100 Words Every College Graduate Should Know Compiled by Dr. Ken Hunt

The words I’m suggesting are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather a benchmark against which College graduates can measure themselves. If you are able to pronounce these words correctly, employ them in the proper context, spell them, and define them, you are likely to have a superior command of the language. You’re liable to find that inclusion of these words in your vocabulary will help you succeed at work, in college, and even in social situations.

Abrogate: To cancel, destroy, revoke or void.

Acerbic: Sharp, biting, or acid in temper, expression or tone.

Acrimony: Bitter, harsh, or biting sharpness.

Acumen: Quickness of perception or discernment

Adumbrate: To close partially or guardedly

Allegory: The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form

Ameliorate: To make or grow better

Aphorism: A tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion; an adage.

Apocryphal: Of doubtful authority or authenticity.

Arcane: Understood by only a few

Avarice: An excessive desire of gain; greediness.

Banal: Commonplace; trivial.

Bifurcate: To divide into two parts or branches.

Binary: Characterized by or consisting of two parts or components.

Bi-polar: Having two opposite or contradictory ideas.

Cadre: A core or nucleus of trained or otherwise qualified personnel around which an organization is formed.

Capricious: Whimsical; changeable

Carpe diem: Seize the moment!

Caveat: A warning or caution

Chicanery: The use of trickery to deceive.

Chortle: To utter, or express with, a snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle.

Codicil: An amendment to an existing will.

Collegial: Characterized by or having authority vested equally among colleagues.

Concatenation: A chain; a succession

Consanguineous: Related by blood; descended from the same ancestor.

Demagogue: A leader who tries to stir up people by appeals to emotion, prejudice, etc., in order to achieve power

Diction: The choice and use of words in speech or writing.

Didactic: Conveying instruction; teaching some moral lesson.

Dilatory: Inclined to put off what ought to be done at once.

Disingenuous: Generally, it means not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating. Not surprisingly, the word is used often in political contexts.

Eclectic: Made up of or combining elements from a variety of sources.

e.g. Exempli gratia: (for example)

Egalitarian: Favoring social equality; “a classless society”

Ellipsis: Omission or suppression of parts of words or sentences with a mark or series of marks (… or ***. for example)

Ephemeral: Short lived

Equivocate: To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear.

Erudite: Characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; well instructed; learned

Ethereal: Characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; intangible.

Euphemism: A mild or vague word or phrase replacing one considered harsh or offensively direct- “pass away” for die

Exiguous: Extremely scanty; “a meager income”; “ an exiguous budget”

Facetious: “Tongue-in-cheek-advice” Characterized by wit and pleasantry.

Fait accompli: An accomplished and presumably irreversible deed or fact.

Finite: Having bounds.

Forbearance: The act of a creditor who refrains from enforcing a debt when it falls due.

Fortuitous: Happening by chance.

Halcyon: Peaceful, undisturbed, and happy.

Hyperbole: Extravagant exaggeration.

Iconoclastic: One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas o institutions.

i.e.: Id est. ( that is)

Inane: Without contents; empty; void of sense or intelligence; purposeless; pointless; useless.

Inchoate: Partially but not fully in existence or operation.

Indolent: Avoiding labor and exertion; lazy.

Ken: Perception; understanding; knowledge.

Levity: Frivolity.

Lexicon: A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary.

Limited liability companies, (LLCs): Combine the personal liability protection of a corporation with the tax benefits and simplicity of a partnership.

Logomachy: Argument over definition of words.

Loquacious: Very talkative.

Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in a place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in drowning in money); a sea of troubles” or “All the world’s a stage” (Shakespeare). Broadly: figurative language.

Milieu: Environment; setting.

Myopic: Lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or planning.

NB: Nota bene ( Latin meaning note well) Used to direct attention to something particularly important.

Nefarious: Wicked in the extreme

Obviate: To prevent by interception.

Patrician: A person of refined upbringing, manners and taste.

Pecuniary: Relating to money.

Pedantic: Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules.

Pejorative: Disparaging; belittling

Pernicious: Deadly.

Plenary: Full; entire; complete.

Prevaricate: To depart from or evade the truth.

Probity: Honesty; uprightness.

Proclivity: A natural inclination; predisposition.

Puerile: Displaying a lack of maturity.

Pusillanimous: Lacking in courage and resolution. (My favorite word!)

Renege: To go back on a promise or commitment.

Requisite: Necessary, indispensable.

Res Ipsa Loquitur: The thing speaks for itself.

Reticent: Inclined to keep quiet.

Salient: Noticeable; also, projecting; also, leaping.

Sardonic: Bitterly sarcastic.

Scintilla: A minute amount; an iota or trace.

Simile: A word or phrase by which anything is likened to something else. A simile is often introduced by like or as. Examples are “happy as a clam,” “as

easy as pie,” and “soft as sifted flour.”

Sine qua non: An indispensable thing.

Sojourn: A temporary stay; a brief period of residence.

Specious: Apparently right; superficially fair, just, or correct, but not so in reality; appearing well at first view; plausible; as, specious reasoning; a specious argument.

Succinct: Brief; concise.

Supercilious: Lofty with pride

Superfluous: More than is wanted or is sufficient.

Syllogism Logic: A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion; for example, All humans are mortal, the major premise, I am human, the minor premise, therefore, I am mortal, the conclusion.

Symbiotic: A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

Syntax: The study of the rules whereby words or other elements of sentence structure are combined to form grammatical sentences.

Tautological: Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy.

Ubiquitous: Being everywhere.

Unilateral: Having only one side.

Value Judgment: It means saying that a person’s actions are inherently good or (more commonly) inherently bad—especially when this is not true.

Verve: Energy and enthusiasm in the expression of ideas.

Vilify: To make vicious and defamatory statements about.

Visceral: Course, base.

Vitiate: To make faulty or imperfect.

Vociferous: Making a loud outcry.