Vocabulary College Prep Advanced — Set 4: Meanings flashcards
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The last 100 of the 400 College Prep Advanced words, from beatific and cavil to ossify and malinger: pronunciation, a precise definition and three example sentences, the most common use first.
Learn deck · part of Vocabulary Level 9 · College Prep Advanced · written against: Our own grade placement (VOCABULARY-PLAN.md): word frequency (wordfreq, CC BY-SA 4.0) and editorial review; no publisher's grade or word list is reproduced. Updated 2026-10-10.
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unctuous (adj.) · UHNGK-choo-uhsso oily and overdone in flattery and eagerness to please that it rings false; rich and smooth in textureCharacter & Behavior
The unctuous concierge praised our "impeccable taste" in choosing the priciest suite.
Eager for a promotion, he grew unctuous whenever the boss walked by.
Slow-cooked for hours, the beef turned soft and unctuous. -
beatific (adj.) · bee-uh-TIF-ikshowing calm, blissful joy, as if blessed; bringing heavenly happiness, in religionFeelings & Attitudes
Holding her newborn niece, Aunt Mei wore a beatific smile.
After the last exam, Kenji lay on the grass looking beatific.
Medieval theologians described the beatific vision: seeing God face to face. -
disabuse (v.) · dis-uh-BYOOZto set someone straight about a belief or idea that is wrongThinking & Knowing
I must disabuse you of one myth: coding isn't only for math whizzes.
One winter in the cabin disabused Talia of her off-the-grid dreams.
Scientists hope the new data will disabuse the public of old myths about sharks.
Watch out: it means to correct a false belief, and it usually takes of: "disabuse her of the idea." -
cavil (v., n.) · KAV-uhlto nitpick, objecting to details that hardly matter; a petty objectionSpeaking & Arguing
Critics caviled at minor errors but praised the book as a whole.
Why cavil over the font when the report itself is excellent?
My only cavil is that the museum café closes too early. -
slapdash (adj.) · SLAP-dashsloppy because it was rushed, with little attention to qualityActions & Effort
The slapdash repairs to the roof started leaking within a week.
Her essay was slapdash, full of typos and half-finished thoughts.
The city's slapdash response to the snowstorm angered residents. -
sublimate (v.) · SUHB-luh-maytto channel a strong urge or emotion into a more acceptable activity; to skip melting, vaporizing straight from a solidChange & Growth
He sublimated his anger into long, punishing runs on the beach trail.
The poet sublimated years of grief into quiet, mournful elegies.
In dry, cold air, snow can sublimate without ever melting. -
unalloyed (adj.) · uhn-uh-LOYDcomplete and pure, with nothing unpleasant mixed in, especially of a feeling; of metal: pure, with no other metal addedSize & Amount
Winning the spelling bee was a moment of unalloyed joy.
The film's release was not an unalloyed success; critics were split.
Unalloyed gold is too soft for most jewelry. -
execrable (adj.) · EK-sih-kruh-buhldreadfully bad in quality; (of an act) so wicked it deserves to be hatedQuality & Judgment
The cafeteria's meatloaf was execrable, but the pie was excellent.
His handwriting is so execrable that even he can't read it.
The court called the guards' treatment of the prisoners an execrable crime. -
potentate (n.) · POH-tuhn-tayta ruler with great power, such as a king or emperor; any powerful personSociety & Power
Foreign potentates sent gifts of silk and gold to the emperor's court.
The town's newspaper potentate could make or break any candidate for mayor.
In the cartoon, a tiny potentate rules his castle from a giant throne. -
exigency (n.) · EK-suh-juhn-seean urgent need or demand created by circumstances; an emergency that leaves no time for delayNature & Time
The exigencies of war forced car factories to switch to making tanks.
Hospitals must plan for every exigency, from power cuts to floods.
Travelers learn to pack light for the exigencies of the road.
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Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Senses, parts of speech and sense order checked against Merriam-Webster.com, the American Heritage Dictionary and the frequency-ordered Oxford, Longman and Cambridge learner's dictionaries; all definitions, notes and example sentences are original.
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