule extremely small; Many fast food workers are quitting their jobs because of minuscule
salaries; Even a minuscule amount of one dollar can help feed a starving child in Haiti.
20. grudgingly unwillingly; After losing our bet, my sister grudgingly agreed to do my chores;
Because he owed me a favor, my brother grudgingly obliged to drive me to the movies.
21. secretive concealing; not open or frank; Although his sister shared her feelings openly, the man
was quite secretive about his plans for spring break; A breakout news article threatened to expose the
secretive motives of the mayor and her husband.
22. malicious Intended to hurt or harm, spiteful; Danielle was hurt by malicious comments made
about her on Facebook.; The editor will not publish the writer's malicious article.
23. sway swing from side to side; influence (someone) to change one's opinion; Branches swayed in
the breeze; The lawyer tried to sway the jury; 'HOLD SWAY OVER sb/st' = dominate, have a
controlling influence over
24. furtively Secretively or sneakily; When the professor turned his back, the cheating student cast
a furtive glance at his neighbor's test paper; Though he was furtive with his tears, I could still visibly
see them.
25. overrated not as good as people say
26. caustic (adj.) able to burn or eat away by chemical action; biting, sarcastic; Her caustic remarks made
me sad; Because my uncle was a mean man, he took pleasure in making caustic statements to people;
Elizabeth's caustic personality makes her ill-suited to be a flight attendant.
27. sporadic (adj.) occurring at irregular intervals, having no set plan or order; The doctor decided
to hospitalize my mother because of her sporadic heartbeat; As a result of the storm, planes are
leaving the airport at a sporadic pace; Since my father left my mother and me twenty years ago, he
has made sporadic appearances in my life.
28. invigorating refreshing; stimulating; Some people say the warm springs are invigorating because
of their healing powers; Because I want an invigorating drink that will energize me, I'll have a cup of
green tea; The invigorating jog gave me extra energy.
29. detract (v.) to take away from; reduce in value or reputation; Sharon's dirty clothes do not detract
from her gorgeous appearance; The motivational speaker encouraged the audience to not let others
detract from their joy; When preparing a presentation, remember to not detract from your speech by
adding an excessive number of visual objects.
30. stray to move around; Bored in class, Charlie's eyes began to stray and wander around the room;
When the twins graduated high school, they wanted to drift, stray, and explore Europe for the
summer.
31. repungnant (adj.) offensive, disagreeable, distasteful; Because of your repugnant behavior, I no
longer want to be friends with you; The racist words were repugnant to everyone in the auditorium;
That repugnant smell from the kitchen is making me gag!
32. digressive (adj.) tending to depart from the main point or cover a wide range of subjects; (syn.)
discursive
33. innocuous harmless; Because the virus was innocuous, the hospital staff had no need to worry
about the leak; Although Sarah meant her joke to be innocuous, the people around her took it to
heart.
34. enigmatic mysterious, inexplicable, puzzling; When I was growing up, I viewed my father as an
enigmatic man who rarely spent time with me.; Although I could not understand the enigmatic
message on the blood-stained paper, I knew someone was in trouble; Because Eileen is a genius, her
mind usually works in enigmatic ways.
35. statesmanship skill in managing public affairs, nationally or internationally; He praised the two
leaders warmly for their statesmanship.
36. Disdain: contempt; lack of respect with a feeling of dislike; During the exam, my teacher looked at
me with disdain when I attempted to glance at my neighbor's test; I hold disdain for those who want
something for nothing;
37. dumbfounded astonished and speechless; bewildered; The audience was dumbfounded when the
singer walked on stage and then left without singing a word.; Even the experienced critic was
dumbfounded after watching what he called the worst movie ever.
38. incredulous disbelieving, skeptical; The lottery winner was incredulous and could not believe his
good fortune; Miriam's envious friends were incredulous about her engagement to a wealthy doctor;
The bank teller gave Kurt an incredulous look when he deposited a real check for twenty million
dollars.
39. obdurate stubborn; unyielding; Although the hurricane was rapidly coming their way, the
townspeople were obdurate and did not leave their homes; The protestors were obdurate and did not
move even when the police arrived.
40. discordant lacking harmony or agreement; harsh or unpleasant in sound; Without proper
guidance, the band produces discordant music that no one wants to hear; Janet bought earplugs to
block out the discordant noise that came from her neighbor's house.
41. blaring loud and harsh (noise); The irritated parents kept asking their son to turn down his blaring
radio; Harry turned off the TV after the blaring noise gave him a headache
42. harmonic relating to harmony
43. cacophony A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds; Sometimes, it seems as though the dogs in our
neighborhood bark together to create a cacophony that wakes me up every morning; The cacophony
in the crowded classroom drowned out the principal's announcement.