| Term | Definition |
|---|
| AMELIORATE | To improve, make better, correct a flaw or shortcoming |
| APLOMB | Poise, assurance, great self-confidence; perpendicularity |
| BOMBASTIC | Pompous or overblown in language; full of high-sounding words intended to conceal a lack of ideas |
| CALLOW | Without experience; immature, not fully developed; lacking sophistication and poise; without feathers |
| DRIVEL | Saliva or mucus flowing from the mouth or nose; foolish, aimless talk or thinking; nonsense; to let saliva flow from the mouth; to utter nonsense or childish twaddle; to waste or fritter away foolishly |
| EPITOME | A summary, condensed account; an instance that represents a larger reality |
| EXHORT | To urge strongly, advise earnestly |
| EX OFFICIO | By virtue of holding a certain office |
| INFRINGE | To violate, trespass, go beyond recognized bounds |
| INGRATIATE | To make oneself agreeable and thus gain favor or acceptance y others (sometimes used in critical or derogatory sense) |
| INTERLOPER | One who moves in where he or she is not wanted or has no right to be, an intruder |
| INTRINSIC | Belonging to someone or something by its very nature, essential, inherent; originating in a bodily organ or part |
| INVEIGH | To make a violent attack in words, express strong disapproval |
| LASSITUDE | Weariness of body or mind, lack of energy |
| MILLENNIUM | A period of one thousand years; a period of great joy |
| OCCULT | Mysterious, magical, supernatural; secret, hidden from view; not detectable by ordinary means; to hide, conceal; eclipse; matters involving the supernatural |
| PERMEATE | To spread through, penetrate, soak through |
| PRECIPITATE | To fall as moisture; to cause or bring about suddenly; to hurl down from a great height; to dive distinct form to; characterized by excessive haste; moisture; the product of an action or process |
| STRINGENT | Strict, severe; rigorously or urgently binding or compelling; sharp or bitter to the taste |
| SURMISE | To think or believe without certain supporting evidence; to conjecture or guess; likely idea that lacks definite proof |
| AFFABLE | Courteous and pleasant, sociable, easy to speak to |
| AGGRANDIZE | To increase in greatness, power, or wealth; to build up or intensify; to make appear greater |
| AMORPHOUS | Shapeless, without definite form; of no particular type or character; without organization, unity, or cohesion |
| AURA | That which surrounds (as an atmosphere); a distinctive air or personal quality |
| CONTRABAND | Illegal traffic, smuggled goods; illegal, prohibited |
| ERUDITE | Scholarly, learned, bookish, pedantic |
| GOSSAMER | Thin, light, delicate, insubstantial; a very thin, light cloth |
| INFER | To find out by reasoning; to arrive at a conclusion on the basis of thought; to hint, suggest, imply |
| INSCRUTABLE | Incapable of being understood; impossible to see through physically |
| INSULAR | Relating to, characteristic of, or situated on an island; narrow or isolated in outlook or experience |
| IRREVOCABLE | Incapable of being changed or called back |
| PROPENSITY | a natural inclincaiton or predilection toward |
| QUERULOUS | peevish, complaining, fretful |
| REMONSTRATE | to argue or plead with someone against something; protest against, object to |
| REPUDIATE | to disown, reject, or deny the validity of |
| RESILIENT | able to return to an original shape or form; able to recover quickly |
| REVERBERATE | to re-echo, resound, to reflect or be reflected repeatedly |
| SCURRILOUS | coarsely abusive, vulgar or low (esp. in language), foul-mouthed |
| SEDULOUS | persistent, showing industry and determination |
| SLEAZY | thin or flimsy in texture, cheap, shoddy or inferior in quality or character, ethically low, mean or disreputable |
| ANOMALOUS | abnormal, irregular, departing from the usual |
| ASPERSION | a damaging or derogatory statement; the act of slandering or defaming |
| BIZARRE | extremely strange, unusual, atypical |
| BRUSQUE | abrupt, blunt, with no formalities |
| CAJOLE | to coax, persuade through flattery or artifice; to deceive with soothing thoughts or false promises |
| CASTIGATE | to punish severely, to criticize severely |
| CONTRIVE | to plan with ingenuity, invent; to bring about as the result of a scheme or plan |
| DEMAGOGUE | a leader who exploits popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power |
| DISABUSE | to free from deception or error, set right in ideas or thinking |
| ENNUI | weariness and dissatisfaction from lack of occupation or interest, boredom |
| FETTER | a chain or shackle placed on the feet (often used in plural) anything that confines or restrains; (v) to chain or shackle, to render helpless or impotent |
| HEINOUS | very wicked, offensive, hateful |
| IMMUTABLE | not subject to change, constant |
| INSURGENT | one who rebels or rises against authority, (adj) rising in revolt, refusing to accept authority, surging or rushing in or on |
| MEGALOMANIA | a delusion marked by a feeling of power, wealth, talent, etc. far in excess of reality |
| SINECURE | a position requiring little or no work, an easy job |
| SURREPTITIOUS | stealthy, secret, intended to escape observation, made or accomplished by fraud |
| TRANSGRESS | to go beyond a limit or boundary; to sin, violate a law |
| TRANSMUTE | to change from one nature, substance or form to another |
| VICARIOUS | performed, suffered, or otherwise experienced by one person in place of another |
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