Vocabulary for IELTS
Disconcert – to make someone feel suddenly uncertain and worried.
Sentence – He was disconcerted to find his fellow diners already seated.
Diffident – shy and not confident of your abilities.
Sentence – You shouldn’t be so diffident about your achievements – you’ve done really well!
Didactic – intended to teach, especially in a way that is too determined or eager, and often fixed and unwilling to change.
Sentence – History paintings had to be grand and didactic, with subjects drawn from the Bible, classical mythology and history.
Deplete – to reduce something in size or amount, especially supplies of energy, money, etc.
Sentence – Surely it is an economic nonsense to deplete the world of natural resources.
Deference – respect and politeness.
Sentence – The actress was accorded all the deference of a visiting celebrity.
Zealot – a person who has very strong opinions about something, and tries to make other people have them too.
Sentence – The artistic zealot devoted his life to the completion of a great masterpiece.
Zenith – the highest point reached by a heavenly body (= any object existing in space, especially a planet, or the sun) as it travels around, or appears to travel around, another body.
Sentence – Couture, that zenith of craft, detail and construction, comes closest to approximating art in the most traditional sense.
Malicious – intended to harm or upset other people.
Sentence – A malicious rumour went round that Philip had something to do with the murder.
Manipulate – to control something or someone to your advantage, often unfairly or dishonestly.
Sentence – The thought that any parent would manipulate their child into seeking fame just appalled me.
Mechanism – a part of a machine, or a set of parts that work together.
Sentence – The government is held accountable through the mechanism of regular general elections.
Metamorphosis – a complete change.
Sentence – The difficult time is immediately after metamorphosis, when they must have live food small enough to ingest.
Migrate – When an animal migrates, it travels to a different place, usually when the season changes.
Sentence – Provision, migrate and manage databases in the cloud.
Momentous – very important because of effects on future events.
Sentence – Most of the work for this momentous event was carried out by a sub-committee for which no records exist.
Mundane – very ordinary and therefore not interesting.
Sentence – Couldn’t you place the bends on mundane stretches of the road and leave the spectacular views cleared for observation and enjoyment?
Nadir – the worst moment, or the moment of least hope and least achievement.
Sentence – When they were at their nadir there would be a transformation.
Nascent – only recently formed or started, but likely to grow larger quickly.
Sentence – In this nascent electronic marketplace only an infinitesimal fraction of business transactions are currently handled on the I-way.
Negate – to cause something to have no effect.
Sentence – All societies can, if they choose, negate the tragedy by altering the reward system.
Noble – moral in an honest, brave, and kind way.
Sentence – For them is forgiveness and noble sustenance.
Nominal – in name or thought but not in fact or not as things really are.
Sentence – The managing director has the nominal power but he is a paper tiger, and it is his assistant who actually runs the company.
Notorious – famous for something bad.
Sentence – It was notorious at the time for abysmal prisoner living conditions.
Notwithstanding – despite the fact or thing mentioned.
Sentence – He insisted on going to the football match, notwithstanding his doctor’s advice to the contrary.
