TOEFL Intermediate Vocabulary List D

TOEFL is an examination that evaluates the ability of non-native speakers to use and understand English in academic environment. Here is a TOEFL vocabulary exam vocabulary list...

DEARTH: Scarcity - a dearth of news, brought about by censorship.

Antonyms: plethora, abundance

DEFERENCE: Submitting to the wishes or judgment of another - yielded out of deference to the old man.

Synonyms: respect, complaisance, veneration

Antonym: recalcitrance

DEITY: A god -The sun was a deity to ancient peoples.

Synonym: divinity

DELECTABLE: Very pleasing - a delectable meal, tastefully prepared.

DELETE: To erase or cancel, take out or remove - deletedan offensive phrase.

Synonyms: expunge, censor, efface, eradicate

DELINEATE: To sketch or portray - striking features, delineated by a master artist.

DELINQUENT (noun): An offender - found to be a delinquent by the court.

(adj.): Failing to fulfill an obligation - too many people who are delinquent in meeting their civic duties.

Synonym: derelict

DELUGE: A great flood; downpour - a spring deluge which caused the river to overflow.

DEMAGOGUE: A leader who tries to stir the passions of people for his own purposes - the mob roused by an unprincipled demagogue.

DEMEANOR: Behavior; bearing - carrying himself with a proud demeanor.

Synonyms: deportment, mien

DEMURE: Affectedly or falsely modest or prim; serious demure as a Victorian maiden.

Synonyms: sedate, staid, decorous, prudish, coy

Antonyms: immodest, frivolous

DENOUNCE (noun: DENUNCIATION): To speak against - denounced by the press as a traitor.

Synonyms: stigmatize, censure, reprehend, castigate

Antonyms: laud, eulogize

DEPLETE: To empty or to use up - depleted the public treasury by vast building programs.

Synonyms: exhaust, drain

Antonyms: replenish; (adj.) replete

DEPLORE: To express sorrow or grief over - a lamentable situation deplored by all parties.

Synonyms: lament, decry, grieve

DEPRAVED: Of low morals; corrupt - a depraved mind, devising evil.

Synonyms: debased, wicked, vicious, perverted

DEPRECATE: To plead or argue against a certain course of action - deprecated the proposal severely.

Synonyms: remonstrate, protest, decry, expostulate

Antonym: sanction

DEPRECIATE: To belittle or speak slightingly of - depreciated John's acting ability.

Synonyms: disparage, derogate (adj. derogatory)

Antonyms: enhance, magnify, extol, laud, eulogize

DEVASTATION: Widespread ruin - the city left in utter devastation by war.

Synonyms: destruction, desolation

DEVIOUS:

(1) Winding; indirect - took a devious, rather than the direct way home.

Synonym: circuitous

(2) Straying from the right course - used devious means to attain his wicked ends.

Synonyms: crooked, erring

DEVOID: Lacking in; not possessing - a speech devoid of even a trace of ill-will.

Synonym: destitute

Antonyms: abounding, prevalent

DEVOUT: Devoted to religious observances - devout in his regularity of attendance at worship.

Synonyms: pious, religious

Antonym: impious

DICTUM: Art authoritative statement; a saying-an imperial dictum demanding instant compliance.

DIDACTIC: Designed to teach, imparting a lesson - a poem with a didactic purpose.

Synonym: pedagogical

DIFFIDENT: Lacking in self-confidence- too diffident to lead a group.

Synonyms: shy, timid, reserved, reticent, retiring

Antonyms: forward, aggressive

DILEMMA: A situation calling for a choice between two equally difficult alternatives; hence, a difficult or perplexing situation - faced with a dilemma defying solution.

Synonyms:predicament, quandary, plight

DILETTANTE: One who dabbles in the fine arts for amusement only and without concentrated study - a doctor by profession, a dilettante in art.

Synonyms:amateur, connoisseur

DISCONCERT: To confuse; to embarrass - disconcerted by his suspicious stare.

Synonyms:perturb, discomfit, discompose, abash, disquiet, fluster

DISCONSOLATE: Depressed; without hope or possibility of consolation - made disconsolate by abject poverty.

Synonyms:inconsolable, dejected

Antonyms:blithesome, carefree

DISCOURSE: To converse or talk; to discuss - discoursed at length on the rise of political parties.

DISCRETE: Separate - two discrete issues, totally unrelated.

DISCURSIVE: Rambling from one subject to another - a discursive letter, covering many topics.

Synonyms:desultory, digressive

DISPARITY (adj.: DISPARATE): Inequality; difference in image, quantity, character, or rank - great disparity between promise and performance.

DISPASSIONATE: Free from feeling or partiality - coldly dispassionate as the chairman of the meeting

Synonyms:palm, impartial

Antonym:partial

DISPATCH (verb): To do speedily; to send off - dispatched with remarkable promptness.

Synonym: expedite

(noun): A speedy performance; the sending off of something - done with all possible dispatch.

Synonyms: celerity, alacrity

DISPEL: To drive away; to scatter - dispelled a doubt that had lingered.

Synonyms:dissipate, disperse, diffuse

DISSENT (noun: DISSENSION): To disagree; to differ in opinion - He dissented violently, rejecting compromise.

DISSOLUTE: Living loosely; unrestrained in conduct or morals - his life wasted by dissolute conduct.

Synonyms:debauched, dissipated, profligate

DISTRAUGHT: Mentally distressed; distracted - distraught by trials and tribulations.

Synonym: harassed

DIVERSE: (verb: DIVERSIFY; noun: DIVISIBILITY): Varied; different - two diverse characters; one candid, the other insincere.

Synonym: multifarious

DIVERTING: Entertaining - a diverting one of the most amusing I've ever seen.

DIVULGE: To make public or reveal - refused to divulge his source of information.

Synonyms: disclose, impart

DOGMATIC: Positive in expressing an opinion; asserting an opinion as though it were an undisputed fact - spokendogmatically, as if the speaker considered himself infallible.

Synonyms: overbearing, opinionated, peremptory, dictatorial

DOLOROUS: Sorrowful; mournful - a dolorous song full of sorrow for past joys.

Synonyms: doleful, lugubrious, grievous

Antonyms: jocund, blithe, mirthful

DYNAMIC: Forceful - possessed dynamic energy, tireless and powerful.

Synonym: energetic

Antonyms: static, inert, dormant, torpid, sluggish, quiescent