TOEFL wordlist 10

1.  summit [ˈsʌmɪt]

(1). n. A summit is a meeting at which the leaders of two or more countries discuss important matters.

(2). n. The summit of a mountain is the top of it.

Sceientists need to put a special receiver on the summit to receive signals from the satellites.

2. planetary [ˈplænətri]

adj. Planetary means relating to or belonging to planets.

Many planetary orbits are not circles.

3. lash [læʃ]

(1). n. Your lashes are the hairs that grow on the edge of your upper and lower eyelids.

(2). v. If you lash two or more lashes someone or something, it hits them violently.

(3). v. If wind, rain, or water lashes someone or something, it hits them violently.

(4). v. If someone lashes you or lashes into you, they speak very angrily to you, criticizing you or saying you have done something wrong.

(5). n. A lash is a thin strip of leather at the end of a whip.

(6). n. A lash is a blow with a whip, especially a blow on someone's back as a punishment.

(7). v. If someone lashes another person, they hit that person with a whip.

(8). phrase. If an animal lashes its tail, or if its tail lashes, it moves its tail very fast and violently.

There are other drums that have skins lashed into both sides.

Freak rainstorms once lashes in the central and southern sections of the state.

4. proficient [prəˈfɪʃnt]

adj. If you are proficient in something, you can do it well.

THe scrolls were written in a language that is really rare today. Only a few people are proficient at it.

5. paradigm [ˈpærədaɪm]

(1). n. A paradigm is a model for something which explains it or shows how it can be produced.

(2). n. A paradigm is a clear and typical example of something.

The war was paradigm of the destructive side of human nature.

6. foliage [ˈfəʊliɪdʒ]

n. The leaves of a plant are referred to as its foliage.

The insect is active at night and rests motionless amid foliage during the day.

7. spontaneous [spɒnˈteɪniəs]

(1). adj. Spontaneous acts are not planned or arranged, but are done because someone suddenly wants to do them.

(2). adj. A spontaneous event happens because of processes within something rather than being caused by things outside it.

The audience burst into spontaneous applause.

8. quarry [ˈkwɒri]

(1). n. A quarry is an area that is dug out from a piece of land or the side of  a mountain in order to get stone or minerals.

(2). v. When stone or minerals are quarried or when an area is quarried for them, they are removed from the area by digging, drilling, or using explosives.

(3). n. A person's or animal's quarry is the person or animal that they are hunting.

The police lost their quarry in the crowd.

9. improvise [ˈɪmprəvaɪz]

(1). v. If you are improvise, you make or do something using whatever you have or without having planned it in advance.

(2). v. When performers improvise, they invent music or words as they play, sing, or speak.

The musical arrangement was normally improvised in the greatest hurry.

10. plateau [ˈplætəʊ]

(1). n. A plateau is a large area of high and fairly flat land.

(2). n. If you say that an activity or process has reached a plateau, you mean that it has reached a stage where there is no further change or development.

(3). v. If something such as an activity, process, or cost plateaus or plateaus out, it reaches a stage where there is no further change or development.

Inflation has reached a plateau.

11. potency [ˈpəʊtnsi]

(1). n. Potency is the power and influence that a person, action, or idea has to affect or change people's lives, feelings, or beliefs.

(2). n. The potency of a drug, poison, or other chemical is its strength.

(3). n. Potency is the ability of a man to have sex.

A medicine may lose its potency if you keep it too long.

12. benevolent [bəˈnevələnt]

(1). adj. If you describe a person in authority as benevolent, you mean that they are kind and fair.

(2). adj. Benevolent is used in the names of some organizations that give money and help to people who need it.

The club has received benevolent donations nationwide.

13. unanimous  [juˈnænɪməs]

(1). adj. When a group of people are unanimous, they all agree about something or all vote for the same thing.

(2). adj. A unanimous vote, decision, or agreement is one in which all the people involved agree.

This plan got an unanimous consent at the weekly meeting.

14. blunt  [blʌnt]

(1). adj. If you are blunt, you say exactly what you think without trying to be polite.

(2). adj. A blunt project has a rounded or flat end rather than a sharp one.

(3). adj. A blunt knife or blade is no longer sharp and does not cut well.

(4). v. If something blunts an emotion, a feeling or a need, it weakens it.

Don't drink too much alcohol, or it will make all your senses blunt.

15. credence [ˈkriːdns]

(1). n. If something lends or gives credence to a theory or story, it makes it easier to believe.

(2). n. If you give credence to a theory or story, you believe it.

They gave no credence to the findings of the survey.

16. fictitous [fɪkˈtɪʃəs]

(1). adj. Fictitious is used to describe something that is false or does not exist, although some people claim that it is true or exists.

(2). adj. A fictitious character, thing, or event occurs in a story, play, or film but never really existed or happened.

All the characters and places in this novel are fictitous.

17. somber  ['sɒmbə(r)]

(1). adj. If someone is sombre, they are serious or sad. (柯林斯词典就是sombre)

(2). adj. Sombre colours and places are dark and dull.

She has a somber expression on her face and I wonder what's the matter with her.

18. doodle [ˈduːdl]

(1). n. A doodle is a pattern or picture that you draw when you are bored or thinking about something else.

(2). v. When someone doodles, they draw doodles.

I often doodle when I'm on the phone.

19. blurt [blɜːt]

v. If someone blurts something, they say it suddenly, after trying hard to keep quiet or to keep it secret.

