Difficult English Vocabulary
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7,192 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 obstreperous | noisy, loud |
| contumacious | insubordinate, rebellious |
| mettlesome | courageous, high-spirited. Don't confuse with "meddlesome," meaning inclined to interfere. |
| cadge | to beg, to get by begging |
| pith | heart of the matter, basic trait. Also force, strength, or vigor |
| supine | lying on the back. Also slow to act, passive. |
| remonstrate | to protest, object |
| inveigh | to attack verbally, denounce, deprecate |
| precepts | rules establishing standards of conduct |
| impute | to attribute to a cause or source, ascribe |
| feckless | lacking purpose or vitality; ineffective; careless |
| decorum | propriety, properness. |
| penchant | strong inclination, a liking. |
| appropriate (verb) | take for one's own use, acquire, set aside. Don't confuse with "appropriate (adjective)," which means fitting or suitable. |
| truculence | aggressiveness, ferocity |
| garrulity | talkativeness. Adjective is garrulous--talkative |
| arabesque | a complex, ornate design. Also a dance position. |
| beatify | to bless, make happy, or ascribe a virtue to. Regard as saintly. Don't confuse with "beautify," which means to make beautiful. |
| forbearance | patience, willingness to wait. |
| veritable | unquestionable, true. |
| pragmatic | practical, favoring utility. |
| arrant | in every way, being completely such. |
| consequential | pompous, self important. Also having consequence, important. Also following as a result, or being an effect of some cause. |
| malinger | to fake illness or injury, in order to shirk a duty. |
| paucity | scarcity, a lacking of |
| striated | striped, grooved, or banded. Having stripes. |
| seminal | like a seed; constituting a source, originative. |
| attenuate | make thin. weaken, enervate. |
| precarious | uncertain, risky, dangerous. |
| enervate | weaken, deprive of strength, attenuate. |
| partisan | one-sided, committed to a party, biased or prejudiced. |
| equivocate | lie, mislead, conceal the truth. |
| assiduous | diligent, hard-working, sedulous. |
| anachronism | something out of place for its time |
| lassitude | weariness, tiredness |
| phlegmatic | calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional |
| sycophant | flatterer, parasite; a suck-up |
| perfunctory | superficial, listless, not thorough |
| impair | worsen, diminish in value |
| transient | temporary, fleeting |
| qualify | to limit |
| nascent | coming into existence, emerging |
| Quixotic | extravagantly chivalrous, romantically idealistic, impractical |
| reprobate | person hardened in sin; one devoid of decency |
| libertine | immoral person |
| tractable | easily influenced, obedient, docile |
| craven | cowardly |
| picaresque | involving clever rogues or adventurers. Don't confuse with "picturesque," which means picture-like, charming, or quaint. |
| sedulous | diligent, assiduous, devoted to a task |
| aver | affirm, assert, prove, justify |
| intrepid | fearless, brave, undaunted |
| impassive | without feeling, not affected by pain |
| salient | conspicuous, highly relevant, prominent |
| morose | gloomy, sullen |
| raffish | low, vulgar, base, tawdry |
| loquacious | talkative, garrulous |
| piquant | agreeably pungent, stimulating |
| demur | to hesitate, raise objections |
| equipoise | equal distribution of weight; equilibrium |
| abysmal | extreme; low, like an abyss |
| tawdry | cheap, gaudy, showy, tacky |
| dross | waste product, sludge; something worthless, common, or trivial |
| ardor | warm interest, passion, enthusiasm, zeal |
| insouciant | unconcerned, carefree |
| volubility | fluency, verbosity, easy use of spoken language |
| dulcet | melodious, harmonious |
| mellifluous | sweetly flowing; usually used to describe use of words (sweetly flowing words, as when the speech is characterized by high volubility. |
| desiccate | to dry up, dehydrate |
| harrow | to distress, create stress or torment |
| pellucid | transparent, easy to understand |
| pariah | an outcast, a rejected and despised person |
| taciturn | untalkative, silent |
| pique | resentment at being slighted |
| turgid | excessively ornate; swollen or bloated |
| ]pillory | to punish, hold up to public scorn |
| adamant | hard and inflexible; unyielding |
| multifarious | varied, motley, greatly diversified |
| torpor | lethargy, sluggishness, dormancy |
| imprecation | an invocation of evil; a curse |
| audacious | daring; bold |
| hirsute | hairy, shaggy |
| tenacity | firmness, persistency, adhesiveness, tending to hang on |
