If you know these words, your English is excellent!

Hi, I’m Janet! Ready to test if your English is truly advanced. Educated native English speakers use these words frequently. Do you know and use them as well? If you recognize 10 out of these 12 words, congrats—your English is truly advanced!

Let’s Get Started

Word 1: Bleak

• Pronunciation: Bleak
• Meaning: Lacking in warmth or kindness; not hopeful; depressing or desolate.
• Examples:
  • The landscape was Bleak and barren.
  • The weather was Bleak and cold.
  • The future seemed Bleak after the company announced layoffs.

Hear it in context:

• The classic book “Lord of the Flies” paints a pretty bleak picture of human nature.
• The economy looked pretty bleak for me—it’s not very positive; it’s quite bleak.

Word 2: Daunting

• Pronunciation: Dahnt-ing (American) / Daunting (British)
• Meaning: Appearing difficult to deal with; intimidating; overwhelming.
• Examples:
  • Starting a new job can be daunting.
  • The task ahead seems daunting.
  • The mountain’s sheer size was daunting to the climbers.

Hear it in context:

• It’s a daunting thing to start a book.
• Starting a whole new career, of course, it’s going to feel daunting.

Word 3: Undaunted

• Pronunciation: Un-daunted
• Meaning: Not intimidated or discouraged by difficulty, danger, or disappointment.
• Examples:
  • Despite the risks, he was undaunted and proceeded with the plan.
  • The team was undaunted by the opponent.
  • It’s not a problem for me; I remain undaunted.

Word 4: Unwitting

• Pronunciation: Un-wit-ting
• Meaning: Not aware of the full facts; unintentional or unplanned.
• Examples:
  • He was an unwitting participant in the scam.
  • His comment was unwittingly hurtful.
  • She unwittingly threw away the winning lottery ticket.

Word 5: Egregious

• Pronunciation: Ee-gree-jus
• Meaning: Outstandingly bad; shocking.
• Examples:
  • The egregious error cost the company millions of dollars.
  • He was expelled from the school because of his egregious behavior.
  • The report highlighted several egregious violations.

Hear it in context:

• It’s egregious to steal state land and redistribute it.
• This example is egregious; it’s a terrible example.

Word 6: Sanctimonious

• Pronunciation: Sank-ti-mo-ni-us
• Meaning: Behaving as if morally superior to others; often annoying.
• Examples:
  • His sanctimonious attitude made him unpopular.
  • I’m tired of my friend’s sanctimonious lectures about healthy living.

Hear it in context:

• I’m not being sanctimonious about it.
• He comes across as sanctimonious.

Word 7: Hapless

• Pronunciation: Hap-less
• Meaning: Experiencing unfortunate situations; unlucky.
• Examples:
  • The hapless traveler lost his passport.
  • The hapless team lost every game this season.

Word 8: Trite

• Pronunciation: Trite
• Meaning: Overused; lacking originality or freshness.
• Examples:
  • The speech was full of trite expressions.
  • His ideas were dismissed as trite and unoriginal.

Hear it in context:

• It sounds trite, but we’re lucky to have our health.

Word 9: Ubiquitous

• Pronunciation: Yoo-bik-wi-tus
• Meaning: Present everywhere.
• Examples:
  • McDonald’s and Starbucks are ubiquitous these days.
  • Smartphones have become ubiquitous in today’s society.

Hear it in context:

• Volcanoes are ubiquitous throughout the solar system.

Word 10: Adamant

• Pronunciation: Ad-a-munt
• Meaning: Refusing to be persuaded; determined.
• Examples:
  • He was adamant about not going to the party.
  • His parents were adamantly opposed to the marriage.

Word 11: Callous

• Pronunciation: Kal-lus
• Meaning: Insensitive; showing no concern for others.
• Examples:
  • His callous remarks hurt her feelings.
  • He has a callous attitude toward the poor.

Word 12: Distraught

• Pronunciation: Dis-trawt
• Meaning: Extremely worried or upset.
• Examples:
  • She was very distraught over the loss of her pet.
  • He appeared distraught after hearing the bad news.

Hear it in context:

• As parents, we were very distraught.

Conclusion

If you recognized most of the words, congratulations! Your English is excellent. If some words were new to you, re-read the post, take notes, and practice using these words. Keep expanding your vocabulary, and soon, your English will reach new heights.

Thanks for reading, and keep practicing your English! To take your English fluency to the next level, check out my online course and my parent blog Learn English at ease as well, You Must Know for Fluent English. Visit English with Janet for more blog posts.