Top 100 Secondary 4 SEC G2 Vocabulary List: Essential

Here are 100 essential vocabulary words for Secondary 4 students studying English at SEC G2 level. This final year-level list develops precise language for reading, evidence, evaluation, writing and oral communication.

Acute
Adverse
Analogous
Anomaly
Bolster
Candid
Catalyst
Caveat
Circumspect
Cogent
Contingency
Cumulative
Cursory
Deference
Delineate
Derivative
Discern
Dispassionate
Disproportionate
Dissonance
Dogmatic
Equivocal
Exacerbate
Expedient
Fallacy
Feasible
Fleeting
Fortitude
Futile
Galvanise
Holistic
Homogeneous
Ideological
Imminent
Imperative
Incisive
Incongruous
Indispensable
Inevitable
Inherent
Inhibit
Insidious
Intangible
Judicious
Juxtapose
Magnanimous
Mitigate
Multifaceted
Negligible
Ostensibly
Pervasive
Poignant
Precarious
Precedent
Premise
Presuppose
Proponent
Prudent
Rebut
Rectify
Reiterate
Repercussion
Salient
Sanguine
Sporadic
Stringent
Succinct
Superfluous
Synthesis
Trade-off
Transcend
Unequivocal
Untenable
Volatility
Aberration
Acquiesce
Alleviate
Assuage
Austere
Avert
Benign
Commensurate
Conducive
Contingent
Correlate
Deviate
Disseminate
Divergent
Induce
Notwithstanding
Offset
Pertinent
Prevalent
Prohibit
Proportionate
Restrain
Simultaneous
Speculate
Subsequent
Judgement