| apostate | one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions |
| lachrymose | causing tears, tearful |
| welter | turmoil; a bewildering jumble |
| discomfit | to defeat, put down |
| laconic | brief, to the point, terse |
| venal | corruptible, bribable, unprincipled |
| ossify | to turn to bone; to settle rigidly into an idea or practice, become closed-minded |
| disingenuous | sophisticated, artful, trying to deceive, cunning |
| insensible | unconscious, unresponsive, unaffected |
| turbid | muddy, having the sediment stirred up |
| erudite | learned, scholarly |
| saturnine | gloomy, dark, sullen, morose |
| abeyance | suspended action |
| diaphanous | transparent, gauzy |
| epitome | representative, a summary or abstract, a typical example |
| squalid | foul, filthy |
| quiescent | at rest, dormant, torpid |
| recreancy | cowardice, a cowardly giving up |
| misanthrope | one who hates mankind |
| misogynist | one who hates women/females |
| castigate | to chastise, correct by punishing |
| apprehension | misgiving, dread. Also a stopping or arrest. Also an understandingprosaic--dull, tedious, commonplace |
| gainsay | deny |
| pungency | sharpness; stinging quality |
| approbation | approval |
| refractory | stubborn, unmanageable, intractable |
| contentious | quarrelsome, competitive, quick to fight, pugnacious |
| antipathy | aversion, dislike |
| hapless | unlucky, unfortunate |
| prevaricate | stray from or avoid the truth; equivocate |
| countenance | (n) mien, face (v) approve of |
| dogmatic | positive, certain, arbitrary, without room for discussion |
| strut | a supporting bar |
| felicitous | apt; suitably expressed, well chosen, apropos |
| apropos | appropriate to the situation; apt |
| implacable | incapable of being placated, unpleasable |
| raffish | disreputable; tawdry |
| guileless | without deceit, honest |
| resigned | unresisting, submissive |
| vituperate | berate, rail against, attack verbally |
| render | deliver, provide, represent |
| diffidence | shyness |
| sophistry | fallacious reasoning, faulty logic |
| fulminate | berate, vituperate, to thunder out, to explode, |
| dynamo | a generator, something that produces electric current; an energetic person |
| assay | an analysis, examination, test. To put to a test |
| hallow | to make holy; consecrate |
| disabuse | to undeceive, correct a false impression |
| boisterous | loud, noisy, rough, lacking restraint |
| inveigle | wheedle, led astray |
| sodden | soaked, saturated |
| perfidious | violating good faith, treacherous, dishonest |
| conundrum | a riddle, dilemma, enigma |
| denouement | an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot |
| stolid | showing no emotion; impassive |
| dissemble | present false appearance; deceive |
| desuetude | cessation of use; disuse |
| indefatigability | not easily exhaustible; tirelessness |
| dilatory | causing delay, procrastinating |
| garner | to gather and save; to store up |
| intractable | unruly, refractory, stubborn |
| delineate | to portray, depict, sketch out |
| ascetic | practicing self-denial, austere, stark |
| fervid | intense, zealous |
| daunt | intimidate, make fearful |
| burgeon | grow forth, send out buds |
| anomalous | unexpected, not normal, odd |
| nice | precise, sensitive to subtleness |
| prodigal | wasteful, reckless with money |
| lugubrious | mournful, excessively sad |
| baleful | harmful, ominous, causing evil |
| credulous | gullible, too willing to believe |
| incredulous | skeptical, unwilling to believe (NOT "incredible," as many think) |
| blithe | cheerful, casual, carefree |
| verisimilitude | appearing true or real |
| provident | frugal; looking to the future |
| edacious | voracious, devouring |
| expostulate | argue earnestly to dissuade, correct, or protest |
| auspice | protection or support, patronage |
| auspicious | favorable, successful, prosperous |
| punctilious | precise, paying attention to trivialities, especially in regard to etiquette |
| salutary | remedial, wholesome, causing improvement |
| imbroglio | difficult or embarrassing situation |
| wend | to go, proceed |
| nostrum | a quack remedy, an untested cure |
| personable | pleasing in appearance, attractive |
| salacious | obscene |
| exscind | to cut out, cut away |
| sublime | lofty, noble |
| quail | lose courage, turn frightened |
| urbane | elegant, refined in manners |
| tyro | novice, amateur |
| boorish | crude, offensive, rude |
| upbraid | reprove, reproach |
| effete | infertile, worn out, weak |
| obdurate | stubborn, inflexible, adamant |
