IELTS Vocabulary Part – 188

To diminish – to reduce or be reduced in size or importance.

Sentence – Britain’s dependence on nuclear power will therefore steadily diminish.

To involve – If an activity, situation, etc. involves something, that thing is a part of the activity, etc.

Sentence – Parents should involve themselves in their child’s education.

To magnify – to make something look larger than it is, especially by looking at it through a lens.

Sentence – Additionally, you can magnify a funny line by using the pause to accentuate your physical delivery.

Constancy – the quality of staying the same, not getting less or more.

Sentence – As for size constancy it is linked with the coordination of perceptually controlled movements.

Ornament – an object that is beautiful rather than useful.

Sentence – Every book and ornament was returned to its rightful place when we had finished painting the room.

Nugatory – worth nothing or of little value.

Sentence – They were not particularly inspiring, though Michael van der Plas has shown that neither were they nugatory.

Revolting – extremely unpleasant.

Sentence – The prisoners are revolting against living conditions in the prisons by refusing to eat.

Torpid – not active; moving or thinking slowly, especially as a result of being lazy or feeling that you want to sleep.

Sentence – In front of him the torpid lizards stirred in their cage on the picture box.

Prompt – to make something happen.

Sentence – She laid down strict rules for her tenants including prompt payment of rent.

To operate – to (cause to) work, be in action or have an effect.

Sentence – These thieves operate with terrifying stealth – they can easily steal from the pockets of unsuspecting travellers.

Vast – extremely big.

Sentence – The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.

To hand sth. Out – to give something to each person in a group or place.

Sentence – Today the country’s nationalists rule the roost and hand out the jobs.

To inspect – to look at something or someone carefully in order to discover information, especially about their quality or condition.

Sentence – The company agreed to inspect the river regularly, as a sop to the environmental lobby.

To collect – to get and keep things of one type such as stamps or coins as a hobby.

Sentence – The survey didn’t collect any information about temporary workers.

Impetuous – likely to do something suddenly, without considering the results of your actions.

Sentence – The Prime Minister may now be regretting her impetuous promise to reduce unemployment by half.

To receive – to get or be given something.

Sentence – You can expect to receive compensation for all direct expenses arising out of the accident.

Beneficent – helping people and doing good acts.

Sentence – Everything important to the farm was under the care of a beneficent power, never conceived of as having a definite shape.

Nameless – having no name, or having a name that is not known.

Sentence – A harmless pleasure can become the gateway to nameless hells when for whatever reasons it begins to carry a significant symbolic meaning.

To confuse – to mix up someone’s mind or ideas, or to make something difficult to understand.

Sentence – To further confuse the issue, there is an enormous variation in the amount of sleep people feel happy with.

Overseas – in, from, or to other countries.

Sentence – She’d made some overseas investments as a hedge against rising inflation in this country.

To deduce – to reach an answer or a decision by thinking carefully about the known facts.

Sentence – Darwin’s observations led him to deduce that plants and animals could adapt to their surroundings.