Intelligent Words

By Jennifer Copley (Last Updated 13 March 2009)

The American Heritage Dictionaries editorial staff has compiled a list of 100 words they believe make writers and speakers sound intelligent without being pompous or resorting to obscure terminology. The following is a selection of some of my favourites, followed by a longer list of smart words that didn't make the cut but are still worthy of mention.

Some Top 100 Smart Nouns

• Acrimony – rancour, spite, bitterness, hostility, ill will
• Anomaly – irregularity, incongruity, variance, abnormality
• Dichotomy – division into two contradictory or exclusive entities; something with two contradictory qualities
• Euphemism – inoffensive or agreeable substitute for an expression that may be distasteful or offensive
• Harbinger – herald, portent, omen, forerunner
• Misnomer – inappropriate designation or incorrect name
• Non Sequitur – a response unrelated to or not following logically from a previous statement
• Panacea – cure-all, magic potion, universal remedy
• Paradox – inconsistency, contradiction, impossibility, illogicality
• Rhetoric – oratory, public speech
• Sycophant – flatterer, toady

Some Top 100 Smart Adjectives

• Caustic – scathing, acerbic, sarcastic
• Esoteric – obscure, mysterious, cryptic, arcane
• Fastidious – fussy, finicky, particular
• Glib – persuasive, smooth, slick
• Gregarious – extroverted, sociable, unreserved, convivial
• Idiosyncratic – individual, personal, distinctive, eccentric, peculiar
• Infinitesimal – minuscule
• Insidious – sinister, menacing
• Lurid – shocking, explicit, vivid, sensational
• Maudlin – overly sentimental, mawkish, soppy
• Mercenary – serving only for sordid advantage or money
• Ostentatious – showy, flamboyant, pretentious, grandiose
• Perfunctory – unthinking, dutiful, obligatory, token, automatic
• Quintessential – typical, prototypical, archetypal, model, standard
• Stoic – unaffected by or not showing response to pain, distress, or other discomfort
• Suave- smooth, polite, urbane, debonair, sophisticated, charming, gracious
• Ubiquitous – everywhere, ever-present, omnipresent
• Untenable – weak, unsound, invalid, shaky, flawed, indefensible, unsustainable
• Zealous – enthusiastic, passionate, fervent, ardent, obsessive, fanatical, extreme

Some Top 100 Smart Verbs

• Equivocate – prevaricate, beat around the bush, vacillate
• Finagle – obtain by indirect or convoluted means or through trickery
• Malinger – feign or exaggerate incapacity or illness to avoid work or other duties
• Ostracize – exclude, shun, snub
• Revel – celebrate, take intense pleasure in something
• Waft – drift, float, be carried on a breeze

Smart Words That Didn’t Make the Cut

There are a number of clever words that weren’t among the 100 chosen by the American Heritage Dictionaries editors but make great additions to academic writing.

Smart Nouns

• Consternation – dismay, disquiet, concern
• Conundrum – puzzle, riddle, mystery, challenge, problem
• Credulity – gullibility, naivety
• Diatribe – tirade, invective, harangue, rant
• Foreboding – apprehension, premonition
• Hubris – exaggerated self-confidence, excessive pride
• Hybrid – cross, mixture
• Implication – insinuation, inference, suggestion
• Lassitude – tiredness, fatigue, lethargy, inertia, apathy
• Mnemonic – memory aid (i.e., rhyme or formula)
• Paradigm – theoretical or philosophical framework
• Paragon – model, ideal, epitome
• Pastiche – an artistic, architectural, or literary work that imitates or is comprised of a hodgepodge of selections from prior works
• Panegyric – speech offering elaborate or formal praise
• Pathos – sorrow, grief, pity, suffering, tragedy, misery
• Paucity – scarcity, lack, rarity, dearth
• Phalanx – an arranged group of things, animals, or people; a digital bone in the foot or hand
• Pique – temper, resentment, annoyance, anger
• Plasticity – flexibility, agility, smoothness, grace
• Predilection – fondness, partiality, preference, penchant
• Privation – hardship, deprivation, adversity, poverty
• Proclivity – liking, appetite, inclination
• Propensity – tendency, inclination, predisposition, predilection
• Ramification – consequence, result, implication, effect
• Stratagem – trick, ruse, ploy, scheme
• Surfeit – excess, surplus, glut
• Temerity – nerve, audacity, gall
• Umbrage – offense, resentment, indignation
• Xenophobia – hatred, fear of, and/or prejudice against strangers or foreigners