| mince | pronounce or speak affectedly, euphemize, speak too carefully. Also to take tiny steps, tiptoe |
| inimitable | defying imitation, unmatchable |
| inveterate | deep rooted, ingrained, habitual |
| umbrage | offense, resentment |
| extirpate | to destroy, exterminate, cut out, exscind |
| forswear | renounce, disallow, repudiate |
| ignoble | dishonorable, common, undignified |
| ostensible | seeming, appearing as such, professed |
| illusory | deceptive; an illusion |
| overweening | presumptuously arrogant, overbearing, immoderate, being a jerk |
| wag | to be incessantly active, to waddle; also a mischievous person |
| lucubrate | write in scholarly fashion |
| impetuous | impulsive, forceful, with energy |
| bellicose | belligerent, pugnacious, warlike |
| cabal | a scheme or plot, a group of plotters |
| irresolute | unresolved, indecisive |
| complaisance | tending to comply, obliging, willingness to please |
| apprise | give notice to, inform |
| pusillanimous | cowardly, craven |
| polemical | controversial, argued |
| luculent | easily understood, lucid, clear |
| poignant | physically painful, distressing, pertinent, touching, stimulating, emotional |
| engender | cause, produce, give rise to |
| dissemble | to hide, conceal, disguise |
| equanimity | calmness of temperament |
| ingenuous | naive, young, artless, frank, honest, sincere. Don't confuse with "ingenious"--very clever |
| epicure | food lover, a connoisseur of food |
| salient | prominent, protruding, conspicuous, highly relevant |
| inchoate | not yet fully formed, rudimentary, elementary |
| pugnacious | contentious, quarrelsome, contumacious, given to fighting, belligerent |
| peremptory | urgent, imperative, unchallengeable, ending debate |
| exigency | emergency, an urgent situation |
| ameliorate | improve, make better |
| august | majestic, venerable. Don't confuse with the month, "August," which is always capitalized. |
| minatory | menacing, threatening |
| froward | intractable, not willing to yield or comply, stubborn (NOT "forward") |
| fetter | to shackle, put in chains |
| pundit | a learned scholar, an authority on a subject |
| venal | corruptible, open to bribery |
| belie | contradict, give a false impression |
| epitome | brief summary or abstract; representative example; a typical model |
| prosaic | everyday, mundane, commonplace, trite, pedestrian |
| hermetic | sealed by fusion |
| fervor | zeal, ardor, intense emotion |
| endemic | prevailing in a specific area |
| reticent | reserved, untalkative, silent, taciturn |
| rapacious | voracious, greedy, plundering |
| coeval | of the same period, coexisting |
| austere | forbiddingly stern, simple, unadorned, very plain |
| indolence | laziness |
| pristine | primitive, unspoiled, pure, as in earlier times, unadulterated |
| capricious | fickle, whimsical, given to change, unpredictable |
| edifying | enlightening |
| philistine | a smug ignorant person; one who lacks knowledge |
| maladroit | clumsy, bungling |
| detumescence | diminishing or lessening of swelling |
| stygian | gloomy, dark |
| calumniate | to slander, present false accusal |
| baneful | causing harm or ruin, pernicious, destructive |
| forestall | prevent by taking action in advance, preempt |
| occult | hidden, concealed, beyond comprehension |
| irascible | irritable, easily angered |
| facetious | humorous, funny, jocular |
| trenchant | forceful, effective, vigorous; extremely perceptive, incisive |
| stymie | to hinder, obstruct, or block |
| intransigence | unwillingness to compromise, stubbornness, intractability |
| mundane | worldly as opposed to spiritual; commonplace, everyday |
| mitigate | appease, lessen, propitiate |
| abstruse | difficult to comprehend; obscure |
| expatiate | to roam, wander freely |
| propitiate | appease, mitigate |
| slake | to assuage, to satisfy, allay |
| contentious | argumentative, pugnacious, combative, quarrelsome |
| inscrutable | incapable of being discovered or understood |
| elegy | a lament, a melancholy composition |
| derivative | unoriginal, obtained from another source |
| supercilious | disdainful; characterized by haughty scorn |
| sundry | various, miscellaneous, separate |
| mercurial | quick, changeable in character, fleeting |
| desultory | aimless, haphazard, digressing at random |
| sanctimony | self-righteousness, hypocritical, with false piety |
| indomitable | not easily discouraged or subdued |
| foment | to stir up, arouse, incite |
| splenetic | bad-tempered, irritable |
| flout | reject, mock, to go against (as in going against tradition or conventions) |
| obfuscate | to darken, make obscure, muddle |
