📚 100 Vocabulary Words Every Adult Should Know

Boost Your Confidence. Speak With Clarity. Learn With Purpose.

Words are power.

Whether you’re writing an email, preparing for a job interview, reading the news, or teaching your child, the words you use (and understand) shape how you experience the world.

As adults, our vocabulary often plateaus unless we make a conscious effort to expand it. But it’s never too late to grow your vocabulary — and doing so can have powerful effects on your confidence, communication skills, and career.

That’s why I created this 100 Words Every Adult Should Know blog and video series, designed to make language learning practical, engaging, and empowering.

💡 Why Build Your Vocabulary?

A robust vocabulary can help you:

✅ Communicate with confidence – Express your thoughts clearly and avoid miscommunication
✅ Read with greater comprehension – Understand what you read faster and more deeply
✅ Sound more professional – Strong vocabulary leaves a lasting impression in work, business, and social settings
✅ Think more precisely – The more words you know, the more accurately you can think and describe ideas
✅ Feel empowered – Vocabulary is not just for tests and essays; it’s a life tool

Whether you're a lifelong learner, an English language learner, or someone returning to education, learning new words is one of the best investments you can make in yourself.

🧠 About the 100 Words List

This curated list is inspired by Dr. Diane Hamilton’s popular article "Top 100 Vocabulary Words That Adults Should Know". I’ve added my own definitions, original examples, and teaching videos to help you understand and use each word confidently.

All definitions, teaching content, and video lessons are original to me.

🔎 How to Use This Series:

• 📖 Read the blog posts: I’ll break down the 100 words into manageable parts (10 or 25 at a time)

• ✍️ Practice the examples: Each word includes a simple definition and a real-life example sentence

• 🎥 Watch the video lessons: Follow along on YouTube where I teach each word with context, pronunciation, and tips

  Acquiesce

• Acronym

• Ambiguity

• Analogy

• Anachronism

• Andragogy

• Antithesis

• Antonym

• Articulate

• Assonance

• Benchmarking

• Brainstorming

• Circumspect

• Clandestine

• Cognition

• Collaborate

• Colloquial

• Connotation

• Contrived

• Conundrum

• Correlation

• Criterion

• Cumulative

• Curriculum

• Deference

• Developmental

• Dialect

• Diction

• Didactic

• Dissertation

• Divergent

• Egregious

• Eloquence

• Emergent

• Empathy

• Enigma

• Epitome

• Epiphany

• Epitaph

• Erudite

• Existential

• Exponential

• Formative

• Holistic

• Homonym

• Hubris

• Hyperbole

• Incongruous

• Infamy

• Initiation

• Innate

• Intellectual

• Interactive

• Irony

• Jargon

• Juxtaposition

• Malapropism

• Magnanimous

• Mentor

• Metaphor

• Meticulous

• Mnemonic

• Monologue

• Motif

• Myriad

• Nemesis

• Nominal

• Norms

• Obfuscate

• Obtuse

• Onomatopoeia

• Ostentatious

• Oxymoron

• Paradox

• Paraphrase

• Pedantic

• Pedagogy

• Perusal

• Phonemes

• Phonological

• Plagiarism

• Plethora

• Posthumously

• Preposition

• Pretentious

• Pseudonym

• References

• Reflection

• Rubric

• Sardonic

• Satire

• Simile

• Soliloquy

• Superfluous

• Syntax

• Thesis

• Validity

• Vernacular

• Virtual

• Vocational

📺 Follow Me on YouTube for Vocabulary Lessons

To see these words in action, follow my literacy channel on YouTube:
👉 @MsGreenLiteracy

I teach vocabulary, comprehension strategies, everyday literacy, and more — all in plain English, with practical examples. Be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications!

🚀 Start Building Your Vocabulary

Ready to grow?
👉 Click here to read the first 10 vocabulary words → (Insert link to next blog post or section)

This journey is for you — the adult learner, the professional, the dreamer, the teacher, the parent, the thinker. No matter your background, these 100 words will strengthen your communication and give you the confidence to speak up and be heard.