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TOEFL Word List # TOEFL/W9

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Description of attribute (noun)
inherent quality; characteristic

Samples of attribute
This is defined as a condition in which the responsibility for housework is felt as a feminine, and therefore a personal attribute, normally as a result of a childhood identification with the mother as role model.



   
Description of glib (adjective)
smooth and slippery; speaking or spoken in a smooth manner; easily fluent; careless; insincere

Samples of glib
The salesman was so glib that the customers failed to notice the defects in the stereo.



   
Description of vituperate (verb)
to scold or blame loudly; to find fault with in abusive language; to condemn

Samples of vituperate
During the last national election, Kabas swamped Vienna with an openly racist campaign in which he vituperated against foreigners and asylum-seekers.



   
Description of platitude (noun)
dull and commonplace remark; banality; superficiality; commonplace

Samples of platitude
Not since Harold Wilson prattled on about the white heat of the technological revolution - or some similar meaningless platitude - and launched Concorde, has there been so much talk about innovation and our intellectual heritage.



   
Description of construction (noun)
act of erecting (a building); meaning

Samples of construction
The village will be a huddle of 100 American-style houses designed by Wigfall Group Practice, a firm already well known for its addiction to timber-frame construction.
The construction of villages where beds could be had by tourists for more than just the two months of July and August was advocated in suitably selected places.

Determination of construction
Dictionary.com · Cambridge Dictionaries · Merriam-Webster · Onelook.com


   
Description of retrieve (verb)
to make good; to recover; to restore; to fetch; to bring back; to regain

Samples of retrieve
Television and newspapers no longer praise model entrepreneurs but heroic laborers such as Zhang Fuxin, praised for throwing himself into a pit of polluted mud to retrieve a piece of equipment.



   
Description of promulgate (verb)
to publish; to spread abroad; to declare; to advertise widely

Samples of promulgate
Accordingly the research agencies within these ministries were brought together in 1981 to attempt an inter-disciplinary research program and to promulgate the results.



   
Description of bizarre (adjective)
queer; unusual in appearance; strange; outlandish

Samples of bizarre
Even then, they can lose the post for the most bizarre reasons; Downing Street myth has it that Richard Cobb failed on his first attempt to get the Oxford Chair of Modern History because he wore bicycle clips throughout his interview.



   
Description of pedantic (adjective)
emphasizing minutiae or form in scholarship or teaching; strict; meticulous

Samples of pedantic
Professor Jones's lectures were so pedantic that his students sometimes had a tough time understanding the big picture.
It is important to understand pedantic terminology before beginning a lecture.



   
Description of consummate (adjective)
perfect or highly accomplished; excellent; skilled; complete

Samples of consummate
Sole at the heart of Scotland for many years to come Robert Armstrong on the consummate skills of the new national captain.
Alas! his only response to the friendly gesture was to urinate accidentally on him, which was of consummate embarrassment to his mother, and not quite in the spirit of musar!



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