| noisome | unwholesomely bad-smelling, putrid; (NOT "noisy") |
| incursion | a raid, a sudden attack |
| paean | a song of praise or triumph |
| turpitude | wickedness, shamefulness |
| detraction | slandering, verbal attack, aspersion |
| chastened | corrected, punished |
| brook | to tolerate, endure |
| ignominious | shameful, dishonorable, undignified, disgraceful |
| prolix | long and wordy |
| bane | cause of injury, poison, source of harm |
| abrogate | abolish or annul by authority; put down |
| conciliatory | reconciling, soothing, comforting, mollifying |
| insularity | narrow-mindedness, isolated |
| untoward | perverse, unruly, unseemly |
| perverted | twisted, corrupted, turned from normal course |
| odium | contempt, dislike, aversion |
| dissolution | disintegration, looseness in morals |
| sophomoric | self-assured though immature, affected, bombastic, overblown, lacking maturity |
| enormity | excessive wickedness; evilness. Don't confuse with "enormousness," which means great size. ENORMITY DOES NOT MEAN "BIGNESS" OR "GREAT SIZE" |
| obdurate | hardened and unrepentant; stubborn, inflexible |
| fatuous | complacently stupid |
| burnish | to polish, rub to a shine |
| tenuous | unsubstantial, flimsy, weak |
| repudiate | disown, disavow, reject as untrue |
| denigrate | blacken, belittle, sully, defame |
| maverick | rebel, nonconformist |
| effluvia | outflow in a stream of particles; a noxious odor or vapor |
| alacrity | cheerful promptness |
| salubrious | healthful |
| paradigm | a model, example, or pattern |
| apotheosis | deification, glorification to godliness |
| officious | meddlesome, pushy in one's services |
| cogent | convincing |
| spurious | false, counterfeit |
| panegyric | formal praise, eulogy |
| mollify | to soothe |
| peregrination | traveling about, wandering |
| acarpous | effete, no longer fertile, worn out |
| bedizen | to adorn, especially in a cheap, showy manner |
| alloy | to debase by mixing with something inferior |
| fecund | fertile |
| doggerel | trivial, poorly constructed verse |
| peripatetic | walking |
| mendicant | a beggar |
| propitiatory | conciliatory, appeasing, mitigating |
| pedantic | bookish, showing off learning |
| nadir | bottom, the lowest point |
| zenith | top, the highest point |
| broach | bring up, announce, begin to talk about |
| obtrusive | projecting, prominent, undesirably noticeable |
| ramify | to be divided or subdivided; to branch out |
| exculpate | to clear from a charge of guilt |
| ineluctable | certain, inevitable |
| gainsay | to deny, declare false, to oppose |
| episodic | loosely connected, not flowing logically |
| iconoclastic | attacking cherished beliefs |
| recidivism | relapse into antisocial or criminal behavior |
| profligate | wasteful, prodigal, licentious, extravagant |
| inherent | ingrained within one's nature; firmly established; a natural part of; definitionally so |
| torpid | sleeping, sluggish, lethargic, dormant |
| gregarious | sociable, outgoing |
| recondite | profound, abstruse, obscure |
| judicious | sound in judgment; wise |
| sinuous | winding, undulating, serpentine |
| undulate | to move in wavelike fashion, fluctuate |
| probity | uprightness, incorruptibility, principle |
| rubric | heading, title, or category |
| interdict | prohibit, forbid |
| harangue | a long, passionate speech |
| calumny | slander, aspersion |
| petrous | like a rock, hard, stony |
| petrify | to make hard, rocklike |
| conjoin | to join together |
| nexus | a connection, tie, or link |
| penury | extreme poverty |
| idyll | a carefree episode or experience; a short poem describing a picturesque episode |
| countenance | to favor or approve of |
| fulsome | disgusting, offensive due to excessiveness |
| chauvinist | a blindly devoted patriot |
| veritably | unquestionably, certainly |
| itinerate | to travel from place to place, to peregrinate |
| eulogy | formal praise; panegyric |
| malleable | yielding; easily shaped; moldable; adapting |
| bilge | bulge, the protuberance of a cask |
| lubricious | lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery |
| sagacious | having sound judgment; perceptive, wise; like a sage |
| impecunious | poor, penniless |
| recondite | not easily understood, abstruse, inscrutable |
| querulous | complaining, peevish, discontented |
| virago | a loud, domineering woman; a scold or nag |
| rarefy | to make thin, to make less dense, to purify or refine |
| expurgate | to remove obscenity, purify, censor |
| propinquity | nearness in time or place, affinity of nature |
| extenuate | reduce the strength of, lessen seriousness, partially excuse |
