In this guide
A single unfamiliar word can cost you more than one mark. If you do not know that "equivocal" means unclear or evasive, you may misread an author's attitude, and then the tone question, the inference question and the main-idea question all wobble together.
CLAT does not test vocabulary through long lists. It asks what a word or phrase means in a passage, and it expects you to read editorials, essays and older prose comfortably. So the goal is a working vocabulary: words you recognise instantly when you read, not words you can define in isolation.
This guide covers how to build one. For the exam technique itself (predicting a meaning from context and substituting it), read vocabulary in context alongside this.
A system that works
- Collect words from your daily reading, not from lists.
- Guess first. Before you look anything up, write what you think the word means from its sentence. That guess is the exact skill CLAT tests.
- Record the word with the full sentence you found it in, the meaning, and one sentence of your own.
- Group related words: by root, by theme (law, economy, emotion) or by tone (positive, negative).
- Revise on a spaced schedule, and test yourself rather than rereading.
Five to eight new words a day is plenty. At that pace you add roughly 900 to 1,400 words in six months, and you actually keep them.
What a notebook entry looks like
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| Word | Equivocal |
| Sentence where you met it | The minister's reply was equivocal, and both sides claimed it supported them. |
| Your guess | unclear, could mean either thing |
| Meaning | open to more than one interpretation; often deliberately vague |
| Root | equi (equal) + voc (voice, call) |
| Your sentence | The witness gave an equivocal answer about where they had been that night. |
Roots and prefixes
Roots help you make a sensible first guess about an unfamiliar word. They are a starting point, not a proof.
| Root or prefix | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| jud, jur | judge, law | judicial, jurisdiction, jurist |
| leg | law | legislate, legitimate |
| dict | say | verdict, contradict, dictate |
| ver | true | verify, veracity, verdict |
| voc, vok | call, voice | revoke, advocate, equivocal |
| cred | believe | credible, credulous, credential |
| spec, spic | look | circumspect, retrospect, perspicacious |
| duc, duct | lead | induce, deduce, conducive |
| mit, miss | send | remit, omit, transmission |
| scrib, script | write | prescribe, proscribe, inscription |
| chron | time | chronic, chronology, anachronism |
| ambi | both | ambiguous, ambivalent |
| bene / mal | good / bad | benevolent, benefit / malice, malpractice |
| contra, anti | against | contravene, antidote |
| ante, pre / post | before / after | antecedent, precedent / posterity |
False friends
Some words look as if they mean one thing and mean another. Examiners like them because the wrong guess feels confident.
| Word | Looks like it means | Actually means |
|---|---|---|
| Inflammable | not flammable | easily set on fire (same as flammable) |
| Invaluable | worthless | extremely valuable |
| Enervate | energise | weaken, drain of energy |
| Restive | restful | restless, hard to control |
| Noisome | noisy | offensive, especially in smell |
| Disinterested | not interested | impartial, having nothing to gain |
| Fulsome | full, generous | often excessive, overdone (praise) |
| Nonplussed | unbothered | puzzled, not knowing how to react |
Look-alike words
| Pair | Difference |
|---|---|
| Eminent / imminent | distinguished / about to happen |
| Credible / credulous | believable / too ready to believe |
| Elicit / illicit | draw out / unlawful |
| Ingenious / ingenuous | clever / innocent, frank |
| Censure / censor | criticise formally / suppress content |
| Venal / venial | open to bribery / minor, forgivable |
| Averse / adverse | unwilling / harmful, unfavourable |
Words from legal and public writing
These turn up in legal passages, editorials and current-affairs passages alike.
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Adjudicate | to judge and decide a dispute |
| Arbitrary | based on whim, not reason or rule |
| Clemency | mercy, especially in reducing a punishment |
| Mitigate | to make less severe |
| Precedent | an earlier decision used as a guide |
| Statute | a written law passed by a legislature |
| Waive | to give up a right or claim voluntarily |
| Rescind | to cancel or revoke |
| Quash | to set aside (a decision or order) |
| Stipulate | to require as a condition |
| Onus | burden or responsibility |
| Impartial | fair, not favouring either side |
Latin phrases such as bona fide and prima facie belong in a separate list; see legal maxims for CLAT.
A worked example
The judge found the witness's account wholly credible, but warned that the jury in an earlier trial had been too credulous, accepting a story that fell apart under questioning.
"Credulous", as used here, means:
(a) believable
(b) too ready to believe
(c) doubtful
(d) religious
Answer: (b). The root "cred" (believe) gives you a start, but the sentence decides it. The jury accepted a story that "fell apart", and "too" signals a fault.
- (a) is the meaning of "credible", the look-alike in the same sentence. That is the trap.
- (c) is the opposite; a doubtful jury would not have accepted the story.
- (d) comes from associating belief with faith. Nothing in the sentence supports it.
The revision schedule
Words fade fast unless you meet them again at widening gaps.
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Record the word with its sentence and your guess |
| Day 3 | Cover the meaning; recall it from the sentence |
| Day 7 | Recall it, then write a new sentence |
| Day 21 | Mixed test with other words from that week |
| Monthly | Quick pass through the whole notebook; drop words you now know cold |
Ten minutes a day is enough if you test yourself honestly. Rereading your notebook feels productive but does much less than covering the meanings and recalling them.
Self-test
Choose the closest meaning.
- Impartial: (a) incomplete (b) fair (c) biased (d) partial
- Mitigate: (a) lessen (b) worsen (c) postpone (d) ignore
- Restive: (a) calm (b) sleepy (c) restless (d) retired
- Rescind: (a) repeat (b) confirm (c) revise (d) cancel
- Venal: (a) forgivable (b) open to bribery (c) related to veins (d) brave
- Ambivalent: (a) having mixed feelings (b) ambitious (c) confident (d) hostile
- Enervate: (a) excite (b) annoy (c) nerve (d) weaken
- Arbitrary: (a) fixed by law (b) based on whim (c) agreed by both parties (d) very old
- Invaluable: (a) cheap (b) worthless (c) extremely useful (d) unmeasured
- Onus: (a) reward (b) honour (c) burden (d) option
Answers
- (b). (d) "partial" is the opposite, and (a) confuses partial with incomplete.
- (a). To mitigate a loss is to reduce it.
- (c). A false friend; it does not mean restful.
- (d). To rescind an order is to revoke it.
- (b). (a) is "venial", the look-alike.
- (a). From "ambi", both.
- (d). A false friend; it is close to the opposite of "energise".
- (b). An arbitrary decision has no rule or reason behind it.
- (c). The prefix "in" misleads here.
- (c). "The onus is on the prosecution" means the burden is on the prosecution.
If you scored 8 or more, your base is sound and your notebook should focus on words from your own reading. Below 6, add the tables on this page to your notebook and test yourself on them over the next three weeks.
What to do next
- Start the notebook today with five words from one editorial, in the six-column format above.
- Set a daily ten-minute slot for revision on the day 3, 7 and 21 schedule.
- Practise using the words in passages with vocabulary in context and tone and attitude questions.
A note on dates and numbers. Exam patterns, vacancies and schedules change from year to year. Always confirm the current details in the latest notification on the Consortium of National Law Universities website .
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