Upper Level Vocabulary

To lower in rank, prestige, or esteem; to degrade.

A departure from what is normal or expected.

To formally renounce or reject a belief or claim.

To renounce or give up a right or privilege.

To shorten or condense a written work without losing meaning.

To leave hurriedly and secretly to escape detection.

To deliberately refrain from doing something.

Showing restraint, especially in eating and drinking.

Difficult to understand; obscure.

To make more noticeable or prominent; to emphasize.

Enthusiastic public praise.

An award or expression of praise.

Sharp and forthright in tone; harsh or biting.

The highest point or peak of achievement.

Bitterness or ill feeling in speech or manner.

The ability to make good judgments and quick decisions.

The ability to change to fit new situations.

A change that makes something better suited to its surroundings.

The process of running an organization or government.

Clever or skillful, especially in handling situations.

Excessive admiration or flattery.

People or companies that pay to promote products or services.

Friendly, good-natured, and easy to talk to.

Having a great deal of money; wealthy.

To increase the power, status, or wealth of.

Ready to attack or confront; forceful and pushy.

Brisk and cheerful readiness or eagerness.

A medieval practice aimed at transforming base metals into gold; a mysterious transformation.

To claim without proof.

A story or image with a hidden moral or political meaning.

Distant and uninvolved; cool.

Selfless concern for the well-being of others.

To combine or unite to form one organization or structure.

A state of being unclear or having more than one meaning.

A strong desire to achieve something.

To make something bad or unsatisfactory better.

Open and responsive to suggestion; easily persuaded.

Making something louder, stronger, or more noticeable.

Something placed in the wrong historical period.

Comparable in certain respects; similar in function.

Something or someone that is intensely disliked or loathed.

The act of taking over a territory and adding it to another country.

Something that deviates from what is standard or expected.

Extremely old-fashioned or outdated.

A deep-seated feeling of dislike or aversion.

Of doubtful authenticity, though widely circulated as true.

To calm by giving in to demands.

To assess the value or quality of.

A person learning a trade or craft from a skilled worker.

Approval or praise, especially formal or official.

A person who settles a dispute or has ultimate authority.

Understood by few; mysterious or secret.

Very old or old-fashioned; no longer in common use.

A very typical example or original model of a person or thing.

The branch of math that deals with numbers and basic calculations.

Having an exaggerated sense of importance.

A person who practices severe self-discipline; characterized by abstinence.

An attack on someone's reputation; a damaging remark.

A useful or valuable thing or person.

Showing great care and perseverance; diligent.

To make an unpleasant feeling less intense; to soothe.

Something believed to be true without proof.

A wasting away of body tissue; to gradually decline in effectiveness.

Showing a willingness to take bold risks.

Bold courage, often mixed with daring or rudeness.

The people watching or listening to a performance, speech, or show.

To make greater in size or amount.

To give official permission for something to happen.

The fact of being the creator or writer of a work.

Acting independently or under its own control.

Extreme greed for wealth or material gain.

A statement accepted as true without proof; a self-evident truth.

Threatening harm; menacing or hostile.

So lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring.

A cause of great distress or annoyance.

Playful and friendly exchange of remarks.

Demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight.

Hostile and aggressive.

To express sorrow or discontent over something.

A person who gives money or other help to a cause.

To leave property or a legacy to someone in a will.

To scold or criticize someone angrily.

Deprived of or lacking something, especially a loved one.

To trouble or threaten persistently.

Showing a casual and cheerful indifference.

High-sounding but with little meaning; inflated language.

A thing that is helpful or beneficial.

Belonging to the middle class; conventional in values.

A sudden, important discovery or advance.

Relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside.

Following many strict rules and paperwork steps of an organization.

To begin to grow or increase rapidly; to flourish.

To polish something by rubbing; to enhance a reputation.

A hidden store of things.

A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds.

A rhythmic flow of sounds or words; a modulation in voice.

To persuade someone by sustained coaxing or flattery.

Showing a cruel disregard for the feelings of others.

The making of false and defamatory statements; slander.

To surrender or give in to an opponent's demands.

To reprimand someone severely; to punish harshly.

Unambiguously explicit and direct; absolute.

Groups into which things are sorted based on shared traits.

Sarcastic in a scathing and bitter way; chemically burning.

Showing a lack of proper concern; offhandedly dismissive.

