20+ Business English Vocabulary Words: Key Adjectives for Work

Building strong business English vocabulary can make your work life much easier. The right words help you explain ideas clearly, sound more professional, and feel more confident in meetings, emails, and daily conversations.

In this lesson, you’ll learn 15 useful business adjectives that native speakers use all the time. Each one comes with an easy meaning, common collocations, and short examples so you can start using them right away.

Let’s take a look at these practical words and see how they can help you communicate more naturally at work.

1. Tangible vs Abstract

tangible = real and measurable

• The project hasn’t produced any tangible results yet.

• Employees want tangible benefits, not just promises.

• After the new training, we finally saw tangible improvements in customer service.

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abstract = not real in a physical way, cannot be seen or touched

• The idea sounds good, but it’s still too abstract — can you give a concrete example?

• Some students find abstract concepts hard to understand without visuals.

• The discussion stayed very abstract and didn’t lead to any real decisions.

Dialogue 1. Choose the correct option.

— How’s the new system working for your team?

— Better than last week. We’re finally starting to see _____ results.

A) abstract

B) tangible

2. Temporary vs Sustainable

temporary = not permanent

• The slowdown is temporary — things should pick up again next week.

• They brought in temporary staff to help during the busy season.

• I’m working from a temporary desk until they finish setting up my office.

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sustainable = possible to continue long-term

• We need a sustainable plan, not something that works for just one week.

• The company is looking for more sustainable ways to grow.

• This pace isn’t sustainable; people will burn out if we keep going like this.

Dialogue 2. Choose the correct option.

— This pace isn’t _____ for the team.

— Then let’s adjust the workload before people burn out.

A) temporary

B) sustainable

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3. Feasible vs Viable

feasible = possible to do, realistic

• That idea sounds good, but it’s not feasible with our current budget.

• The team is checking whether a move to cloud storage is feasible.

• It’s not feasible to run two major projects with such a small team.

viable = possible to do AND likely to work long-term

• We looked at three options, but only one seems viable for our budget.

• The plan sounds interesting, but it’s not viable unless we get more people.

• We need a viable solution, not something that works only on paper.

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Dialogue 3. Choose the correct option.

— Do you think it’s _____ to finish the update by Thursday?

— It’s tight, but yes, as long as we don’t get any last-minute changes.

A) feasible

B) viable

4. Proficient vs Efficient

proficient = good at doing something, skilled

• She’s really proficient in Excel, so she finished the report in half the time.

• We need someone proficient in customer support, not just someone who can answer calls.

• He’s proficient in both Spanish and English, so he handles most of our international clients.

efficient = working well without wasting time and effort

• The new process is much more efficient — we finish tasks in minutes now.

• She’s incredibly efficient; she clears her inbox by 10 a.m. every day.

• Let’s find a more efficient way to handle these requests.

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Dialogue 4. Choose the correct option.

— Can we find a more _____ way to track these requests?

— I mean… we could, but I’m not sure it’ll save us that much time.

A) proficient

B) efficient

5. Scalable vs Cost-effective

scalable = able to grow without breaking, slowing down, or becoming too expensive

• We need a scalable system so we can add more users next year without rebuilding everything.

• Their solution looks great now, but it’s not scalable for a bigger team.

• The process works for ten orders a day, but it’s not scalable for a hundred.

cost-effective = providing good value for the amount of money spent

• Switching to a shared software license was much more cost-effective for our team.

• Outsourcing the project is cost-effective, but it might slow down the timeline.

• That solution works, but it’s not cost-effective long-term.

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Dialogue 5. Choose the correct option.

— Are we sure this is _____ beyond the pilot phase?

— I doubt it — we’ll have to rebuild some parts.

A) scalable

B) cost-effective

6. Consistent vs Reliable

consistent = keeping the same quality, pattern, or behavior over time

• She’s very consistent — her work is solid every week, not just when the boss is around.

• We need consistent communication, not one update and then silence for three weeks.

