50 Words To Impress Your English Examiner

When preparing to write an English exam, there are a number of things you should do. We always recommend practising comprehension exercises, familiarising yourself with parts of speech, and levelling up in your creative writing abilities. If you want to impress your English examiner and get more creative with your writing, here is one very simple and practical step you can take: include new and interesting words into your vocabulary. Not only will you stand out from the crowd, but you will improve your ability to write captivating content, and this is a skill you can use beyond your exams. 

 

Not sure where to begin? Take a look at this list of 50 words that will be sure to impress your English examiner. In this list, we will explain the meaning of each word and show you how to use it in an example sentence. This list will include words you might already know and a few words you haven’t heard before. Use this as an exercise to expand your vocabulary and find new ways to use these words in your own writing. 

 

Abhor (verb)

Meaning: to hate or detest. 

Example sentence: After being hit in the head one too many times while playing cricket, John began to abhor the sport.

 

Acquiesce (verb)

Meaning: to agree without protesting. 

Example sentence: Even though Aubrey was enjoying his evening outside, when his wife asked him to come in for dinner, he acquiesced to her request. 

 

Amiable (adjective)

Meaning: friendly.

Example sentence: Neil was an amiable fellow who got along with pretty much everybody. 

 

Appease (verb)

Meaning: to calm or satisfy. 

Example sentence: When Theo cries, his mothers gives him a dummy to appease him. 

 

Avarice (noun)

Meaning: excessive greed. 

Example sentence: Tom’s avarice led him to amass an enormous personal fortune. 

 

Brazen (adjective)

Meaning: excessively bold, brash, clear and obvious.

Example sentence: The readers noticed Chris’s brazen attempt to plagiarise another author’s work.

 

Brusque (adjective)

Meaning: short, abrupt, dismissive.

Example sentence: Nicola’s brusque manner sometimes causes offence with her work colleagues. 

 

Callous (adjective)

Meaning: harsh, cold, unfeeling.

Example sentence: Jeff’s callous lack of remorse was a shock to the jury.

 

Candour (noun)

Meaning: honesty or frankness. 

Example sentence: Liz is usually quite evasive, so we were surprised by her candour. 

 

Circumspect (adjective)

Meaning: cautious.

Example sentence: I told Jane’s father I would bring her home promptly at midnight, but it would have been more circumspect not to have specified a time. 

 

Clandestine (adjective)

Meaning: secret.

Example sentence: Maria and Markus had arranged to meet in the library for a clandestine liaison. 

 

Coerce (verb)

Meaning: to make somebody do something by force or threat. 

Example sentence: The judge decided that Anna did not have to honour the contract because she had been coerced into signing it. 

 

Complacency (noun)

Meaning: self-satisfied ignorance of danger.

Example sentence: Shelly attempted to shock her friends out of their complacency by displaying a frightening picture of what may happen to them. 

 

Confidant (noun)

Meaning: a person entrusted with secrets. 

Example sentence: Not long after we met, he became my primary confidant. 

 

Connive (verb)

Meaning: to plot or scheme. 

Example sentence: Simona connived to get me to give up my plans to launch my new business.

 

Cumulative (adjective)

Meaning: increasing or building upon itself. 

Example sentence: The cumulative effect of multiple tutor sessions resulted in a vast improvement on Joel’s exam results. 

 

Deferential (adjective)

Meaning: showing respect for another’s authority. 

Example sentence: Glen is always extremely deferential to any type of authority figure. 

 

Demure (adjective)

Meaning: quiet, modest, reserved. 

Example sentence: Even though everybody else at the party was going crazy and having a good time, Evan remained demure. 

 

Deride (verb)

Meaning: to laugh at mockingly, scorn.

Example sentence: The Spanish teacher often derided the other teacher’s accent. 

 

Diligent (adjective)

Meaning: showing care in doing one’s work. 

Example sentence: Lauren was diligent in her research and made sure to double check all her measurements. 

 

Elated (adjective)

Meaning: overjoyed, thrilled. 

Example sentence: When she found out she had won the lottery, Joy was elated.

 

Embezzle (verb)

Meaning: to steal money by falsifying records. 

Example sentence: William was fired after embezzling money from the company’s funds. 

 

Empathy (noun)

Meaning: sensitivity to another’s feelings as if they were one’s own. 

Example sentence: I feel such empathy for my friend who’s grieving the loss of her father. 

 

Enmity (noun)

Meaning: ill will, hatred, hostility. 