To give up power, territory, or rights.

Widely admired and well known for some quality or achievement.

Controlled from one main place or authority.

A person falsely claiming to have special knowledge or skill.

To rebuke or reprimand severely.

The use of trickery to achieve a political or legal purpose.

A narrow passage that limits how much can flow or pass through.

To plan or arrange movements or actions in a careful sequence.

Persisting for a long time; constant.

Rude in a mean-spirited and surly way.

Longer than the most direct way; roundabout.

To restrict or limit the scope of something.

To make something clearer or easier to understand.

The quality of being clear and easy to understand.

Relating to thinking, reasoning, or remembering.

Done by working together as a team.

Used in ordinary or familiar conversation; informal.

To honor the memory of a person or event with a ceremony or monument.

Corresponding in size, degree, or extent; proportionate.

Related to buying, selling, or making money.

In a way related to business or selling products.

A raw material or product that can be bought and sold.

A person or device that shares information with others.

Able to work, exist, or fit together with something else.

A collection of concise but detailed information.

A contest in which people or groups try to win or do better than others.

A feeling of being so satisfied that you stop trying to improve.

Made up of many connected parts and hard to understand.

The state of being involved with others in wrongdoing.

Pressed or squeezed into a smaller space.

Intended or likely to placate or pacify.

A channel for conveying water, information, or ideas.

A feeling of trust in oneself or in someone or something else.

To merge two or more things, often erroneously.

Pleasant because of a personality that suits one's own.

An expert judge in matters of fine art or taste.

To make or declare something sacred; to dedicate formally.

Having big results or effects.

To comfort someone in grief or disappointment.

To combine separate parts into one stronger whole.

A limit or restriction that controls what is possible.

Showing great skill and flair; to make complete or perfect.

The act of using up or eating something.

Sharing a common border; touching or adjacent.

Feeling or expressing remorse for wrongdoing.

The state of feeling remorseful and penitent.

A person or device that directs how something works.

A confusing and difficult problem or question.

Friendly, lively, and enjoyable in atmosphere.

To organize different parts so they work well together.

The organizing of different parts so they work together.

Familiar with and at ease in many different cultures.

Not openly acknowledged or displayed; secret.

The quality of being believable and trustworthy.

Having a tendency to believe things too readily.

In a natural or raw state; rough.

To reach a climax or point of highest development.

Deserving blame or censure for wrongdoing.

A strong desire to know or learn something.

A bad-tempered or surly person, especially an older one.

Hasty and therefore not thorough or detailed.

A scarcity or lack of something.

Moral or cultural decline, especially after a peak.

The act of tricking or misleading.

In a way that seems different from how things really are.

To kill or destroy a large proportion of.

Behavior in keeping with good taste and propriety.

To publicly denounce or criticize.

Showing respect and esteem due to a superior.

No longer existing or functioning.

Causing harm or damage.

To describe or portray something precisely.

A political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices.

To make something open and available to all people.

The act of tearing down a building.

To raise doubts or objections; to show reluctance.

To criticize unfairly; to disparage.

An inhabitant or occupant of a particular place.

Able to be counted on or trusted.

To remove from office suddenly and forcefully.

In very poor condition from neglect; a person without a home or resources.

To express contempt for; to ridicule.

Imitative of the work of another; not original.

A person descended from a particular ancestor.

To treat a sacred place or thing with violent disrespect.

Chosen and officially named for a particular purpose.

In low spirits from loss of hope or courage.

A ruler who holds absolute power, typically exercising it cruelly.

The place a person or thing is traveling to.

Badly destroyed or deeply saddened.

Causing severe damage or deep shock.

Showing cleverness in a dishonest way.

Deeply religious or sincere.

Showing skill and cleverness, especially with the hands.

A forceful and bitter verbal attack.

A division or contrast between two things.

Intended to teach or instruct, often excessively.

Modest or shy because of a lack of self-confidence.

Slow to act; tending to cause delay.

A person who cultivates an interest without real commitment.

Extremely or unusually small.

Skillful at handling people or situations without causing offense.

A mournful song or piece of music for the dead.

To persuade someone that a belief is mistaken.

To perceive or recognize with clarity.

A state of confusion about where you are or what is happening.

To regard or represent as being of little worth.

Essentially different in kind; not able to be compared.

