Unit 38. The Written Word | Exercises and Flashcards

Unit 38. The Written Word, 400 words for TOEFL Exercises and Flashcards

Word	Definition	Example
advent	coming, arrival	The advent of Christmas begins on the 1st of December
ambiguous	having more than one possible meaning	He looked at her with an ambiguous smile
a connotation	a meaning that is implied, not stated directly	"Resolute" means stubborn, but with a more positive connotation.
to decipher	to figure out the meaning, even though it is written in a code or an unknown language	Can you decipher the writing on this envelope?
to denote	to mean something clearly and directly	The colour red is used to denote passion or danger.
illiterate	unable to read	A person who can't read and write is illiterate.
ingenious	very clever and imaginative	He was ingenious enough to overcome the limited budget
inscription	something written into a piece of rock or metal	The inscription read 'Gone but not forgotten'.
phonetic	related to the sounds in a language	Pronunciations are shown in this dictionary using the International Phonetic Alphabet.
symbolic	acting as a sign for some other thing or idea	His speech was symbolic to the majority of students