GCSE English Language (Eduqas)

Topic Summaries

VOCABULARY

High-level vocabulary

Expanding your vocabulary can enhance clarity, precision, and depth in your writing. However, high-level words should be used with caution as misusing them can make your writing confusing or unnatural. To build and apply your vocabulary effectively, read widely to see how these words are used in context. For this word list, look up definitions to determine if a word is likely to be useful to you. You can then include these on flashcards or just annotate this page and keep it open next time you’re writing an essay! Integrate words carefully the first time, and always seek feedback from your teacher to make sure you’re using them correctly!

A

  • Abstruse
  • Acquiesce
  • Adroit
  • Alacrity
  • Ameliorate
  • Anachronistic
  • Anathema
  • Apocryphal
  • Approbation
  • Assiduous

E

  • Ebullient
  • Effulgent
  • Elucidate
  • Enervate
  • Ennui
  • Ephemeral
  • Equanimity
  • Esoteric
  • Evanescent
  • Exacerbate

I

  • Iconoclast
  • Ignominious
  • Illicit
  • Imbroglio
  • Impetuous
  • Incendiary
  • Inchoate
  • Ineffable
  • Inimical
  • Inscrutable

M

  • Maelstrom
  • Magnanimous
  • Mendacious
  • Mellifluous
  • Mercurial
  • Misanthropic
  • Mitigate
  • Mollify
  • Myopic
  • Munificent

Q

  • Quixotic
  • Quagmire
  • Querulous
  • Quizzical
  • Quiescent
  • Quintessential
  • Quotidian
  • Quell
  • Qualm
  • Quibble

U

  • Ubiquitous
  • Umbrage
  • Unctuous
  • Undulate
  • Unequivocal
  • Unilateral
  • Untenable
  • Uxorious
  • Upbraid
  • Usurp

B

  • Bellicose
  • Benign
  • Bequeath
  • Bombastic
  • Bucolic
  • Buttress
  • Byzantine
  • Blithe
  • Bereft
  • Bifurcate

F

  • Fastidious
  • Fatuous
  • Fecund
  • Flippant
  • Fortuitous
  • Frenetic
  • Furtive
  • Fulminate
  • Facetious
  • Feckless

J

  • Juxtaposition
  • Jingoistic
  • Jettison
  • Jocund
  • Jocular
  • Jejune
  • Jubilant
  • Judicious
  • Jurisprudence
  • Jargon

N

  • Nefarious
  • Nescient
  • Nonchalant
  • Noxious
  • Nuance
  • Nebulous
  • Niggling
  • Nonplussed
  • Nomenclature
  • Nascent

R

  • Reified
  • Recalcitrant
  • Recondite
  • Redolent
  • Refulgent
  • Resplendent
  • Reticent
  • Rhapsodic
  • Ribald
  • Rueful

V

  • Vacillate
  • Variegated
  • Vehement
  • Veracity
  • Verdant
  • Vicarious
  • Vindicate
  • Vitriolic
  • Volition
  • Voracious

C

  • Cajole
  • Capricious
  • Castigate
  • Chicanery
  • Circumlocution
  • Cogent
  • Conflagration
  • Conundrum
  • Corroborate
  • Culpable

G

  • Garrulous
  • Grandiloquent
  • Gregarious
  • Guile
  • Gumption
  • Gossamer
  • Gratuitous
  • Germane
  • Galvanise
  • Gainsay

K

  • Kowtow
  • Kafkaesque
  • Kudos
  • Kernel
  • Kinetic
  • Kindle
  • Knell
  • Keenly
  • Knack
  • Knavis

O

  • Obfuscate
  • Obsequious
  • Onerous
  • Ostentatious
  • Opaque
  • Omniscient
  • Oracular
  • Opulent
  • Overwrought
  • Oblivious

S

  • Sagacious
  • Sanguine
  • Scrupulous
  • Soporific
  • Spurious
  • Stentorian
  • Supercilious
  • Surreptitious
  • Sycophant
  • Synthesis

W

  • Wane
  • Wanton
  • Wistful
  • Winsome
  • Wizened
  • Wheedle
  • Waggish
  • Wraith
  • Wayward
  • Wry

D

  • Deleterious
  • Demagogue
  • Desultory
  • Diatribe
  • Dichotomy
  • Didactic
  • Diffident
  • Disparate
  • Dissonance
  • Dogmatic

H

  • Harangue
  • Haughty
  • Hedonistic
  • Hegemony
  • Histrionic
  • Homogeneous
  • Hubris
  • Hyperbole
  • Hypothetical
  • Heretical

L

  • Laconic
  • Languid
  • Largesse
  • Latent
  • Lethargic
  • Loquacious
  • Lugubrious
  • Licentious
  • Lurid
  • Labyrinthine

P

  • Paradigm
  • Parsimonious
  • Pejorative
  • Pernicious
  • Perspicacious
  • Pervasive
  • Phlegmatic
  • Platitude
  • Prodigious
  • Pugnacious

T

  • Tautological
  • Temerity
  • Tenebrous
  • Truculent
  • Truncated
  • Trepidation
  • Turgid
  • Terse
  • Transient
  • Tantamount

X

  • Xenophobic
  • Xanthic
  • Xenomorphic

Y

  • Yeoman
  • Yoke
  • Yonder
  • Yearn
  • Yielding

Z

  • Zealot
  • Zenith
  • Zephyr
  • Zeitgeist
  • Zoetic

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Previous Words to describe tone