IELTS Vocabulary

Awful – extremely bad or unpleasant.

Sentence – He dressed them down for the awful performance.

To demonstrate – to show or make something clear.

Sentence – Thousands of people gathered to demonstrate against the new proposals.

Adult – a person or animal that has grown to full size and strength.

Sentence – Offering advice on each and every problem will undermine her feeling of being adult.

Measure – to discover the exact size or amount of something.

Sentence – The Treasury has decided to raise interest rates as a pre-emptive measure against inflation.

Divide – to (cause to) separate into parts or groups.

Sentence – Latest statistics suggest the North/South divide is becoming even more pronounced.

Manmade – artificial rather than natural.

Sentence – Photonic crystal a manmade crystal in which dielectric media with different refractive index is arranged periodically.

To put sth. Back – to return an object to where it was before it was moved.

Sentence – But a long-running dispute by benefit staff forced the council to put back its own deadline for thousands of outstanding benefit claims.

Cussed – used to describe people who are unwilling to be helpful, or things that are annoying.

Sentence – While she had inherited from her father, and the stallion’s father before him, a stubborn and cussed temperament.

Loveable – having qualities that make a person or animal easy to love.

Sentence – At that moment the doubtful attractiveness of Romola’s face was transfigured to the most loveable womanliness by mingled pity and affection.

Obdurate – extremely determined to act in a particular way and not to change despite what anyone else says.

Sentence – Parts of the administration may be changing but others have been obdurate defenders of the status quo.

Intermittent – not happening regularly or continuously; stopping and starting repeatedly or with periods in between.

Sentence – Frequent church hopping, intermittent attendance and inappropriate outbursts of anger by the husband can also be signals.

Drastic – (especially of actions) severe and sudden or having very noticeable effects.

Sentence – The clear message of the scientific reports is that there should be a drastic cut in car use.

Moreover – (used to add information) also and more importantly.

Sentence – Moreover, the specific Newtonian scheme has given rise to a remarkable body of mathematical ideas known as classical mechanics.

Detached – indifferent.

Sentence – Five destroyers were detached to carry out a bombardment of the port.

Immaculate – perfectly clean or tidy.

Sentence – The Hilliard Ensemble, using six male voices, gives immaculate performances that are rhythmically alive and expressive.

Dedicated – believing that something is very important and giving a lot of time and energy to it.

Sentence – They had joined a religious order and dedicated their lives to prayer and good works.

Ignorant – not having enough knowledge, understanding, or information about something.

Sentence – We went to bed that night blissfully ignorant of the storm to come.

Constant – happening a lot or all the time.

Sentence – Constant indulgence in bad habits brought about his ruin.

Intolerant – disapproving of or refusing to accept ideas or ways of behaving that are different from your own.

Sentence – But close examination showed that species intolerant of acid conditions or high nitrogen levels were not reappearing.

Congested – too blocked or crowded and causing difficulties.

Sentence – He argued the congested roads and lack of parking spaces adversely affected the town’s all-important tourist industry by putting off visitors.