Smart Adjectives

• Aberrant – abnormal, deviant, anomalous, irregular, atypical
• Amicable – friendly, harmonious, cordial, agreeable
• Asinine – silly, stupid, foolish, idiotic
• Astute – shrewd, smart, perceptive, judicious, incisive, wise
• Audacious – daring, bold, overconfident, impudent
• Belligerent – aggressive, argumentative, quarrelsome
• Boisterous – energetic, animated, lively, rowdy
• Cantankerous – bad-tempered, irritable, crabby, argumentative, difficult
• Capacious – large, voluminous, roomy
• Circuitous – roundabout, indirect, meandering, winding
• Culpable – guilty, to blame, responsible, liable
• Dogmatic – rigid, inflexible, narrow-minded, authoritarian
• Dour – sour, stern, grim, severe, harsh, unfriendly
• Eclectic – diverse, assorted, miscellaneous
• Fallacious – untrue, misleading, erroneous, wrong
• Florid – elaborately decorated; ruddy
• Fractious – irritable, peevish
• Frenetic – frantic, hectic, frenzied
• Garrulous – talkative (to an annoying level)
• Gauche – awkward, tactless, graceless, crude
• Guileless – honest, straightforward, open, innocent, naive
• Ignoble – dishonourable, shameful
• Inane – silly, ridiculous, idiotic, frivolous
• Innocuous – inoffensive, harmless, innocent, safe, bland
• Insipid – dull, bland, wishy-washy, trite
• Inviolable – unbreakable, sacred, unassailable
• Irresolute – indecisive, vacillating, unsure
• Lackadaisical – apathetic, careless, lazy, relaxed, laissez-faire, casual, lax, easy-going
• Loquacious – talkative
• Malleable – impressionable, acquiescent, flexible, pliable
• Nascent – budding, promising, emerging
• Nonchalant – casual, offhand, laid back, blasé
• Obdurate – obstinate, stubborn, inflexible, unyielding, immovable
• Oblique – slanted, sloping, at an angle, leaning
• Odious – horrible, loathsome, revolting, detestable, repulsive, obnoxious
• Omnipresent – ubiquitous, all-pervading, universal
• Overweening – arrogant, pompous, haughty, presumptuous, conceited
• Parochial – narrow-minded, close-minded, provincial, insular, hidebound
• Pejorative – derogatory, negative, depreciatory
• Peripheral – tangential, marginal, nonessential, sideline
• Pernicious – destructive, harmful, evil, insidious, spiteful, malicious
• Pithy – terse, to the point, concise, succinct
• Pivotal – essential, crucial, key, critical, central
• Plausible – reasonable, believable, credible, conceivable
• Poignant – moving, touching, emotional, sad, tender
• Preternatural – extraordinary (often used in relation to psychic or supernatural phenomenon)
• Prodigious – extraordinary, exceptional, phenomenal, impressive
• Profane – blasphemous, disrespectful, sacrilegious
• Profligate – extravagant, wasteful
• Prophetic – visionary, predictive
• Prosaic – mundane, banal, dull, ordinary
• Pungent – strong smelling, acrid
• Raucous – harsh, rough, strident, grating; wild, boisterous, disorderly, riotous, unruly, noisy
• Rudimentary – basic, simple, elementary, undeveloped
• Sacrosanct – sacred, holy, untouchable
• Salient – most important, significant, relevant
• Slipshod – careless, slapdash, shoddy, sloppy
• Solicitous – considerate, attentive, concerned, caring
• Specious – false, erroneous, baseless, inaccurate, unfounded, misleading
• Surreptitious – furtive, secret, sneaky, covert
• Tangential – peripheral, divergent
• Tantamount – equivalent, the same as, synonymous, identical, indistinguishable
• Tenacious – persistent, stubborn, resolute, dogged, determined, steadfast
• Unilateral – one-sided, independent
• Vacuous – empty-headed, stupid, inane
• Variegated – multicoloured
• Virulent – venomous, bitter, vituperative, spiteful; dangerous, potent, strong
• Vituperative – insulting, abusive, malicious, slanderous, scathing
• Vociferous – loudly vocal, raucous, strident
• Voracious – insatiable, ravenous

Smart Verbs

• Atrophy – waste away, wither, weaken, shrivel, degenerate
• Construe – interpret, take to mean
• Galvanize – spur, stimulate, rouse, electrify, incite
• Impel – push, force, drive, compel, urge, coerce
• Palliate – ease symptoms without curing a disease; moderate the intensity of something; make apologies or excuses in order to hide the magnitude of something
• Postulate – assume, hypothesize, suggest, propose
• Proliferate – propagate, multiply, reproduce, breed, grow, flourish, increase
• Recapitulate – summarize, recap
• Ruminate – ponder, reflect
• Stultify – impair, invalidate, have a dulling effect on
• Transpose – swap, reverse, switch, invert
• Vacillate – waver, hesitate, be indecisive, fluctuate

Word lovers may also wish to read Beautiful Words, Funny Words, and Commonly Misused Words. For a full list of writers' articles and resources, visit the Writing Resources page.

 

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