• His performance hasn’t been consistent this quarter; some days he’s great, some days he disappears.

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reliable = able to be trusted to work well or do what is expected

• He’s one of the most reliable people on the team — if he says he’ll do it, it gets done.

• We need a more reliable system; this one crashes in the middle of the day.

• She’s very reliable with deadlines, even when things get busy.

Dialogue 6. Choose the correct option.

— His work is solid, but it’s not _____.

— Yeah, one week he’s great, and the next he disappears.

A) consistent

B) reliable

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7. Robust vs Substantial

robust = strong, effective, and able to handle problems or pressure without failing

• We need a more robust system — this one crashes whenever traffic spikes.

• The security team rolled out a robust plan to prevent future breaches.

• This tool is great — it’s simple but surprisingly robust.

substantial = large in amount or size

• The project will require a substantial budget increase.

• We’ve seen substantial growth over the last quarter.

• She made a substantial contribution to the final report.

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Dialogue 7. Choose the correct option.

— We’re asking them to invest a _____ amount of money.

— Right, so they’ll definitely want a full breakdown before saying yes.

A) robust

B) substantial

8. Competitive vs Comparative

competitive = wanting to win; trying hard to be better than others

• This market is super competitive, so we really need to offer something unique.

• He’s very competitive — even small things like board games turn into a big deal for him.

• Our pricing has to stay competitive, or customers will go somewhere else.

comparative =  showing how two things are different or similar

• We ran a comparative study to see which software performed better.

• She did a comparative review of all the options before choosing a new laptop.

• This report gives a comparative look at last year’s numbers versus this year’s.

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Dialogue 8. Choose the correct option.

— If we want to win this client, our proposal has to be more _____ than what the other vendors are offering.

— I get that, but we can’t really change much at this point. We’ve already given them our best price and timeline.

A) competitive

B) comparative

9. Proactive vs Reactive

proactive = taking action early, before problems happen

• We need to be more proactive about reaching out to clients before issues come up.

• She’s very proactive — she fixes things before anyone even asks.

• Let’s take a proactive approach and send them an update today.

reactive = only taking action after a problem happens

• Our support team is too reactive; they wait until something breaks before responding.

• If we stay reactive, we’ll always be behind on these projects.

• Their plan is reactive, not strategic — they only change things when there’s trouble.

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Dialogue 9. Choose the correct option.

— We need to be more _____ with client updates. They shouldn’t have to chase us for information.

— True, but we don’t always have solid info to share that early.

A) proactive

B) reactive

10. Tentative vs Preliminary

tentative = not final, might change later

• The meeting time is tentative, so don’t block your whole afternoon yet.

• We have a tentative plan, but we need approval before moving forward.

• These dates are tentative until the client confirms.

preliminary = done first, before the final version, early or initial

• Here’s a preliminary report — the full version will be ready next week.

• These are just preliminary numbers, so they may change.

• We had a preliminary discussion with the team to outline the main ideas.

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Dialogue 10. Choose the correct option.

— I just sent over the _____ report, but the final version will take a couple more days.

— Thanks, that works — I just need something to show the team for now.

A) tentative

B) preliminary

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11. Optional vs Mandatory

optional = not required, can be skipped

• The workshop is optional, so join only if it’s useful for you.

• Filling out the survey is optional, not required.

• The team lunch is optional — come only if you feel like it.

mandatory = required, necessary to do, not optional

• The safety course is mandatory for all new employees.

• Attendance is mandatory at tomorrow’s meeting.

• Wearing a helmet is mandatory on the construction site.

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Dialogue 11. Choose the correct option.

— I heard the new compliance course is _____ this quarter.

— Yeah, we all have to finish it by Friday or the system flags our account.

A) optional

B) mandatory

Erin West is a Business English educator, writer, and founder of RealBusinessEnglish.com. She creates practical lessons, quizzes, and learning materials that help professionals use clear, natural, and confident English at work — with just the right amount of fun.