IELTS Vocabulary Part – 208

Recalcitrant – Resistant to authority

Sentence: For anyone who has ever struggled to extract a recalcitrant cork from a bottle … the value of a good corkscrew is a given.

Sanctimonious – The pretence of being morally pious to exhibit moral superiority

Sentence: Leaders should deliver the message without sounding sanctimonious so everyone hears it and doesn’t tune out.

Solipsism – The philosophical theory that only the self-existence is known and all that exists

Sentence: Dressing for me has often been a mixture of safe and pleasurable solipsism, alongside a process of curating something interesting.

Travesty – Distorting facts or imitation

Sentence: If we can learn from the travesty of the Hauptmann case, then it will give purpose to an otherwise senseless death.

Ubiquitous – Omnipresent or existing everywhere

Sentence: Apple is working to make Siri a little more ubiquitous, and to that end, is finally opening Siri up to third-party devices.

Vicissitude – An unwelcome or unpleasant change in circumstances or fortune

Sentence: It could have shared the owner’s adventures and vicissitudes, occupied his leisure hours, cheered his bleaker moments.

Vociferous – Something or someone who is offensively/conspicuously loud

Sentence: Younger party members have been more vociferous in registering their dissatisfaction at the foot-dragging over the reforms begun in 1986.

Inoffensive – not causing any harm or offence.

Sentence: All are inoffensive as opposed to products of methane, carbon dioxide formed under strictly anaerobic conditions.

Census – a count for official purposes, especially one to count the number of people living in a country and to collect information about them.

Sentence: The first census of people over 65 in residential care in Leicestershire was undertaken in 1976, with a second in 1979.

Renaissance – a new growth of activity or interest in something, especially art, literature, or music

Sentence: There are probably fewer hard facts about the life of Henry Purcell than that of any other great composer since the Renaissance.

Vendor – someone who is selling something.

Sentence: The Vendor objects to being required to notify the Purchaser of breaches which may come to light between exchange and completion.

Outlive – to live or exist longer than someone or something.

Sentence: The thick-shelled bivalves have greater lifespans than do other molluscs, and turtles and tortoises outlive other reptiles.

Distiller – a person or a company that makes strong alcoholic drinks by the process of distilling.

Sentence: Distillers scrambled to develop processing techniques that would allow them to carve out their own niches.

Emphatic – If someone or something that they do or say is emphatic, it is strong and clear, without any possibility for doubt.

Sentence: The inaugural ball gown was an emphatic announcement that the first lady was going to play the style game her way.

Generic – shared by, typical of, or relating to a whole group of similar things, rather than to any particular thing.

Sentence: The document should list products by generic name with a breakdown of chemical components to avoid confusion.