Vocabulary For IELTS

Fractious – easily upset or annoyed, and often complaining.

Sentence – On the third day of the car trip, the children became fractious, bickering over who had more space in the back seat.

Galvanize – to cause someone to suddenly take action, especially by shocking or exciting them in some way

Sentence – My grandfather’s battle with Alzheimer’s galvanized me, leading me to choose medicine as a career.

Imperious – unpleasantly proud and expecting to be obeyed

Sentence – Despite being the youngest and smallest person in the house, my little sister is imperious and insists on telling everyone what to do.

Impetus – something that encourages a particular activity or makes that activity more energetic or effective

Sentence – The number of children coming to school hungry served as the school’s impetus for creating a free breakfast program.

Insouciant – relaxed and happy, with no feelings of worry or guilt

Sentence – The rain began to fall, but she turned her face up to it with the insouciant joy of someone who doesn’t mind forgetting an umbrella.

Interlocutor – someone who is involved in a conversation and who is representing someone else

Sentence – The interlocutors paused their conversation and turned to look as she walked into the room.

Lionize – to make someone famous, or to treat someone as if they were famous

Sentence – In the North, people began to lionize Abraham Lincoln soon after his assassination.

Melange – a mixture, or a group of different things or people

Sentence – His room was a melange of toy cars, books, tennis shoes, and collected rocks.

Metanoia – change in one’s way of life resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion.

Sentence – The conquering country required complete metanoia from those it ruled; they must believe in the ideals of the rulers, not just pay lip service.

Myriad – a very large number of something

Sentence – There was no single reason she decided to move across the country; a myriad of factors influenced her choice.

Noisome – very unpleasant and offensive

Sentence – The cooler of fish, forgotten in the trunk of the car, began to emit a noisome odor after a few days.

Obfuscate – to make something less clear and harder to understand, especially intentionally

Sentence – While making bread is really a very simple process, his explanation of the different types of yeast and flour served to obfuscate the concept.

Odious – extremely unpleasant and causing or deserving hate

Sentence – With his sweaty t-shirt exposing six inches of his midsection and his politically offensive baseball cap, the odious man did not seem like a good suitor.

Ostensibly – appearing or claiming to be one thing when it is really something else

Sentence – Sam was ostensibly going to the grocery store, but even his wife knew he was really meeting his girlfriend.

Paucity – the fact that there is too little of something

Sentence – The number of people who text and drive shows there is a paucity of common sense in the modern world.

Penultimate – second from the last

Sentence – Someone will always take the penultimate slice of pizza, but everyone is afraid to take the last slice for fear someone else may want it.