| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Abrogate | to cancel, destroy, revoke, or void |
| Acerbic | sharp, biting, or acid in temper, expression, or tone |
| Acrimony | bitter, harsh, or biting sharpness |
| Acumen | quickness of perception or discernment (understanding) |
| Adumbrate | to sketch, outline in a shadowy way |
| Ameliorate | to make or grow better |
| Aphorism | a tensely phrased statement of a truth or opinion; an adage |
| Apocryphal | of doubtful authority or authenticity |
| Allegory | the representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form |
| Arcane | understood by only a few |
| Avarice | an excessive desire of gain; greediness |
| Banal | commonplace; trivial |
| Bifurcate | to divide into two parts or branches |
| Binary | characterized by or consisting of two parts or components |
| Bi-polar | having two opposite or contradictory ideas |
| Cadre | a core or nucleus of trained or otherwise qualified personnel around which an organization is formed |
| Capricious | whimsical; changeable |
| Carpe diem | seize the moment |
| Caveat | a warning or caution |
| Chicanery | the use of trickery to deceive |
| Chortle | to utter, or express with, a snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle |
| Codicil | an amendment to an existing will |
| Collegial | characterized by or having authority vested equally among colleagues |
| Concatenation | a chain; a succession |
| Consanguineous | related by blood, descended from the same ancestor |
| Demagogue | a leader who tries to stir up people by appeals to emotion, prejudice, etc., in order to achieve power |
| Diction | the choice and use of words in speech or writing |
| Didactic | conveying instruction; teaching some moral lesson |
| Dilatory | inclined to put off what ought to be done at once |
| Disingenuous | not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating |
| Eclectic | made up of or combining elements from varying sources |
| E.g. | exempli gratia (for example) |
| Egalitarian | favoring social equality |
| Ellipsis | Omission or suppression of parts of words or sentences with a mark or series of marks (... or *** for example) |
| Ephemeral | short lived |
| Equivocate | to be deliberately ambiguous or unclear |
| Erudite | characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; well instructed; learned |
| Ethereal | characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; intangible |
| Euphemism | a mild or vague word or phrase replacing one considered harsh or offensively direct |
| Exiguous | extremely scanty (bare) |
| Facetious | "tongue-in-cheek-advice" characterized by wit and pleasantry |
| Fait accompli | an accomplished and presumably irreversible deed or fact |
| Finite | having bounds |
| Forbearance | patience; good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence |
| Fortuitous | happening by chance |
| Halcyon | peaceful, undisturbed, and happy |
| Hyperbole | extravagant exaggeration |
| Iconoclast | one who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas of institutions |
| i.e. | id est (that is) |
| Inane | without contents, empty; void of sense or intelligence; purposeless; pointless; useless |
| Inchoate | partially but not fully in existence or operation |
| Indolent | avoiding labor and exertion; lazy |
| Ken | perception; understanding; knowledge |
| Levity | frivolity (not serious or sensible) |
| Lexicon | a stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject or style; a vocabulary |
| Limited liability companies | (LLC) combine the liability protection of a coorporation with the tax benefits and simplicity of a partnership |
| Logomachy | argument over the definition of words |
| Loquacious | very talkative |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them |
| Milieu | environment; setting |
| Myopic | lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or planning |
| NB | nota bene (Latin meaning note well); used to direct attention to something particularly important |
| Nefarious | wicked in the extreme |
| Obviate | to prevent by interception |
| Patrician | a person of refined upbringing, manners and taste |
| Pecuniary | relating to money |
| Pedantic | characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules |
| Pejorative | disparaging, belittling |
| Pernicious | deadly |
| Plenary | full; entire; complete |
| Prevaricate | to depart from or evade the truth |
| Probity | honesty, uprightness |
| Proclivity | a natural inclination; predisposition |
| Puerile | displaing a lack of maturity |
| Pusillanimous | lacking in courage and resolution |
| Renege | to go back on a promise or commitment |
| Requisite | necessary; indispensable |
| Res Ipsa Loquitur | the thing speaks for itself |
| Reticent | inclined to keep quiet |
| Salient | noticeable; also, projecting; also, leaping |
| Sardonic | bitterly sarcastic |
| Scintilla | a minute amount; an iota or trace |
| Simile | a word or phrase by which anything is likened to something else; it's often introduced by "like" or "as" |
| Sine qua non | an indispensable thing |
| Sojourn | a temporary stay; a brief period of residence |
| Specious | apparently right; superficiallly fair, just, or correct, but not so in reality; appearing well at first view; plausible |
| Succinct | brief, concise |
| Supercilious | lofty with pride |
| Superfluous | more than is wanted or is sufficient |
| Syllogism | logic: a form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion |
| Symbiotic | a relationship of mutual benefit or depencence |
| Syntax | the study of the rules whereby words or other elements of sentence structure are combined to form grammatical sentences |
| Tautological | needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy |
| Ubiquitous | being everywhere |
| Unilateral | having only one side |
| Verve | energy and enthusiasm in the expression of ideas |
| Vilify | to make vicious and defamatory statements about |
| Visceral | course, base, instinctive |
| Vitiate | to make faulty or imperfect |
| Vociferous | making a loud outcry |
Combine with other sets
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