You must repeat to yourself many times before blurting out the sentences.

20. cradle [ˈkreɪdl]

(1). n. A cradle is a baby's bed with high sides. Cradles often have curved bases so that they rock from side to side.

(2). n. The cradle is the part of a telephone on which the receiver rests while it is not being used.

(3). n. A cradle is a frame which supports or protects something.

(4). n. A place that is referred to as the cradle of something is the place where it began.

(5). v. If you cradle someone or something in your arms or hands, you hold them carefully and gently.

(6). phrase. If something affects you from the cradle to the grave, it affects you throughout your life.

The mother puts her baby in a cradle and rocks it to and from.

21. deceitful [dɪˈsiːtfl]

adj. If you say that someone is deceitful, you mean that they behave in a dishonest way by making other people believe something that is not true.

Don't make this deceitful excuse again; I won't trust you any more.

22. aftermath [ˈɑːftəmæθ]

n. The aftermath of an important event, especially a harmful one, is the situation that results from it.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, everything changed dramatically.

23. bleak [bliːk]

(1). adj. If a situation is bleak, it is bad, and seems unlikely to improve.

(2). adj. If you describe a place as bleak, you mean that it looks cold, empty, and unattractive.

(3). adj. When the weather is bleak, it is cold, dull, and unpleasant.

(4). adj. If someone looks or sounds bleak, they look or sound depressed, as if they have no hope or energy.

As bleak as this situation is, we still have reasons to be hopeful.

24. diminution [ˌdɪmɪˈnjuːʃn]

n. A diminution of something is its reduction in size, importance, or intensity.

The country experienced a diminution of population growth during the 1980s.

25. tropic [ˈtrɒpɪk]

Heat is transported from the tropics to the middle and high latitudes.

26. octopus [ˈɒktəpəs]

n. An octopus is a soft sea creature with eight long arms called tentacles which it uses to catch food.

Scientists believe that octopuses began to evolve more than 400 million years ago.

27. onslaught [ˈɒnslɔːt]

(1). n. An onslaught on someone or something is a very violent, forceful attack against them.

(2). n. If you refer to an onslaught of something, you mean that there is a large amount of it, often so that it is very difficult to deal with.

In the face of this onslaught, living things have evolved a variety of defense mechanisms.

28. arid [ˈærɪd]

(1). adj. Arid land is so dry that very few plants can grow on it.

(2). adj. If you describe something such as a period of your life or an academic subject as arid, you mean that it has so little interest, excitement, or purpose that it makes you feel bored or unhappy.

Arid soils are typically alkaline.

29. demolish [dɪˈmɑːlɪʃ]

(1). v. To demolish something such as a building means to destroy it completely.

(2). v. If you demolish someone's ideas or arguments, you prove that they are completely wrong or unreasonable.

(3). v. If a person or team demolishes their opponents, they defeat them by a great amount.

The human species is altering the physical and chemical world and demolishing the environment.

30. clam [klæm]

n. Clams are a kind of shellfish which can be eaten.

The little boy was as happy as a clam in high water.

31. thrifty  [ˈθrɪfti] 

adj. If you say that someone is thrifty, you are praising them for saving money, not buying unnecessary things, and not wasting things.

The thrifty housewife only buys grocery items that are on sale.

32. damp  [dæmp]

(1). adj. Something that is damp is slightly wet.

(2). n. Damp is moisture that is found on the inside walls of a house or in the air.

(3). v. If you damp something, you make it slightly wet.

Farmers often squeeze the damp soil into three basic shapes.

33. staggering [ˈstæɡərɪŋ] 

adj. Something that is staggering is very surprising.

We need a staggering amount of money in the initial investment.

34. vertebrate [ˈvɜːtɪbrət]

n. A vertebrate is a creature which has a spine. Mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish are vertebrates.

The nervous system of vertebrates is characterized by a nerve cord.

35. stiff [stɪf] 

(1). adj. Something that is stiff is firm or does not bend easily.

(2). adj. Something such as a door or drawer that is stiff does not move as easily as it should.

(3). adj. If you are stiff, your muscles or joints hurt when you move, because of illness or because of too much exercise.

(4). adj. Stiff behaviour is rather formal and not very friendly or relaxed.

(5). adj. Stiff can be used to mean difficult or severe.

(6). adj. A stiff drink is a large amount of a strong alcoholic drink.

(7). adj. A stiff wind is blowing quite strongly.

(8). adv. If you are bored stiff, worried stiff, or scared stiff, you are extremely bored, worried, or scared.

Her hands had become too stiff to sew.

The new proposal has met with stiff opposition.

36. insanity  [ɪnˈsænəti]

(1). n. Insanity is the state of being insane.

(2). n. If you describe a decision or an action as insanity, you think it is very foolish.

Hers is a world of violence, insanity, fractured love, and hopeless loneliness.

37. burgeon [ˈbɜːdʒən]

v. If something burgeons, it grows or develops rapidly.

As the number of wage earners in manufacturing rose, the number of huge plants in Philadelphia burgeoned.

38. stanza [ˈstænzə]

n. A stanza is one of the parts into which a poem is divided.

It so impressed Stevens that he was inspired to write a thirty-two-stanza poem entitled The Man with the Blue Guitar.

整理自《柯林斯词典》、《新东方托福词汇》，侵删歉。