| deprecate | protest against, express disapproval of |
| excoriate | to flay, strip off the skin; to denounce sharply |
| obviate | to make unnecessary, get rid of |
| opprobrious | shameful, expressing disgrace |
| succor | assistance, relief in time of distress |
| censure | expression of blame or disapproval; a rebuke |
| proscribe | ostracize, banish, outlaw |
| platitude | a trite or banal statement; unoriginality |
| impetuous | having sudden energy, impulsive, thrusting ahead, forceful |
| obloquy | abusively detractive language, sharp criticism, vituperation |
| plaintive | mournful, melancholy, sorrowful |
| timorous | fearful, timid, afraid |
| debacle | a breakup, overthrow, sudden disaster |
| effrontery | boldness, impudence, arrogance |
| specious | illogical, of questionable truth or merit |
| redoubtable | formidable, causing fear |
| regale | to delight or entertain; to feast |
| volatile | changeable, inconstant, fickle, unstable, explosive |
| inured | accustomed to, adapted |
| blandishment | flattery, enticement |
| pernicious | deadly, very destructive |
| accretion | growth, increase by successive addition, building up |
| deposition | accretion, depositing, building up layer by layer |
| quotidian | daily; commonplace, pedestrian |
| pedestrian | commonplace, trite, unremarkable |
| sanguine | cheerful, confident, optimistic |
| consternation | sudden confusion or amazement |
| exsert | thrust out, push forth |
| petulant | impatient, irritable |
| scurvy | mean, contemptible |
| surfeit | satiate, feed to fullness or to excess |
| prevaricate | to equivocate, to stray from the truth |
| temerity | boldness, brashness, intrepidness |
| stint | to be thrifty, to set limits |
| obtain | to be established, accepted, or customary |
| propitious | auspicious, presenting favorable circumstances |
| ebullient | overflowing with enthusiasm; showing excitement |
| abjure | recant solemnly, repudiate, renounce |
| encomium | warm or glowing praise; eulogy, panegyric |
| arduous | steep, difficult ascent; laborious |
| tautology | a repetition, a redundancy |
| suppliant | asking humbly, beseeching |
| imperiousness | arrogance, commanding presence, overbearingness |
| evince | to show clearly, to indicate |
| stanch | to stop the flow of a fluid |
| vitiate | to pervert, debase, make ineffective |
| contemn | to scorn or despise |
| stentorian | extremely loud and powerful |
| poseur | someone taking on airs to impress others; a phony |
| grievous | causing grief or pain; serious, dire, grave |
| precipitate | (v) to hurl down, to fall headlong (adj) speeding, acting recklessly |
| sententious | short and pithy, full of maxims/proverbs |
| palliate | to make something appear less serious, to alleviate, to gloss over, put a positive spin on |
| floridness | ruddiness; heavily decorated; ornateness |
| asperity | roughness, harshness, ill temper, irritability (Don't confuse with "aspersion," which means slander |
| mendacity | dishonesty |
| involute | intricate, complex |
| importune | ask incessantly, to beg, to nag |
| precipitous | rash, foolhardy; dropping sharply, dangerous |
| aba | garment of camel or goat hair; camel or goat-hair fabric |
| abacinate | to blind by putting red-hot copper basin near the eyes |
| abactor | cattle thief |
| abaculus | small tile for mosaic |
| abaft | toward or at the stern of a ship; further aft |
| abampere | unit equivalent to 10 amperes |
| abapical | at the lowest point |
| abarticular | not connected with the joint |
| abasement | action of humbling or degrading |
| abasia | inability to walk due to lack of muscular coordination |
| abask | in genial warmth |
| abatis | rampart of felled trees and branches |
| abatjour | skylight or device to direct light into a room |
| abattoir | public slaughterhouse |
| abature | trail through wood beaten down by a stag |
| abb | yarn used for warp |
| abba | Syriac or Coptic bishop |
| abbatial | of, like or pertaining to abbots or an abbey |
| abbozzo | preliminary sketch |
| abditive | remote; secret; hidden |
| abdominous | having a paunch or big belly |
| abducent | turning away; bearing away from |
| abeam | in a line at right angles to the length of a vessel, on the beam |
| abear | to bear; to comport; to behave |
| abecedarian | of, like or pertaining to the order of the alphabet; rudimentary |
| abecedism | word created from the initials of words in a phrase |
| abele | white poplar tree |
| aberdevine | alternate name for the siskin |
| aberuncators | long tool for pruning tall branches |
| abessive | indicating absence or lack |
