Formal | Less Formal | Example |
accurate | correct | The brochure tries to give a fair and accurate description of each hotel. |
adequate | okay | It is not a big salary, but it is adequate for our needs. |
adolescent | teen | She does not understand the emotional problems of adolescents. |
affluent | rich | We live in an affluent neighbourhood. |
attain | get | You need financial security in order to attain emotional well-being. |
authentic | real | An authentic dress from 1921. |
beneficial | good | This treatment can be very beneficial, especially to young children. |
benefit | help | The new credit cards will be of great benefit to our customers. |
commence | begin | They will commence production in May. |
concise | short | Your summary should be as concise as possible. |
consolidate | strengthen | She hoped that marriage would consolidate their relationship. |
consume | use | A smaller car will consume less fuel. |
contemporary | new | An exhibition of contemporary Japanese prints. |
context | situation | The political context of the election. |
contribute | give | Many local businesses offered to contribute to the school rebuilding fund. |
corroborate | prove | Recent research seems to corroborate the theory. |
demonstrate | show | These numbers demonstrate the economic problems facing our country. |
element | part | The movie had all the elements of a good thriller. |
emphasize | highlight | At school they emphasize good manners. |
endeavour | try | We always endeavour to please our customers. |
estimate | guess | It is impossible to estimate how many people were affected. |
evolve | grow | Businesses need to evolve rapidly. |
explicit | clear | I gave them explicit directions on how to get here. |
fabricate | create | He was late, so he fabricated an excuse to avoid trouble. |
facilitate | help | To facilitate learning, each class is no larger than 30 students. |
fundamental | basic | The protection of fundamental human rights. |
illustrate | show | This illustrates a fundamental weakness in the system. |
implement | do | Very few parties in government want to implement major political reform. |
imply | mean | Democracy implies a respect for individual liberties. |
infer | guess | From the evidence, we can infer that the victim knew her killer. |
inferior | poor | Wine of inferior quality. |
minor | small | We have made some minor changes to the program. |
modify | change | It is possible to modify the keyboard to suit the individual user. |
mutual | shared | She disliked Paul, and the feeling was mutual. |
notion | idea | The traditional notion of marriage goes back thousands of years. |
objective | goal | The main objective was to improve children’s knowledge of geography. |
obsolete | old | Most computers quickly become obsolete. |
occupation | job | What is her occupation? |
perceive | see | He perceives himself to be a failure, which is far from the truth. |
peril | danger | They put their own lives in peril to rescue their friends. |
postpone | delay | They decided to postpone their holiday until next year. |
prevent | stop | The police seem to be powerless to prevent these attacks. |
profound | deep | The writer’s profound insights into human experience. |
provide | give | We provide legal advice and services to our clients. |
purchase | buy | Where did you purchase the car? |
reinforce | strengthen | He used hand gestures to reinforce what he was saying. |
resolve | fix | Mary was desperate for money to resolve her financial problems. |
subsequent | next | These skills were passed on to subsequent generations. |
substantial | big | The study reveals very substantial differences between population groups. |
sufficient | enough | The money is not sufficient to cover everything that needs doing. |
QUIZ