Top 100 Secondary 4 SEC G2 Essential Vocabulary Words with Meanings and Examples

Word	Meaning	Example (Singapore Context)
1. Acute	very serious, intense or severe	The report described an acute shortage of volunteers during the final week.
2. Adverse	harmful or unfavourable	Heavy rain had an adverse effect on attendance at the outdoor event.
3. Analogous	similar in important ways so a comparison is useful	The teacher used an analogous school situation to explain the unfamiliar problem.
4. Anomaly	something that differs from the expected pattern	One unusually high result appeared to be an anomaly in the data.
5. Bolster	to strengthen or support something	The writer used a second example to bolster the main argument.
6. Candid	honest and direct	Her candid reflection admitted that she had ignored useful feedback.
7. Catalyst	something that causes or speeds up change	The failed rehearsal became a catalyst for changing the presentation.
8. Caveat	a warning or qualification attached to a statement	The recommendation came with a caveat: the trial involved only one class.
9. Circumspect	careful to consider risks before acting	The circumspect editor verified the source before repeating the claim.
10. Cogent	clear, logical and convincing	She gave a cogent explanation of why the timetable needed to change.
11. Contingency	a possible future event that may require a response	The student used contingency accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
12. Cumulative	increasing through the addition of successive parts	The student used cumulative accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
13. Cursory	quick and not sufficiently careful	A cursory check failed to notice that two dates were different.
14. Deference	respectful acceptance of another person’s judgement	The student used deference accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
15. Delineate	to describe or mark out clearly	The student used delineate accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
16. Derivative	too closely based on another work or idea	The student used derivative accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
17. Discern	to recognise something not immediately obvious	The reader could discern a change in the narrator’s attitude from her shorter replies.
18. Dispassionate	not influenced by strong personal emotion when judging	The student used dispassionate accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
19. Disproportionate	too large or small in relation to what is reasonable	The student used disproportionate accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
20. Dissonance	a lack of agreement or harmony	The student used dissonance accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
21. Dogmatic	insisting that one’s beliefs are unquestionably correct	The student used dogmatic accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
22. Equivocal	unclear or open to more than one interpretation	The equivocal reply left the class unsure whether permission had been granted.
23. Exacerbate	to make an existing problem worse	A second conflicting notice exacerbated the confusion.
24. Expedient	convenient now though not necessarily wise in the long term	The student used expedient accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
25. Fallacy	an error in reasoning	The argument relied on the fallacy that a popular choice must be suitable for everyone.
26. Feasible	possible and practical to carry out	The project was feasible only if the team could borrow the equipment.
27. Fleeting	lasting for only a short time	The student used fleeting accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
28. Fortitude	courage and strength in prolonged difficulty	She showed fortitude by rebuilding the project after several unsuccessful attempts.
29. Futile	incapable of producing the intended result	Repeating the same unclear instruction was futile.
30. Galvanise	to spur people into taking action	The student used galvanise accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
31. Holistic	considering the whole situation and its connected parts	A holistic review considered preparation, participation and follow-up.
32. Homogeneous	consisting of very similar people or things	The student used homogeneous accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
33. Ideological	relating to a system of beliefs about society	The student used ideological accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
34. Imminent	expected to happen very soon	With the audience’s arrival imminent, the group completed the essential checks.
35. Imperative	extremely important or necessary	It was imperative to correct the address before sending the invitations.
36. Incisive	clear and perceptive in identifying an important issue	The student used incisive accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
37. Incongruous	out of place or inconsistent with its surroundings	The student used incongruous accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
38. Indispensable	absolutely necessary	The student used indispensable accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
39. Inevitable	certain to happen or impossible to avoid	The student used inevitable accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
40. Inherent	existing as a natural or basic part of something	The student used inherent accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
41. Inhibit	to make an action or process more difficult	The student used inhibit accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
42. Insidious	gradually causing harm in a way difficult to notice	The student used insidious accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
43. Intangible	real or important but not physical or easily measured	The student used intangible accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
44. Judicious	showing careful and sensible judgement	The student used judicious accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
45. Juxtapose	to place two things together for comparison or contrast	The student used juxtapose accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
46. Magnanimous	generous and forgiving, especially towards a rival	The student used magnanimous accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
47. Mitigate	to reduce the severity or harmful effect of something	A backup venue could mitigate disruption if rain cancelled the outdoor activity.
48. Multifaceted	having several different but connected aspects	The problem was multifaceted because timing, access, cost and workload all mattered.
49. Negligible	too small to have much practical importance	The extra printing cost was negligible compared with the benefit of correcting the instructions.
50. Ostensibly	apparently or according to what is stated, though reality may differ	The student used ostensibly accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
51. Pervasive	spread widely throughout a situation or group	The student used pervasive accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
52. Poignant	causing a strong feeling of sadness or tenderness	The student used poignant accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
53. Precarious	uncertain, unstable or easily put at risk	The project’s future was precarious because only one student knew how to operate the equipment.
54. Precedent	an earlier example that may guide a later decision	The student used precedent accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
55. Premise	a statement or assumption on which an argument is based	The proposal depended on the premise that every participant could stay after school.
56. Presuppose	to assume something is true before it is established	The student used presuppose accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
57. Proponent	a person who supports a particular idea	The student used proponent accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
58. Prudent	careful and sensible about future consequences	It was prudent to confirm the booking before announcing the event.
59. Rebut	to answer an argument with opposing reasons or evidence	The student rebutted the objection by explaining how the trial would limit the workload.
60. Rectify	to correct something that is wrong	The editor rectified the incorrect date before the notice was published.
61. Reiterate	to state something again for clarity or emphasis	The student used reiterate accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
62. Repercussion	an indirect or later consequence, usually unwelcome	One repercussion of the misleading notice was that every participant had to be contacted again.
63. Salient	most noticeable or important to the matter	The summary retained the salient reasons and omitted repeated examples.
64. Sanguine	optimistic or confident about a difficult situation	The student used sanguine accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
65. Sporadic	occurring irregularly rather than continuously	The student used sporadic accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
66. Stringent	strict and demanding	The student used stringent accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
67. Succinct	brief and clearly expressed	Her succinct conclusion brought the main reasons together without repetition.
68. Superfluous	unnecessary because it adds nothing useful	The student used superfluous accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
69. Synthesis	the combination of different ideas into a connected whole	The final paragraph offered a synthesis of the competing viewpoints.
70. Trade-off	a situation where gaining one benefit requires giving up another	The timetable involved a trade-off between longer discussion and an earlier finish.
71. Transcend	to go beyond a usual limit or boundary	The student used transcend accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
72. Unequivocal	clear and leaving no doubt	The final message gave unequivocal permission to use the room.
73. Untenable	unable to be defended or maintained reasonably	The claim became untenable once the contradictory instructions were found.
74. Volatility	the tendency to change rapidly and unpredictably	The student used volatility accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
75. Aberration	a departure from what is normal or expected	The unusually low attendance was treated as an aberration rather than a trend.
76. Acquiesce	to accept something without protest, often reluctantly	Farah acquiesced to the revised plan even though she preferred the original.
77. Alleviate	to make a problem or burden less severe	Sharing the research tasks helped alleviate pressure on the group leader.
78. Assuage	to reduce an unpleasant feeling such as fear or worry	The student used assuage accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
79. Austere	plain, severe or without unnecessary comfort	The student used austere accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
80. Avert	to prevent something undesirable from happening	A final check averted confusion by catching the incorrect room number.
81. Benign	harmless or unlikely to cause damage	The student used benign accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
82. Commensurate	corresponding suitably in size, degree or importance	The student used commensurate accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
83. Conducive	helpful in producing a desired result	The student used conducive accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
84. Contingent	dependent on a particular condition	The student used contingent accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
85. Correlate	to show a relationship between two things	The data suggested that attendance tended to correlate with the session timing.
86. Deviate	to move away from an expected path or standard	The student used deviate accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
87. Disseminate	to spread information widely	The organisers disseminated the corrected information through several channels.
88. Divergent	moving or developing in different directions	The student used divergent accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
89. Induce	to cause or bring about something	The student used induce accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
90. Notwithstanding	despite the fact just mentioned	The student used notwithstanding accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
91. Offset	to counterbalance or reduce an effect	The student used offset accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
92. Pertinent	directly relevant to the matter	The missing source was pertinent to whether the claim was credible.
93. Prevalent	common or widespread	The student used prevalent accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
94. Prohibit	to formally forbid something	The student used prohibit accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
95. Proportionate	suitable in size or degree in relation to something else	The student used proportionate accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
96. Restrain	to hold back or control an action or emotion	The student used restrain accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
97. Simultaneous	happening at the same time	The student used simultaneous accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
98. Speculate	to form an idea without enough evidence	Without further evidence, it would be unfair to speculate about the organiser’s motive.
99. Subsequent	coming later in time	The student used subsequent accurately in a Secondary 4 English discussion and supported the choice with context.
100. Judgement	the ability to make sensible decisions or a particular decision reached	The student showed good judgement by checking the evidence before making a strong claim.

What Changes in Secondary 4?

The final G2 Essential stage asks for greater precision under examination pressure. Students should understand demanding words widely but use them selectively when they genuinely improve meaning.

Secondary 4 G2 Essential Practice — Round 1

meaning boundary

Choose four words and practise meaning boundary. Explain each word simply, use it in a fresh context and compare it with a nearby word. State what changes in meaning, strength or tone.