| abiectic | of, like or pertaining to fir trees or fir sap |
| abigail | a lady's maid |
| abigeus | cattle rustler |
| abiogenesis | spontaneous generation of living matter |
| abiotrophy | degeneration; loss of physical vitality or ability |
| abirritate | to alleviate irritation; to reduce sensitivity |
| abiturient | pupil leaving school for university |
| abject | humble; miserable; craven |
| ablactation | weaning of a child from its mother's milk |
| ablative | indicating direction from or time when |
| ablator | thermal protection on outside of spacecraft |
| ablaut | variation in root vowel of words to change meaning |
| ablegate | papal envoy or legate |
| ablepsia | blindness |
| ablow | in a blowing state |
| abluent | cleanser or cleansing product |
| ablutomania | mania for washing oneself |
| abnegate | to renounce or repudiate |
| abodement | an omen; a foretelling |
| aboideau | tide gate |
| abolla | Roman military cloak |
| abomasum | ruminant's fourth stomach |
| aboral | away from the mouth |
| abord | to accost; to approach |
| aborning | during birth; while being born |
| aborticide | killing of a fetus; abortion |
| abortuary | anti-abortion term for an abortion clinic |
| aboulia | loss of ability to make decisions |
| aboulomania | pathological indecisiveness |
| aboutsledge | largest blacksmith's hammer |
| abra | narrow mountain pass |
| abradant | a substance that abrades |
| abraid | to awaken or rouse |
| abraxas | gem engraved with mystical word and bearing human-animal figure |
| abreuvoir | joint or gap between two stones in masonry |
| abroach | in a condition to allow liquor to run out |
| abrosia | fasting |
| abscind | to pare, reduce, cut off or away |
| abscissa | horizontal distance from a fixed line to a point |
| abscission | cutting off; cutting away |
| absconce | lantern used in monasteries and night offices |
| abseil | to descend a rock face using a double rope |
| absentaneous | done in absence; pertaining to absence |
| absinthial | of, like or pertaining to wormwood; bitter |
| absinthism | disease resembling alcoholism |
| absit | leave to pass one night away from college |
| absolutism | doctrine of government by a single absolute ruler; autocracy |
| absolutive | indicating subject or object of intransitive verb |
| absolutory | forgiving or absolving |
| absonant | discordant; abhorrent |
| absorbefacient | causing or promoting absorption |
| absorptiometer | instrument for measuring solubility of gases in liquids |
| absquatulate | to decamp; to leave quickly; to flee |
| absterge | wipe clean; expunge; purge; purify |
| absurdism | doctrine that we live in an irrational universe |
| abterminal | going from the end inwards |
| abthane | monastic region of the old Irish church |
| abulia | lack of ability to make decisions; aboulia |
| abuna | Ethiopian patriarch |
| abusion | misuse; outrage; deception |
| abutment | masonry on a wall that supports an arch |
| abvolt | unit of electrical potential equal to one hundred millionth of a volt |
| aby | to make amends; atone; pay a penalty |
| abyssopelagic | of, like or pertaining to the depths of the ocean |
| academicism | doctrine that nothing can be known |
| acanaceous | bearing prickles or thistles; prickly |
| acantha | prickle |
| acanthous | spiny; prickly |
| acapnia | lack or deficiency of carbon dioxide |
| acapnotic | non-smoker; non-smoking |
| acariasis | irritating itching insect infestation |
| acaricide | killer of mites and ticks |
| acarine | of, like or pertaining to ticks or mites |
| acarology | study of mites |
| acarophobia | fear of itching or of insects causing itching |
| acarpous | sterile; not bearing fruit |
| acatalectic | having complete or full number of syllables in a poetic line |
| acatalepsy | the unknowableness of all things to a certainty |
| acatamathesia | inability to understand data presented to the senses |
| acates | provisions that have been purchased |
| acatour | provisioner; quartermaster |
| acaudate | tailless |
| acaulescent | having a very short stem |
| accelerometer | instrument for measuring acceleration or vibrations |
| accend | to kindle |
| accensor | acolyte |
| accentor | songbird |
| acceptilation | remission of debt or liability through fictitious repayment |
| accessit | prize for students in second place; honourable mention |
| acciaccatura | very short note played before a longer one |
| accidence | grammar book; science of inflections in grammar |
| accidentalism | theory that events do not have causes |
| accidie | sloth; physical torpor |
| accinge | to gird |
| accipiter | bandage worn around the nose |
