C2 word list: the next 50 words to learn

Sep 15, 2026 · 9 min read

This is the second C2 set, and it continues the first 50 C2 words rather than replacing them. The first fifty dealt in stance and register: how strongly to claim, how much to concede. These fifty widen the territory — literary description, research method, law and money, argument, and the words that judge mood and character. They come in five sets of ten.

Why these 50 words come next

At C2 the gap is rarely a missing word; it is the wrong word for the room. A report and a novel can describe the same failure, and only one of them wants the word mordant. The sets below sort vocabulary by the job it does: a literature seminar, a methods section, a contract, a review.

Fifty words is enough to notice a pattern and too few to make it automatic. Learners who stop after one list recognise advanced vocabulary without reaching for it mid-sentence, and this list continues the same habit with harder material.

How the five sets are arranged

Set	Focus	Where it is used
1	Literary texture	Description, fiction, reviews
2	Method and analysis	Research, reports, seminars
3	Law, money, institutions	Contracts, policy, news
4	Argument and evidence	Essays, debate, commentary
5	Character and mood	Criticism, narrative, features

Set 1: literary texture (10 words)

• lambent (adjective) — A lambent glow spread across the water at dusk.
• crepuscular (adjective) — Deer are crepuscular, most active at dawn and dusk.
• susurrus (noun) — The susurrus of leaves followed us along the path.
• lapidary (adjective) — Her lapidary prose makes the difficult look simple.
• numinous (adjective) — The old chapel kept a numinous stillness after the service.
• elegiac (adjective) — The final chapter has an elegiac tone.
• febrile (adjective) — The febrile atmosphere of the last week unsettled everyone.
• incandescent (adjective) — He was incandescent with rage at the decision.
• sere (adjective) — The sere grass of late summer crunched underfoot.
• mellifluous (adjective) — A mellifluous voice read the closing lines.

Set 2: method and analysis (10 words)

• heuristic (noun) — Trial and error is a useful heuristic, not a rule.
• axiomatic (adjective) — It is axiomatic that costs rise with complexity.
• taxonomy (noun) — The paper proposes a taxonomy of planning failures.
• exogenous (adjective) — An exogenous shock changed the whole market.
• endogenous (adjective) — The model treats demand as endogenous.
• orthogonal (adjective) — The two findings are orthogonal, not competing.
• epistemic (adjective) — The dispute is epistemic rather than moral.
• normative (adjective) — The report is normative: it says what should happen.
• salient (adjective) — Cost was the salient issue for voters.
• parsimonious (adjective) — The most parsimonious explanation fits all the data.

Set 3: law, money and institutions (10 words)

• statutory (adjective) — The duty is statutory, not a matter of choice.
• fiduciary (adjective) — A trustee acts in a fiduciary capacity.
• indemnity (noun) — The contract provides an indemnity against losses.
• escrow (noun) — The deposit stayed in escrow until completion.
• proviso (noun) — The grant comes with one proviso about reporting.
• aggrieved (adjective) — The aggrieved party may appeal within 28 days.
• adjudicate (verb) — A panel will adjudicate the disputed claims.
• promulgate (verb) — The ministry promulgated new rules in March.
• ratify (verb) — Parliament refused to ratify the treaty.
• abrogate (verb) — The reform abrogates several old exemptions.

Set 4: argument and evidence (10 words)

• surmise (verb) — We can only surmise why the file was moved.
• posit (verb) — The author posits a link between the two trends.
• aver (verb) — The witness averred that the letter arrived on Friday.
• impugn (verb) — Nobody impugned her integrity during the hearing.
• exculpate (verb) — The recording exculpates the driver entirely.
• exegesis (noun) — His exegesis of the clause runs to forty pages.
• aphorism (noun) — The essay opens with a borrowed aphorism.
• dialectic (noun) — The book works as a dialectic between two traditions.
• disquisition (noun) — Chapter four is a long disquisition on silence.
• attest (verb) — The figures attest to a steady recovery.

Set 5: character and mood (10 words)

• vituperative (adjective) — The review was vituperative from the first line.
• splenetic (adjective) — A splenetic letter followed a week later.
• oleaginous (adjective) — His oleaginous manner made colleagues uneasy.
• querulous (adjective) — A querulous note crept into her questions.
• lugubrious (adjective) — The lugubrious music suited the closing scene.
• ebullient (adjective) — She was ebullient after the result.
• torpid (adjective) — Trading was torpid throughout August.
• mordant (adjective) — The piece is a mordant account of office life.
• timorous (adjective) — The timorous first draft said almost nothing.
• ineffable (adjective) — He called the view simply ineffable.

How to work through these 50 words

One set a week suits most learners, with the previous set revisited briefly on three or four days. Read the word, cover the example, and write a sentence about your own subject before you check the meaning. Store the word inside a partnership too, because few of these items travel alone: a fiduciary duty, an exogenous shock, a mordant review. Our guide to using word lists well sets out the same routine, and the C1 next 50 words fill any gaps one level down.

How to test yourself on these words

Run two passes. In the first, cover the English and produce the word from the example with one gap. In the second, do the reverse and explain the word from the word alone. Only the second pass shows whether the word is available while you speak. Words that fail twice go onto a review card with their sentence, and spaced repetition sets the timing for looking again. Writers can go further and check each word against the partnerships listed in our collocations guide.

Frequently asked questions

How is this list different from the C2 first 50 words?

The first fifty worked on stance and register: ostensible, specious, tendentious, perfunctory. This set widens the range into literary description, research vocabulary, legal and financial terms, and the words used to weigh evidence and character.

Should I finish the C2 first 50 words before starting these?

Yes. The first set supplies the habits of judgement these words depend on, and several items here pair naturally with it. If the earlier list is still shaky, one week of review will save more time than starting here and working backwards.

How many of these 50 words should I take on in a week?

Ten, one set, is a realistic week, with a short review of the previous set on three or four days. Fifty at once is readable in an evening and rarely usable a month later.

Can I use this list for writing as well as for exams?

Both. The legal and academic sets are most useful in reports and essays, while the literary sets sharpen description. Write one sentence in your own subject after each word and the two purposes stop competing.

Are these words on an official C2 syllabus?

No. C2 is a level description, not a fixed word list. The fifty words here were chosen by hand from the vocabulary that recurs in advanced reading, and any published list for this level will differ in places.

A word list is a starting point, not a shortcut. How quickly a set becomes usable depends on how often you produce the words yourself.