Key English Terms and Their Meanings

Essential English Vocabulary

Enhance your understanding of key English terms with these concise definitions.

Impute

To attribute an action to a particular person or group.

Incompatible

Opposed in nature; not able to live or work together.

Inconsequential

Unimportant, trivial.

Inevitable

Certain, unavoidable.

Integrity

Decency, honesty, wholeness.

Intrepid

Fearless, adventurous.

Intuitive

Instinctive, untaught.

Jubilation

Joy, celebration, exultation.

Lobbyist

A person who seeks to influence political events.

Longevity

Long life.

Mundane

Ordinary, commonplace.

Nonchalant

Calm, casual, seeming unexcited.

Novice

An apprentice, a beginner.

Opulent

Wealthy.

Orator

A lecturer, a speaker.

Ostentatious

Showy, displaying wealth.

Parched

Dried up, shriveled.

Perfidious

Faithless, disloyal, untrustworthy.

Precocious

Unusually advanced or talented at an early age.

Pretentious

Pretending to be important, intelligent, or cultured.

Procrastinate

To unnecessarily delay, postpone, or put off.

Prosaic

Relating to prose; dull, commonplace.

Prosperity

Wealth or success.

Provocative

Tending to provoke a response (e.g., anger or disagreement).

Prudent

Careful, cautious.

Querulous

Complaining, irritable.

Rancorous

Bitter, hateful.

Reclusive

Preferring to live in isolation.

Reconciliation

The act of agreement after a quarrel; the resolution of a dispute.

Renovation

Repair, making something new again.

Resilient

Quick to recover, to bounce back.

Restrained

Controlled, repressed, restricted.

Reverence

Worship, profound respect.

Sagacity

Wisdom.

Scrutinize

To observe carefully.

Spontaneity

Action, unplanned events.

Spurious

Lacking authenticity, false.

Submissive

Tending to meekness, to submit to the will of others.

Substantiate

To verify, confirm, or provide supporting evidence.

Subtle

Hard to detect or describe; perceptive.

Superficial

Shallow, lacking in depth.

Superfluous

Extra, more than enough, redundant.

Suppress

To end an activity (e.g., to prevent the dissemination of information).

Surreptitious

Secret, stealthy.

Tactful

Considerate, skillful in acting to avoid offense to others.

Tenacious

Determined, keeping a firm grip on.

Transient

Temporary, short-lived, fleeting.

Venerable

Respected because of age.

Vindicate

To clear from blame or suspicion.

Wary

Careful, cautious.