Example sentence: It’s clear that Rory and Bruce have not forgiven each other, because the enmity between them is obvious. 

 

Fabricate (verb)

Meaning: to make up, to invent. 

Example sentence: After arriving late to class, I fabricated an excuse about my car breaking down on my journey. 

 

Feral (adjective)

Meaning: wild, savage. 

Example sentence: I wouldn’t want to be alone with that beast because it looks so feral. 

 

Gluttony (noun)

Meaning: overindulgence in food or drink. 

Example sentence: Simpson’s Chicken is so delicious that I can’t help but embrace gluttony while I eat it. 

 

Gratuitous (adjective)

Meaning: uncalled for, unwarranted. 

Example sentence: There were far too many gratuitous personal insults thrown about in the debate. 

 

Haughty (adjective)

Meaning: disdainfully proud. 

Example sentence: Angela’s haughty dismissal of her co-workers will backfire on her someday. 

 

Impeccable (adjective)

Meaning: exemplary, flawless.

Example sentence: Cathi’s ability to reorganise and tidy her room is impeccable. 

 

Inept (adjective)

Meaning: not suitable or capable, unqualified.

Example sentence: Maggy proved how inept she was when she dropped an entire plate of food in a customer’s lap. 

 

Jubilant (adjective) 

Meaning: extremely joyful, happy. 

Example sentence: The audience was jubilant when Ed Sheeran walked out onto the stage to perform. 

 

Lurid (adjective)

Meaning: ghastly, sensational. 

Example sentence: Jess’s story was judged too lurid to be published on the website because she went into great detail about the character torturing his victims. 

 

Maverick (noun)

Meaning: an independent, nonconformist person. 

Example sentence: Mark is a real maverick and always does things his own way. 

 

Meticulous (adjective)

Meaning: extremely careful with details. 

Example sentence: The ornate beading on Nicole’s wedding dress was a product of meticulous handiwork. 

 

Myriad (adjective)

Meaning: consisting of a very great number. 

Example sentence: I find it hard to decide what to do on a Saturday night because London has a myriad of possibilities. 

 

Novice (noun)

Meaning: a beginner, someone without training or experience. 

Example sentence: Garth was a novice at kettlebell workouts so he began with the basics. 

 

Nuance (noun)

Meaning: a slight variation in meaning, tone, expression. 

Example sentence: The poem had many nuances which weren’t obvious to the casual reader, but the teacher could quickly point them out. 

 

Oblivious (adjective)

Meaning: lacking consciousness or awareness of something. 

Example sentence: Phil was oblivious to the burning smell coming from the kitchen and he didn’t notice the rolls in the oven were burning. 

 

Penchant (noun)

Meaning: a tendency, partiality, preference.

Example sentence: Dale’s family became fed up with her penchant for bringing stray dogs home. 

 

Perusal (noun)

Meaning: a careful examination, review.

Example sentence: Matthew agreed to accept the role after a three-month perusal of the movie script. 

 

Quaint (adjective)

Meaning: charmingly old-fashioned.

Example sentence: Elizabeth was delighted by the quaint tea house in Dorset. 

 

Rash (adjective)

Meaning: hasty, incautious. 

Example sentence: You better think things over calmly and thoroughly instead of making rash decisions.

 

Salient (adjective)

Meaning: significant, conspicuous. 

Example sentence: One of the salient differences between Monica and Rebecca is that Rebecca is much taller. 

 

Superfluous (adjective)

Meaning: exceeding what is necessary. 

Example sentence: Janice had already won the campaign so her constant flattery of others was superfluous. 

 

Truculent (adjective)

Meaning: ready to fight, cruel. 

Example sentence: The club doesn’t really attract the dangerous types, so why was the bouncer being so truculent?

 

Umbrage (noun)

Meaning: resentment, offence. 

Example sentence: Rachel called me a coward and I took umbrage to the insult. 

 

Venerable (adjective)

Meaning: deserving of respect because of age or achievement. 

Example sentence: The venerable judge made several key rulings in landmark cases throughout the years. 

 

Wanton (adjective)

Meaning: undisciplined, lewd, lustful. 

Example sentence: Johanna’s wanton demeanour often made the frat guys next door very excited. 

 

Zenith (noun)

Meaning: the highest point, culminating point. 

Example sentence: I was too polite to tell Phoebe that she had reached the absolute zenith of her career with that one hit song of hers. 

 

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