💼 Topic packs · 144 words
Business & Career Vocabulary List: 144 Words with Definitions
Meetings, negotiations, budgets, job interviews and office email. This is the Business & Career topic pack inside Word Hype, spanning A1 to C2 and shared with the TOEIC exam pool.
| Word | Definition | Play |
|---|---|---|
| Advocate | A person who publicly supports, pleads for, or recommends a particular cause, policy, or idea.A professional lawyer who pleads cases on behalf of clients in a court of law. | Play ▶ |
| Agency | An administrative unit of government.The state of being in action or exerting power. | Play ▶ |
| Agenda | A temporally organized plan for matters to be attended to.A list of matters to be taken up (as at a meeting). | Play ▶ |
| Agent | An active and efficient cause; capable of producing a certain effect.A substance that exerts some force or effect. | Play ▶ |
| Amend | (usually in the plural) An act of righting a wrong; compensation.To make better; improve. | Play ▶ |
| Annual | (botany) a plant that completes its entire life cycle within the space of a year.Completing its life cycle within a year. | Play ▶ |
| Appoint | Choose someone officially for a position or duty. | Play ▶ |
| Approve | Officially accept or agree to something. | Play ▶ |
| Assert | To state a fact, belief, or opinion confidently, forcefully, and categorically.To demand recognition for, or insist upon, one's rights, authority, or influence. | Play ▶ |
| Assign | Give out.Attribute or credit to. | Play ▶ |
| Banker | A person who works in a bank.Someone whose job involves managing money. | Play ▶ |
| Bargain | An agreement between parties (usually arrived at after discussion) fixing obligations of each.An advantageous purchase. | Play ▶ |
| Behalf | As the agent of or on someone's part (usually expressed as rather than ).As the agent of or on someone's part (usually expressed as rather than ). | Play ▶ |
| Benefit | An advantage or profit gained from something.Receive an advantage. | Play ▶ |
| Borrow | Get temporarily.Take up and practice as one's own. | Play ▶ |
| Budget | An estimate of income and expenditure.Provided at a low price. | Play ▶ |
| Bureau | An office or department that provides a service. | Play ▶ |
| Cabinet | A piece of furniture resembling a cupboard with doors and shelves and drawers; for storage or display.A storage compartment for clothes and valuables; usually it has a lock. | Play ▶ |
| Cancel | Decide that an organized event will not take place.Annul or make void. | Play ▶ |
| Capacity | The maximum amount, volume, or space that a container, room, or vehicle can hold.The ability, intelligence, or power to do, understand, or remember something. | Play ▶ |
| Capital | Assets available for use in the production of further assets.A seat of government. | Play ▶ |
| Cartel | A group of businesses that cooperate to control prices or supply. | Play ▶ |
| Charge | Demand an amount as a price.Accuse someone of an offense. | Play ▶ |
| Chief | A person who is in charge.A person who exercises control over workers. | Play ▶ |
| Claim | To say that something is true or belongs to you.To ask for money you think you should get. | Play ▶ |
| Commence | To take the first step or steps in carrying out an action; to start or begin.To initiate, open, or launch a meeting, school term, or game. | Play ▶ |
| Company | An institution created to conduct business.The state of being with someone. | Play ▶ |
| Consent | Permission or agreement for something to happen or to do something.A mutual agreement or unity of opinion between two or more parties. | Play ▶ |
| Convict | To declare someone to be guilty of a criminal offense by the verdict of a jury or decision of a judge.A person serving a sentence in a prison or correctional facility. | Play ▶ |
| Costly | Entailing great loss or sacrifice.Having a high price. | Play ▶ |
| Courts | The places where legal trials happen.Places to play sports like tennis or basketball. | Play ▶ |
| Credit | An arrangement to buy things now and pay later.Praise for something you have done well. | Play ▶ |
| Decline | To become smaller, fewer, weaker, or less; to decrease or deteriorate over time.To politely refuse an invitation, offer, or request. | Play ▶ |
| Deficit | The amount by which a sum of money falls short of the required or expected amount.An insufficiency, loss, or handicap in physical, neurological, or mental functioning. | Play ▶ |
| Delegate | A person designated, appointed, or elected to represent others, especially at a conference.To entrust, assign, or transfer a task, responsibility, or power to another person. | Play ▶ |
| Demand | The need or desire that people have for a product.To ask for something very strongly. | Play ▶ |
| Deputy | A person who helps or acts for a boss.The second most important person in a group. | Play ▶ |