| accipitral | like a bird of prey; rapacious |
| accipitrine | of, like or pertaining to falcons and hawks |
| accismus | in rhetoric, pretending to refuse something |
| accite | to cite; to summon |
| acclinate | sloping upwards |
| acclivity | upward slope |
| accloy | to hobble with a horseshoe nail |
| accolade | curved architectural moulding; vertical line joining two musical staves |
| accolent | neighbouring |
| accosted | in heraldry, two figures placed side by side |
| accoucheur | male midwife |
| accoucheuse | female midwife |
| accourage | to encourage |
| accourt | to entertain |
| accoy | to subdue; to pacify; to soothe |
| accrementition | increase or growth by adding similar material |
| accretion | accumulation; addition of parts to form a whole |
| accubation | reclining as on a couch |
| accubitum | crescent-shaped couch |
| accusative | indicating direct object of a verb |
| acedia | listlessness; sloth |
| aceldama | site or scene of violence or bloodshed |
| aceology | therapeutics |
| acequia | irrigation ditch |
| acerate | of, like or resembling a needle |
| acerbate | to embitter; to irritate |
| acerous | lacking horns or antennae |
| acersecomic | one whose hair has never been cut |
| acervate | heaped; clustered |
| acervuline | like or in small mounds or heaps |
| acescence | becoming sour; souring; turning of milk |
| acetabulum | small anatomical cup or hollow, such as a sucker |
| acetarious | referring to plants that are used in salads |
| acetimeter | instrument for measuring strength of vinegar |
| achaenocarp | any dry indehiscent fruit |
| acharné | furious or desperate (of a battle) |
| achene | small one-seeded fruit or naked seed of plant |
| achloropsia | colour-blindness with respect to green |
| achor | eruption or scab on the head |
| achromatopsia | colour-blindness |
| achroous | colourless |
| acicular | needle-shaped |
| acidaemia | undue acidity of blood |
| acidimeter | instrument for measuring concentration of acids |
| acidulous | sharp or bitter-tasting |
| acierate | to turn into steel |
| acinaceous | full of kernels |
| acinaciform | scimitar-shaped |
| aciniform | shaped like a berry |
| acinus | berry which grows in clusters |
| acipenser | sturgeon |
| aclinic | having no inclination or magnetic dip |
| acock | defiantly |
| acoemeti | ancient monastic order who maintained eternal choir service |
| acology | study of medical remedies |
| acolous | limbless |
| acolouthic | of, like or pertaining to an after-image or other after-sensation |
| acopic | curing or relieving fatigue |
| acoria | pathologically great appetite |
| acosmism | disbelief in existence of eternal universe distinct from God |
| acouasm | ringing noise in head |
| acquest | object which is acquired |
| acracy | government by none; anarchy |
| acratia | impotence |
| acre-breadth | old unit of length of 22 yards |
| acritochromacy | colour-blindness |
| acroamatic | esoteric |
| acrocephalous | having a pointed or peaked skull |
| acrography | the art of making wood blocks in relief |
| acrolith | wooden statue with stone extremities |
| acrologic | of, like or pertaining to initials |
| acromegaly | glandular disorder causing gigantism of extremities |
| acronical | occurring at nightfall or sunset |
| acronym | word formed from initial letters of another word |
| acronyx | ingrown nail |
| acropathy | disease or illness of the extremities |
| acrophobia | fear of heights |
| acrophonic | using a symbol for the initial sound of a thing |
| acropodium | pedestal upon which a statue rests |
| acroscopic | looking or moving towards the apex |
| acroteleutic | phrase or words at the end of a psalm |
| acroterion | pedestal or ornament at the angle of a pediment |
| acrotism | absence of pulsing |
| actinism | action of solar radiation causing chemical change |
| actinograph | instrument used to calculate time of photographic exposure |
| actinometer | instrument for measuring incident radiation |
| actinotherapy | use of ultraviolet rays as medical therapy |
| actuate | communicate motion to; cause |
| aculeate | prickly; pointed; stinging; a stinging insect |
| aculeiform | shaped like a thorn |
| acultomancy | divination using needles |
| acuminate | tapered; pointed; to sharpen |
| acutiator | sharpener of weapons |
| acutorsion | twisting artery with needle to stop bleeding |
| acyanopsia | colour-blindness with respect to blue |
| acyesis | female sterility |
| acyrology | incorrect diction or pronunciation |
| adactylous | lacking fingers or claws |
| adamantine | unbreakable; impenetrable |
| adamitism | nakedness for religious reasons |
