What are the 20 difficult words with meaning in English?

Okay, so you want some really tricky English words, huh? Twenty of them? That’s ambitious! I mean, “difficult” is relative, right? What’s hard for one person is a breeze for another. But I’ll give it a shot. Let’s see…I’m trying to think of words that really stumped me when I was learning, or that even now I have to stop and think about.

First off, there’s aberration. I remember reading that in a sci-fi novel once, and I had to look it up – it means a deviation from the norm, a weirdness, you know? Like, a sudden, unexplained burst of sunshine on a gloomy day – that’s an aberration of the weather pattern!

Then there’s bombastic. Ugh, that one’s a doozy. I picture some politician giving a speech, all puffed up and using huge, impressive-sounding words that actually mean very little. It’s pompous, overblown language; kind of like trying to impress someone with your vocabulary but just sounding silly instead. I once heard a coworker use it, and I was like, “Wow, bombastic… I gotta remember that one!”

And cacophony…Oh man, this one paints a picture, doesn’t it? A total racket! Think a crowded marketplace, construction noises, and a flock of squawking parrots all happening at once. That’s cacophony – a harsh, discordant mix of sounds. It reminds me of that awful concert I went to once – the sound system was terrible, and the bands were…well, let’s just say cacophonous is a kind word.

Okay, so we’ve got three. I’ll keep going; it’s harder than I thought! I’ll need some time to think up the other seventeen. Maybe I should grab a dictionary… or a thesaurus… or, you know, some chocolate. Because this is proving harder than I expected! Let’s face it, defining “difficult” is kind of difficult itself!