| Dismiss | To order or allow someone to leave; to send away from a room, job, or presence.To treat as unworthy of serious consideration; to disregard or brush aside an idea or claim. | Play ▶ |
| Dispute | A serious argument, disagreement, or debate, especially an official one between groups or nations.To question, contest, or challenge the truth, validity, or authority of a statement. | Play ▶ |
| Donate | Give to a charity or good cause. | Play ▶ |
| Duties | Things you must do for your job or because it is right.Jobs that you have to do. | Play ▶ |
| Earned | Got money by working.Got something because you worked hard for it. | Play ▶ |
| Eligible | Qualified for, allowed, or worthy of being chosen or selected under established rules.Desirable or suitable as a marriage partner, typically due to wealth, status, or charm. | Play ▶ |
| Employ | To pay someone to work for you.To use something. | Play ▶ |
| Estate | All the money and property owned by a person.A large area of land in the country. | Play ▶ |
| Estimate | An approximate calculation or judgment of the value, number, quantity, or extent of something.A written statement indicating the likely cost of a proposed job or service. | Play ▶ |
| Execute | To carry out, perform, or put a plan, decision, law, or command into active effect.To carry out a sentence of death on a legally condemned person. | Play ▶ |
| Expand | To become bigger or make something bigger.To add more details to a story. | Play ▶ |
| Exploit | To make full use of and derive benefit from a resource, opportunity, or system.A notable, daring, or heroic achievement or deed; a great feat. | Play ▶ |
| Export | To send goods to another country to sell them.A product sold to a different country. | Play ▶ |
| Facilitate | To make an action, process, or task easy or easier.To promote, smooth, or accelerate the progress of a system or process. | Play ▶ |
| Feasible | Capable of being done, executed, or accomplished easily or conveniently with the means at hand.Reasonable, likely, or probable given the current circumstances and facts. | Play ▶ |
| Federal | Relating to the central government of a group of states. | Play ▶ |
| Filing | Putting documents into folders to keep them organized.Smoothing the edge of your nails with a tool. | Play ▶ |
| Firing | Making someone leave their job.Shooting a gun. | Play ▶ |
| Fiscal | Connected with money, taxes, and government.About public money. | Play ▶ |
| Fluctuate | To rise and fall, or vary irregularly and continually in number, value, or state.To waver, hesitate, or shift indecisively in opinion, feeling, or decision. | Play ▶ |
| Forecast | A prediction, estimate, or prognosis of how something (such as the weather or economy) will develop.A calculation or layout of expected expenses, revenues, or patterns. | Play ▶ |
| Formal | Very polite and serious, or following strict rules.Clothes you wear to a very fancy party. | Play ▶ |
| Frugal | Sparing or economical with regard to money, food, or resources; avoiding waste.Characterized by careful spending and avoiding luxurious or wasteful purchases. | Play ▶ |
| Govern | To rule or control a country. | Play ▶ |
| Guarantee | A formal, written assurance that certain conditions will be fulfilled, especially that a product will be repaired or replaced if not of a specified quality.An unconditional commitment or undertaking that something will happen or that a claim is true. | Play ▶ |
| Guideline | A general rule, principle, or piece of advice that sets standards or suggests a course of action.A light line used as a physical guide in lettering, drafting, or drawing to help keep alignments uniform. | Play ▶ |
| Hierarchy | A system in which members of an organization or society are ranked according to relative status or authority.The organization of personnel at different levels of power or rank in an administrative body. | Play ▶ |
| Hiring | Giving someone a job. | Play ▶ |
| Implement | To put a decision, plan, agreement, or policy into active effect; to carry out.A tool, utensil, or other piece of physical equipment used for a specific job. | Play ▶ |
| Import | To bring products into a country from another country. | Play ▶ |
| Impose | To force or compel someone to accept, tolerate, or behave in a certain way.To inflict or force something unpleasant, unwelcome, or burdensome on another person. | Play ▶ |
| Incentive | Something that motivates, encourages, or spurs someone to action or harder work.A catalyst or stimulus that incites, rouses, or drives a person's behavior. | Play ▶ |
| Income | Money that you earn from your job. | Play ▶ |
| Initiate | To cause a process, action, project, or event to begin; to start or set in motion.A person who has recently been admitted, initiated, or welcomed into an organization. | Play ▶ |
| Invest | To put money into something to make a profit. | Play ▶ |
| Judicial | Of, by, or relating to a court, the administration of justice, or the system of law.Belonging, fitting, or appropriate to the office, authority, or duty of a judge. | Play ▶ |
