| Term | Definition |
|---|
| abate | to lessen in intensity or degree |
| accolade | an expression of praise |
| adulation | excessive praise; intense adoration |
| ameliorate | to make better or more tolerable |
| ascetic | one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as an act of religious devotion |
| avarice | greed, esp. for wealth |
| axiom | a universally recognized principle |
| burgeon | to grow rapidly or flourish |
| bucolic | rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants |
| cacophony | harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance |
| canon | an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature |
| castigation | severe criticism or punishment |
| catalyst | a substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing; a person or thing that causes change |
| caustic | burning or stinging; causing corrosion |
| chary | wary; cautious; sparing |
| cogent | appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing |
| complaisance | the willingness to comply with the wishes of others |
| contentious | argumentative; quarrelsome; causing controversy or disagreement |
| contrite | regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness |
| culpable | deserving blame |
| dearth | smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; a lack |
| demur | to question or oppose |
| didactic | intended to teach or instruct |
| discretion | cautious reserve in speech; ability to make responsible decisions |
| disinterested | free of bias or self-interest; impartial |
| dogmatic | expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or improvable principles |
| ebullience | the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings |
| eclectic | composed of elements drawn from various sources |
| elegy | a mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead |
| emollient | soothing, esp. to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying; an agent that softens or smoothes the skin |
| empirical | based on observation or experiment |
| enigmatic | mysterious; obsure; difficult to understand |
| ephemeral | brief; fleeting |
| esoteric | intended for or understood by a small, specific group |
| eulogy | a speech honoring the dead |
| exonerate | to remove blame |
| facetious | playful; humorous |
| fallacy | an invalid or incorrect notion; a mistake belief |
| furtive | marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious |
| gregarious | sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people |
| harangue | to deliver a pompous speech or tirade; a long, pompous speech |
| heretical | violating accepted dogma or convention |
| hyperbole | an exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech |
| impecunious | lacking funds; without money |
| incipient | beginning to come into being or to become apparent |
| inert | unmoving; lethargic; sluggish |
| innocuous | harmless; causing no damage |
| intransigent | refusing to compromise |
| inveigle | to obtain by deception or flattery |
| morose | sad; sullen; melancholy |
| odious | evoking intense aversion or dislike |
| opaque | impenetrable by light; not reflecting light |
| oscillation | the act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterupted rhythm |
| penurious | penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous |
| pernicious | extremely harmful; potentially causing deat |
| peruse | to examine with great care |
| pious | extremely reverent or devout; showing strong religious devotion |
| precursor | one that precedes and indicates or announces another |
| preen | to dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care |
| prodigious | abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary |
| putrefy | to rot; to decay and give off a foul odor |
| quaff | to drink deeply |
| quiescence | stillness; motionlessness; quality of being at rest |
| redoubtable | awe-inspiring; worthy of honor |
| sanction | authorative permission or approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority to |
| satire | a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision |
| squalid | sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect |
| stoic | indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast |
| supplant | to take the place of; supersede |
| torpid | lethargic; sluggish; dormant |
| ubiquitous | existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; wide-spread |
| urbane | sophisticated; refined; elegant |
| vilify | to defame; to characterize |
| viscous | thick; sticky |
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