0 Most important 500 Word List for TOEFL Test (M)

MACHIAVELLIAN: Sacrificing moral principles in order to attain power; politically cunning; crafty - a machiavellian design, wickedly contrived. Synonym: unscrupulous.

MALICIOUS (noun: MALICE): Bearing, or acting with, deliberate ill-will or spite - hurting with malicious intent. Synonyms: rancorous, malignant, malevolent, virulent, vindictive. Antonym: benign.

MASQUERADE (verb): To assume a deceptive appearance or character - a thief masquerading as an honest man. Synonyms:  dissemble, feign. (noun): A disguise; a group of people in disguise or fancy costumes - a masquerade so perfect no one could guess his identity.

MAUDLIN: Sentimental to the point of tears - turned maudlin at the mention of his lost dog. Synonym: mawkish, lachrymose.

MEANDER: To walk about (or talk) aimlessly; to wind about (as a stream) - meandered through the town, looking into shop windows. Synonym: ramble.

MEDIOCRE: Average in quality - a mediocre performance, unworthy of his talents.

MERCENARY: Acting solely from a consideration of reward or profit - actuated by a mercenary motive. Synonym: venal.

MERETRICIOUS: Attracting in a false, cheap, or showy manner- a meretricious beauty that is too flashy to be real. Synonyms: tawdry, specious.

METICULOUS: Fussy about minute details - took meticulous pains with his composition. Synonyms: fastidious, punctilious, overscrupulous, finical, methodical. Antonyms: desultory, perfunctory, slovenly.

METTLE (adj.: METTLESOME: high-spirited ): Disposition; spirit; courage - His mettle was tried in battle. Idiom: to be on one's mettle (meaning, “ready to do one's best”). Synonyms: temperament, ardor.

MICROCOSM: A little world, or a universe in miniature this village, a microcosm of the great outside world. Antonym macrocosm (world on a large scale).

MIMIC: To make fun of or copy by imitating - mimicked the comedian's gestures.

MISANTHROPIC (noun: MISANTHROPE): Hating or distrusting mankind - condemned for his misanthropic views. Antonyms:  philanthropic, altruistic.

MISNOMER: A name or term that describes wrongly - To call him a brave man is really a misnomer.

MONOLOGUE: A speech by one person - The actor gave his views in a dramatic monologue. Synonym: soliloquy. Antonyms: colloquy (adj. colloquial): conversation between two or more persons; dialogue: conversation between two persons.

MOROSE: Gloomy; ill-humored - shunned because of his morose temper. Synonyms:  sulky, crabbed, sullen, splenetic, saturnine. Antonyms:  blithe, genial.

MOTLEY: Of various colors; of mixed ingredients - a motley costume; a motley crowd. Synonyms:  checkered (referring to a varied career), piebald, variegated, diverse, heterogeneous. Antonym: homogeneous.

MOTTLED: Spotted or streaked with varied colors - a mottled pony. Synonyms: blotched, dappled.

MUNDANE: Of, or pertaining to, the world, as contrasted with the spirit - mundane affairs. Synonyms: earthly, terrestrial, secular, temporal.

MURKY: Dark; cloudy - a murky cavern. Synonyms: dismal, tenebrous, fuliginous. Antonyms: resplendent, glowing, lustrous, luminous, fulgent, coruscating.

MUTABLE: Given to frequent change in nature, mood, or form - mutable in mood as a spring wind. Synonyms: vacillating, fickle, inconstant, fitful, mercurial, wavering, capricious. Antonyms: constant, steady.

MYRIAD: Innumerable - the myriad stars in the heavens.