| Labor | Productive work (especially physical work done for wages).The federal department responsible for promoting the working conditions of wage earners in the United States; created in 1913. | Play ▶ |
| Lawyer | A person who practices or studies law.To act as an attorney. | Play ▶ |
| Leader | The person who leads or commands a group.The principal player in a music group. | Play ▶ |
| Legitimate | Conforming to the law, rules, or established standards; legal and valid.Born of parents who are officially married; having full legal rights of inheritance. | Play ▶ |
| Liability | The state of being legally responsible or obliged to do or pay something.A person, thing, or drawback whose presence or behavior is likely to cause embarrassment, disadvantage, or trouble. | Play ▶ |
| Liable | At risk of or subject to experiencing something usually unpleasant.Subject to legal action. | Play ▶ |
| Maintain | To cause or enable a condition, process, state of affairs, or physical structure to continue in its current state.To assert, claim, or state strongly and persistently that something is the case. | Play ▶ |
| Manage | Control or organize people, work, or resources. | Play ▶ |
| Margin | The edge or border of something.An amount by which a thing is won or falls short. | Play ▶ |
| Marginal | At, on, or constituting a border, margin, or edge of something.Occurring on the fringes of a society, economy, or system; excluded from the mainstream. | Play ▶ |
| Market | A regular gathering of people for the purchase and sale of provisions.An area or arena in which commercial dealings are conducted. | Play ▶ |
| Maturity | The state, fact, or period of being fully grown, developed, and physically adult.The state of being mentally, emotionally, or behaviorally mature; wisdom and self-control. | Play ▶ |
| Maximize | To make as large, great, or high as possible in amount, size, or value.To make the best, most efficient, or highly productive use of an opportunity or resource. | Play ▶ |
| Mediate | To act as an intermediary or go-between to reconcile differences between opposing parties or factions.To occupy an intermediate, middle, or connecting position between two other stages, points, or values. | Play ▶ |
| Minimize | To reduce to the smallest possible amount, size, degree, or significance.To represent, treat, or speak of something as less important, significant, or valuable than it actually is. | Play ▶ |
| Monopoly | The exclusive possession, control, or dominance of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.The exclusive control, privilege, or possession of anything, such as power or attention. | Play ▶ |
| Motivate | To provide someone with a strong reason, incentive, or inspiration to act or do something.To cause or initiate a specific action, behavior, or decision. | Play ▶ |
| Occupation | A person's usual or principal work or business, especially as a means of earning a living.The action, state, or period of occupying or being occupied by a military force. | Play ▶ |
| Office | A room or building where people work at desks.An important job in a government. | Play ▶ |
| Offset | Balance out or compensate for something. | Play ▶ |
| Outcome | The way a thing turns out; a final result, consequence, or end effect.The eventual consequence or terminal effect of an event or process. | Play ▶ |
| Outset | The time at which something is supposed to begin. | Play ▶ |
| Owner | A person who has the legal right of possession of something.The individual to whom a particular object or entity belongs. | Play ▶ |
| Parity | The state of being equal in value, rank, or status. | Play ▶ |
| Payment | A sum of money paid or a claim discharged.An act of requiting; returning in kind. | Play ▶ |
| Policy | A plan of action adopted by an individual or social group.Written contract or certificate of insurance. | Play ▶ |
| Potential | Having or showing the capacity to develop into something in the future.The possibility, probability, or capability of growth, power, or development. | Play ▶ |
| Pragmatic | Dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations.Guided by practical results and usefulness rather than dogma or abstract ideals. | Play ▶ |
| Priority | The state or condition of being regarded as more important, urgent, or worthy of attention than others.The right to take precedence, go first, or be dealt with before other items. | Play ▶ |
| Profit | Total income or cash flow minus expenditures.To benefit (somebody), be of use to (somebody). | Play ▶ |
| Project | A planned piece of work intended to achieve a result. | Play ▶ |
| Prospect | The possibility, probability, or likelihood of future success or advantageous outcomes.An anticipation, expectation, or mental picture of what the future holds. | Play ▶ |
| Proxy | A person authorized to act for someone else. | Play ▶ |
