55 Important Vocabulary Words for USAT and HAT (With Meanings and Examples)

These are 55 harder English words that come in USAT and HAT synonym and antonym questions, with simple meanings and examples. We picked them from the medium and hard vocabulary questions in our own bank of 3,476 questions. The quickest way to use this list is to learn 15 words a day and test yourself on the last 3 days.

Jump to: 1. The 18 hardest words · 2. 17 words asked as "similar meaning" · 3. 20 words asked as "opposite meaning" · 4. How to learn them

1. The 18 hardest words (learn these first)

These are the words most students get wrong. They look like other words on purpose, like diffident and different.

• Ameliorate: make better. Opposite: worsen.
  New laws can ameliorate the lives of poor workers.
• Condone: accept or allow something wrong. Opposite: condemn.
  The teacher will not condone cheating.
• Garrulous: talking too much. Opposite: taciturn (quiet).
  My garrulous neighbour talked for an hour.
• Mitigate: make less severe. Opposite: aggravate.
  Planting trees can mitigate floods.
• Parsimonious: too careful with money, stingy. Opposite: extravagant.
  He was so parsimonious that he never bought new shoes.
• Quell: put an end to, calm down. Opposite: incite.
  The police quelled the fight quickly.
• Zenith: the highest point. Opposite: nadir (lowest point).
  Winning the cup was the zenith of his career.
• Acrimonious: bitter, angry. Opposite: friendly.
  The meeting ended in an acrimonious argument.
• Circumspect: careful, cautious. Opposite: reckless.
  Be circumspect when you share your CNIC online.
• Diffident: shy, not confident. Opposite: confident.
  The diffident student did not raise her hand.
• Equivocal: unclear, with 2 meanings. Opposite: clear.
  His equivocal answer confused everyone.
• Exacerbate: make worse. Opposite: relieve.
  Shouting will only exacerbate the problem.
• Fortuitous: happening by chance (often lucky). Opposite: planned.
  Our meeting at the bus stop was fortuitous.
• Laconic: using very few words. Opposite: wordy.
  His laconic reply was just 'No.'
• Magnanimous: generous in forgiving. Opposite: petty.
  She was magnanimous and forgave her rival.
• Ostentatious: showy, trying to impress. Opposite: modest.
  They held an ostentatious wedding.
• Perfunctory: done carelessly, as a routine. Opposite: thorough.
  The guard gave a perfunctory look at my bag.
• Surreptitious: secret, done quietly. Opposite: open.
  He took a surreptitious look at his phone.

2. 17 words that come as "choose the similar meaning"

• Astute: clever, shrewd.
  Astute traders buy when prices are low.
• Benign: kind and harmless.
  The doctor said the lump was benign.
• Candour: frankness, honesty.
  I liked the candour of her reply.
• Ephemeral: short-lived.
  Fame on social media is often ephemeral.
• Erudite: very learned.
  Allama Iqbal was an erudite scholar.
• Gregarious: sociable, likes company.
  Gregarious people enjoy big gatherings.
• Impetuous: acting quickly without thinking, rash.
  An impetuous decision can cost you marks.
• Indolent: lazy.
  The indolent student never finished his work.
• Innocuous: harmless.
  It was an innocuous question, not a trap.
• Placate: calm someone down, pacify.
  He gave his sister chocolate to placate her.
• Pragmatic: practical.
  A pragmatic plan is better than a perfect one.
• Prolific: producing a lot.
  She is a prolific writer with 20 books.
• Tenacious: persistent, not giving up.
  Tenacious students keep practicing until they improve.
• Ubiquitous: present everywhere.
  Mobile phones are ubiquitous in Pakistan now.
• Alleviate: ease, make less painful.
  This medicine will alleviate the pain.
• Corroborate: confirm with proof.
  The video corroborated his story.
• Vindicate: clear of blame, prove right.
  The result vindicated her hard work.

3. 20 words that come as "choose the opposite meaning"

4. How to learn these words so they stay

1. 15 a day, not 55 at once. Finish this list in 4 days.
2. Make your own sentence for each word. You remember a sentence much better than a list.
3. Revise after 1 day and after 1 week. This is the step most students skip.
4. Watch for look-alike traps. The test puts a word that looks similar as a wrong option, like defiant for diffident.
5. Add every word you get wrong in a practice test to your own list.

For grammar, sentence completion and reading passages, read our verbal reasoning guide. To see how many English questions your test has, check the USAT pattern or the HAT pattern.