Not influenced by strong emotion; rational and impartial.

Causing a big change or break in how things are done.

To conceal one's true motives or feelings.

To spread information or knowledge widely.

A person who opposes official policy; in opposition.

A lack of harmony or agreement; a harsh combination of sounds.

To extract the essential meaning or most important aspects of.

The state of no longer being used.

Tending to be different or to develop in different directions.

To deprive someone of power, rights, or possessions.

Easily managed or taught; submissive.

Inclined to lay down principles as undeniably true.

Expressing sorrow; mournful.

Deceitfulness; double-dealing.

The quality of lasting a long time without wearing out.

Cheerful and full of energy; enthusiastically excited.

To instruct or improve someone morally or intellectually.

Vivacious and enthusiastic; giving off bubbles.

Successful in producing a desired or intended result.

Insolent or impertinent behavior; audacious rudeness.

Believing in or based on the principle of equal rights for all.

Outstandingly bad; shocking.

A poem or song of mourning for the dead.

The height of a place above sea level.

To make something clear; to explain.

Abnormally thin or weak, especially from illness or hunger.

To make more attractive by adding decorative details; to exaggerate.

To involve deeply in a conflict or difficult situation.

Based on observation or experience rather than theory.

To restrict or burden someone or something.

In danger of harm or of dying out as a species.

Native to and restricted to a certain place; widespread in an area.

To declare approval or support of.

To cause someone to feel drained of energy.

To cause or give rise to a feeling or situation.

Difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious.

A feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction from lack of excitement.

A large or ambitious project, often a business.

To mention things one by one; to count or list.

A pithy saying or remark expressing an idea cleverly.

A person or thing that is a perfect example of a quality.

A period of time in history or a person's life.

Mental calmness and composure, especially in a difficult situation.

A state of balance.

Open to more than one interpretation; ambiguous.

To use ambiguous language to conceal the truth.

Having or showing great knowledge or learning.

To deliberately avoid or keep away from.

Intended for or understood by only a small group with special knowledge.

To adopt or support a cause, belief, or way of life.

Extremely delicate and light; heavenly or celestial.

A speech or piece of writing praising someone highly, especially one who has recently died.

A mild or indirect word substituted for one considered too harsh.

To escape or avoid, especially by cleverness.

Soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; fleeting.

Facts or signs that show whether something is true.

To make a problem or negative feeling worse.

To hold in very high regard; to elevate in rank or power.

Digs that uncover objects or structures buried in the ground.

To criticize someone severely; to censure harshly.

To show or declare that someone is not guilty of wrongdoing.

Extremely bad or unpleasant; abhorrent.

To serve as a typical example of.

Pressing; demanding immediate attention.

To absolve someone from blame or fault.

Able to grow larger or hold more.

A person who lives outside their native country; to banish.

To make an action or process happen sooner or more quickly.

The act of spending money or resources.

Based on new, untested methods or ideas.

To atone for guilt or wrongdoing.

To analyze and develop an idea in detail.

Growing faster and faster over time.

To erase or remove completely.

Still in existence; surviving.

Spoken or done without preparation; impromptu.

To lessen the seriousness of an offense by providing partial excuses.

Irrelevant or unrelated to the subject being considered.

To extend known information to estimate something unknown.

Spending much more than necessary.

Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor.

To make an action or process easier.

Based on a mistaken belief; misleading.

Very attentive to accuracy and detail; excessively particular.

Silly and pointless; devoid of intelligence.

To give a servile display of exaggerated flattery or affection.

Well chosen or suited to the circumstances; pleasing.

Intensely enthusiastic or passionate.

Smelling extremely bad; stinking.

To openly disregard a rule or convention.

To instigate or stir up an undesirable action or feeling.

Patient self-control; restraint and tolerance.

To strengthen against attack.

Happening by chance rather than intention; fortunate.

To encourage or promote the development of.

Irritable and quarrelsome; hard to control.

Fast and energetic in a rather wild and uncontrolled way.

To deny or contradict; to speak against.

To shock or excite someone into taking action.

An action or remark designed to gain an advantage.

To gather or collect something, especially information.

Excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters.

Truly what it is said to be; authentic.

Relevant and appropriate to the subject at hand.

Uncalled for; lacking good reason; free of charge.

Sly or cunning intelligence; craftiness.