| Ratify | To sign or give formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement, making it officially valid.To confirm, sanction, or make officially binding by a formal vote or signature. | Play ▶ |
| Recession | A period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters.The action of receding, withdrawing, or moving back from a previous position or limit. | Play ▶ |
| Recruit | A newly enlisted soldier, sailor, or member of the armed forces.To enlist someone in the armed forces or find new members to join a group or business. | Play ▶ |
| Retail | The sale of goods to the public in relatively small quantities for use or consumption.Commercial business involving stores, shops, and direct consumer interaction. | Play ▶ |
| Salary | Something that remunerates. | Play ▶ |
| Sanction | Formal and explicit approval.A mechanism of social control for enforcing a society's standards. | Play ▶ |
| Saving | Money kept for future use instead of being spent. | Play ▶ |
| Scarcity | The condition of something being scarce or deficient. | Play ▶ |
| Schedule | A temporally organized plan for matters to be attended to.An ordered list of times at which things are planned to occur. | Play ▶ |
| Scheme | A detailed plan for achieving a purpose. | Play ▶ |
| Scrutiny | Intense study of someone or something.To scrutinize. | Play ▶ |
| Sector | A plane figure bounded by two radii and the included arc of a circle.A particular aspect of life or activity. | Play ▶ |
| Seller | A person or business that promotes or exchanges goods or services for money. | Play ▶ |
| Stock | The capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares entitling holders to an ownership interest (equity).The handle of a handgun or the butt end of a rifle or shotgun or part of the support of a machine gun or artillery gun. | Play ▶ |
| Strategic | Relating to the identification of long-term or overall aims and interests and the means of achieving them.Serving a highly useful purpose or providing a key advantage in a plan or campaign. | Play ▶ |
| Subsidy | A sum of money granted by the government or a public body to assist an industry or business so that the price of a commodity or service may remain low.Financial aid or assistance given by one party or institution to support another's operations. | Play ▶ |
| Success | The achievement of a desired aim or result. | Play ▶ |
| Supply | An amount of something available for use.Give something useful or necessary to. | Play ▶ |
| Surplus | An amount or quantity of something left over when requirements have been met.More than what is needed, desired, required, or expected. | Play ▶ |
| Suspend | Hang freely.Cause to be held in suspension in a fluid. | Play ▶ |
| Sustain | Strengthen or support physically or mentally.Undergo or suffer something unpleasant, especially an injury. | Play ▶ |
| Target | A person, object, or place selected as the aim of an attack.Select as an object of attention or attack. | Play ▶ |
| Tariff | A system of government-imposed duties levied on imported or exported goods; a list of such duties, or the duties themselves.To levy a duty on (something). | Play ▶ |
| Teller | United States physicist (born in Hungary) who worked on the first atom bomb and the first hydrogen bomb (1908-2003).An employee of a bank who receives and pays out money. | Play ▶ |
| Temporary | A worker (especially in an office) hired on a [word] basis.Not permanent; not lasting; - James Thurber. | Play ▶ |
| Tenure | The term during which some position is held.Give life-time employment to. | Play ▶ |
| Terminate | Bring to an end or halt.Have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical. | Play ▶ |
| Trader | Someone who purchases and maintains an inventory of goods to be sold. | Play ▶ |
| Undertake | Commit oneself to and begin.Take on a responsibility. | Play ▶ |
| Unpaid | Not given money for work that has been done. | Play ▶ |
| Utilize | Put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose.Convert (from an investment trust to a unit trust). | Play ▶ |
| Vendor | Someone who promotes or exchanges goods or services for money. | Play ▶ |
| Visionary | A person with original, creative, or futuristic ideas about how something should be developed.A person given to fanciful speculations, grandiose schemes, or unrealistic plans with little regard for practical possibilities. | Play ▶ |
| Warrant | A legal document issued by a judge authorizing police to make an arrest or search.A security that gives the holder the right to purchase common stock at a set price. | Play ▶ |
| Wealth | An abundance of valuable possessions or money.A plentiful supply of a particular desirable thing. | Play ▶ |
| Withdraw | Pull back or move away or backward.[word] from active participation. | Play ▶ |
| Worker | A person who does a job to earn money.Someone who works hard. | Play ▶ |
| Yielding | A verbal act of admitting defeat.The act of conceding or [word]. | Play ▶ |