IELTS Vocabulary List

Posted on August 17, 2017 by studyabroadaide.com

acquaint
verb 1. to be acquainted with someone or something have
some knowledge of someone or something
(formal.) Is he acquainted with the details
of the case? She is acquainted with my father.
2. to inform someone

acquiesce

/kwies/ verb to agree to
something without protesting about it (formal.).
Synonym accept. Antonym resist

adamant

with firm opinions.
Synonym obstinate. Antonym
amenable

adorn

verb to decorate something
with ornaments (formal.)

adrift
1. floating on the water
but not being guided by anyone to cast a
boat adrift to let a boat float without control
2. not connected It won’t work because the
wire has come adrift from the plug. 3. away
from the correct figure I think we are about
£250 adrift in our calculations.

aerodrome

noun a small
airport. Synonym airfield

avant-garde

adj describes
things such as forms of art or ways of thinking
that are new, original and not traditional

backer

1. a person who supports
a project with money One of the company’s
backers has withdrawn. 2. a person
who risks money by saying which horse,
team, etc. will win a particular race or competition
Several backers lost thousands
when the favourite fell at the last fence

bane

noun it’s the bane of my life
it’s very annoying The neighbour’s dog is
the bane of our lives.

bargain

noun 1. an agreed deal
to strike a bargain to agree terms We
shook hands and the bargain was struck.

besotted

adj besotted with
someone madly in love with someone I
don’t see what he sees in her, but he’s completely
besotted. She’s besotted with her
new baby.

bewildered

adj confused or
puzzled

bide

verb 1. to wait for a good opportunity
to do something If I were you I
wouldn’t do anything quickly, I’d bide my
time. 2. (archaic) to stay, or wait

cascade

noun a waterfall
There are plants and trees and even a cascade
in the atrium of the hotel. verb to fall
in large quantities Pale pink roses cascading
down the brick wall.

castigate

verb to punish, to
criticise someone strongly (formal.). Synonym
criticise. Antonym praise

catastrophic

adj disastrous.
Antonym fortunate

caveat

noun a warning, especially
against doing something

defiance

noun a very proud action
against an opponent. Synonym insubordination.
Antonym compliance as an act
of defiance to show that you are defying
someone He kept his hat on in church as
an act of defiance. in defiance of someone
or something acting proudly against someone
or something Their protest march took
place in defiance of a police order.

defray

verb to provide money to
pay someone’s costs

demure

adj quiet and serious

eloquence

noun the art of
making speeches which persuade and convince

emigrate

verb to leave your
country to live in another. Compare
immigrate

fend

/fend/ verb to fend for yourself to
look after yourself We went to Spain and
left the children to fend for themselves

fetish

noun 1. an object which is
believed by some people to be magic 2. a
strong sexual interest in a certain object or
material a rubber fetish 3. a very strong interest
in or liking for something

globule

noun a small round
drop, especially of oil or another thick liquid

haywire

adj (informal.) to go
haywire to stop working properly Everything’s
gone haywire.

incoherent

adj not able
to speak in a way which makes sense

retrace

verb to go back to the origins
of something to retrace your steps to
go back over the same path again She
thought she had lost her watch while shopping,
so she retraced her steps from shop to
shop.

symposium

noun a meeting
organised to discuss a specialised subject.
Synonym conference (NOTE: The plural is
symposia.)

taint

noun a trace of something bad
We need a new finance director who is totally
free of the taint of corruption. verb 1.
to damage something His political reputation
has been permanently tainted by the
scandal. 2. to make something rotten
tainted food food which has become rotten
by touching other rotten food

workaholic

noun a person
who cannot stop working (informal.)

zilch

noun nothing

IELTS Vocabulary List