Lacking originality from overuse; trite.

Denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful.

A lengthy, aggressive speech; to lecture aggressively.

A person or thing that announces the approach of something.

A person who believes that pleasure is the most important thing in life.

Leadership or dominance, especially by one state over others.

Diverse in character or content; composed of differing elements.

To create difficulty; to delay or prevent.

Relating to the past or to events that actually happened.

Overly dramatic or theatrical in character or style.

To accumulate a hidden supply.

A return home after a long absence.

Of the same kind; uniform in composition throughout.

Excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance.

Using flowing water to make electricity.

A person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions.

Who or what a person or thing is.

Peculiar or individual; relating to a distinctive characteristic.

Deserving or causing public disgrace or shame.

Lacking knowledge or awareness.

Forbidden by law, rules, or custom.

Protected against; not affected by.

Unchanging over time or unable to be changed.

A situation in which no progress is possible; a deadlock.

Perfect; without flaw or error.

Having little or no money.

Assuming power or authority without justification; domineering.

Not allowing fluid to pass through; unable to be affected.

Acting quickly and without thought or care.

Unable to be calmed or appeased; relentless.

Implied though not plainly expressed; unquestioning.

To ask someone pressingly and persistently for something.

A person who pretends to be someone else.

Unable to be captured or broken into.

Unlikely to happen or be true.

Done without preparation; spontaneous.

Not having or showing foresight; wasteful.

The act of making or doing something on the spot without planning.

To dispute the truth, validity, or honesty of.

Exemption from punishment or freedom from harmful consequences.

Impossible or very hard to reach or enter.

Emitting light as a result of being heated; extremely bright.

Continuing without pause; unending.

Just begun and so not fully formed or developed.

In an initial stage; beginning to happen or develop.

Intelligently analytical and clear-thinking.

To encourage or stir up violent or unlawful behavior.

Missing one or more parts; not finished.

Not in harmony or keeping with the surroundings.

Not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed.

Unwilling or unable to believe something.

To instill an attitude, idea, or habit by persistent instruction.

Currently holding office; required as a duty.

Persisting tirelessly; unable to be wearied.

For a period of time with no clear ending.

Making marks that cannot be removed; unforgettable.

Having no interest or concern.

Originating or occurring naturally in a particular place.

Poor; needy; lacking the necessities of life.

Wanting to avoid activity or exertion; lazy.

Relating to factories and the large-scale production of goods.

Too great or extreme to be expressed in words.

The state of wasting time, effort, or resources.

Impossible to stop or prevent; unyielding.

Incapable of making mistakes or being wrong.

The basic roads, buildings, and systems a place needs to run.

The ability to invent clever solutions to problems.

Curious and eager to learn.

Impossible to understand or interpret.

Proceeding in a gradual, subtle way but with harmful effects.

Lacking flavor, vigor, or interest; dull.

The act of combining separate parts or groups into one.

Having or showing a lack of self-control; immoderate.

Became stronger or more extreme.

Joined together so one part affects the others.

Involving two or more countries.

Traveling or existing between the stars.

Hard to control or deal with; stubbornly resistant.

Unwilling or refusing to change one's views; uncompromising.

Fearless and adventurous.

To overwhelm with things to be dealt with; to flood.

To accustom someone to something unpleasant.

Insulting, abusive, or highly critical language.

Having a particular habit or interest that is long-established and unlikely to change.

Likely to arouse resentment or anger in others; unfairly discriminating.

A request asking someone to come or take part.

Having or showing a tendency to be easily angered.

Showing a lack of respect for people or things usually treated with reverence.

The supply of water to farmland through pipes or channels.

One version or repeated step in a process.

Traveling from place to place.

Affected by bitterness, resentment, or cynicism.

Danger of loss, harm, or failure.

With good judgment or sense; wisely.

To place close together for contrasting effect.

Using very few words; terse.

A satirical piece of writing; to publicly criticize through satire.

To grow weak or feeble; to suffer from being neglected.

Generosity in bestowing money or gifts.

A state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy.

Deserving praise and commendation.

Sumptuously rich or elaborate.

The state of being proper, lawful, or accepted as rightful.

Affected by lethargy; sluggish and apathetic.

Humor or lack of seriousness, especially during a serious occasion.

Something that holds back how much can be done or how far something can go.

A powered railway vehicle that pulls or pushes train cars.

Looking or sounding sad and dismal.

A temporary calm or pause.

Very generous or forgiving, especially toward a rival.

Ineffective or bungling; clumsy.

A general feeling of discomfort, uneasiness, or illness.

To pretend to be ill in order to escape duty or work.

Easily influenced; capable of being shaped or bent.

An outstanding work of art or craft.

An unorthodox or independent-minded person.

A system of parts that work together to do a job.

A written account of personal experiences.

Not telling the truth; lying.

Motivated primarily by personal gain; a hired soldier.

Subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood.

A change of form or nature into a completely different one.

Too small to see without a microscope.

A person's social environment or surroundings.

Extremely small; tiny.

A person who dislikes humankind and avoids society.

Adjusting the strength, volume, or rate of something.

To appease the anger or anxiety of someone.

At the point of death; in terminal decline.

Sullen, gloomy, and ill-tempered.

Increased greatly in number, or combined in multiplication.

Larger or more generous than is usual or necessary.

To think deeply; a source of inspiration.

Nearsighted; lacking imagination or foresight.

A countless or extremely great number; innumerable.

Relating to or resembling myth; legendary.

The lowest point in someone's fortunes; the opposite of zenith.

Just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential.

Vague, unclear, or ill-defined.

Wicked or criminal in nature.

To fail to care for properly.

A long-standing rival; a cause of someone's downfall.

A person who is new to a subject or activity; a beginner.

So surprised and confused as to be unsure how to react.

A beginner; a person new to something.

Harmful, poisonous, or very unpleasant.

A subtle difference in meaning, expression, or sound.

Stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or course of action.

Willing to follow orders or rules.

To render obscure, unclear, or unintelligible.

Not expressed directly; slanting or at an angle.

Not aware of or not concerned about what is happening.

Not well known; to make unclear.

Obedient or attentive to an excessive degree.

Noisy and difficult to control.

Something that blocks or gets in the way.

Annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand.

To remove a need or difficulty; to prevent.

Extremely unpleasant; repulsive.

Asserting authority in an annoyingly domineering way.

Involving heavy obligations or responsibilities; burdensome.

Carefully planned and arranged so every part worked together.

Following or conforming to traditional or established beliefs.

To move or swing back and forth at a regular rate.

Stated or appearing to be true, but not necessarily so.

Resembling a palace in being spacious and splendid.

To make a disease or its symptoms less severe without eliminating the cause.

Pale, typically because of poor health; lacking vigor.

A solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases.

Flamboyant confidence of style or manner.

To gratify or indulge someone's immoral or distasteful desires.

A typical example or pattern of something; a model.

A model of excellence or perfection.

An outcast; a person despised or avoided by others.

Having a limited or narrow outlook or scope.

Unwilling to spend money or use resources; stingy.

A strong supporter of a party or cause; biased in favor of one side.

The presence of something in only small or insufficient quantities.

Excessively concerned with minor details or rules.

Something that annoys; to irritate.

Expressing contempt or disapproval.

A strong or habitual liking for something.

Extremely poor; poverty-stricken; miserly.

The way someone sees or understands something.

Insisting on immediate attention or obedience; imperious.

Deceitful and untrustworthy; treacherous.

Carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection.

Having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way.

Steady effort to keep going despite difficulty.

To continue firmly despite difficulty.

Steady effort that continues despite difficulty or delay.

Continuing firmly or for a long time despite difficulty.

Having a ready insight into and understanding of things.

Able to convince someone to believe or do something.

Spreading widely throughout an area or group of people.

Childishly sulky or bad-tempered.

Seeking to promote the welfare of others; generous and benevolent.

The giving of money or effort to help others.

Having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition.

Concise and forcefully expressive in language.

To make someone less angry or hostile; to calm.

A remark or statement that has been used too often to be interesting.

Seeming reasonable or probable.

An excess or overabundance of something.

To steal goods by force; loot.

A strong verbal or written attack on someone's opinion or belief.

Slow and clumsy because of great weight; dull and laborious.

To be a sign or warning that something is coming.

Of or like a sign that something important is about to happen; ominously significant.

Dealing with things sensibly and realistically; practical.

A preliminary or introductory statement.

Not securely held; dependent on chance; dangerously uncertain.

The edge of a cliff or a dangerous situation.