| adaxial | next to or towards the axis |
| addax | large African antelope |
| additament | thing added or appended; heraldic ornament |
| addititious | of, pertaining to or resulting from addition |
| addle | putrid; barren; muddled |
| addorsed | turned back to back in heraldry |
| adduce | cite as proof or instance |
| adeciduate | evergreen; coniferous |
| adeem | to cancel a bequest by destruction of the object |
| adelaster | provisional name for a plant whose flowers are unknown |
| adelphogamy | sharing of a wife by two or more brothers |
| ademption | revocation of donation by donor |
| adenalgia | painful swelling of a gland |
| adenia | glandular swelling |
| adeniform | shaped like a gland |
| adenography | descriptive work on the glandular system |
| adenoid | of, like or pertaining to or like a gland |
| adenology | study of glands |
| adenotomy | removal or excision of gland |
| adespota | anonymous works |
| adessive | indicating place where or proximity to |
| adevism | denial of gods of mythology and legend |
| adharma | unrighteousness |
| adhibit | to attach; to admit; to administer |
| adhocracy | government in an unstructured fashion; an unstructured organization |
| adiabatic | without transference of heat |
| adiaphoresis | absence of perspiration; inability to perspire |
| adiaphorism | doctrine of theological indifference or latitudinarianism |
| adiaphoron | tenet or belief on which a theological system is indifferent |
| adiapneustia | defective perspiration |
| adiathermancy | impermeability to radiant energy |
| adipescent | becoming fat or fatty |
| adipic | of, like or pertaining to fatty substances |
| adipocere | fatty substance occurring in corpses left in moist areas |
| adipsia | absence or lack of thirst |
| adit | opening or passage into a mine |
| adjudge | to decide; to award |
| adjutage | nozzle |
| adjutor | helper; assistant |
| adjuvant | substance added to make vaccine more effective |
| admanuensis | one who takes an oath on a religious book |
| admaxillary | connected to or near the jaw |
| admeasurement | the act of measuring or apportioning |
| adminicle | that which supports or aids, especially evidence |
| adnascent | growing on some other thing |
| adnominal | indicating adjective used as a noun |
| adnomination | punning |
| adnoun | adjective serving or used as a noun |
| adonise | to adorn oneself |
| adoptionism | belief that Christ was the adopted and not natural son of God |
| adoral | near the mouth |
| adosculation | impregnation by contact alone or by wind |
| adoxography | good writing on a trivial subject |
| adoxy | beliefs that are neither orthodox nor heterodox |
| adpress | to press together |
| adrogation | adoption of a boy or girl before adolescence |
| adscititious | added; additional |
| adscript | attached or feudally bound to the soil or earth |
| adsorb | to attract and stick to the surface |
| adumbrate | indicate faintly; foreshadow |
| adunc | hooked |
| aduncate | shaped like a hook or crook |
| adust | burnt; scorched |
| advection | horizontal movement of air |
| advehent | bringing inwards |
| advenient | due to outside causes |
| adventitious | accidental; casual |
| adventive | a thing or person coming from outside |
| adversaria | miscellaneous notes; commonplace books |
| adversative | word or phrase expressing opposition |
| advert | refer to in speech or writing |
| advertorial | advertisement presented as if it were editorial material |
| advesperate | darken; become late |
| advocaat | liqueur containing rum and raw eggs |
| advowson | right of presentation to church living |
| adynamia | helplessness; lack of strength |
| adytum | sacred part of a temple or church; church chancel |
| aedile | magistrate in charge of games, markets or buildings |
| aedoeology | science of generative organs |
| aegilops | stye in inner corner of eye |
| aegis | protection; support |
| aegrotat | medical certificate of illness excusing student's sickness |
| aeneous | shining bronze colour |
| aeolian | giving forth a tone as if produced by the wind |
| aeolipyle | hollow ball that turns through steam escaping through valves |
| aeolistic | long-winded |
| aeolotropy | variation in physical properties on basis of position |
| aeonian | lasting for an immeasurably long period of time |
| aerenchyma | respiratory tissue |
| aeriform | of the form or shape of gas; gaseous |
| aerious | of the nature of air; airy |
| aerobe | organism requiring oxygen to survive |
| aerobiology | study of airborne organisms |
| aerodonetics | science or study of gliding |
| aerogenesis | forming or generating gas or air |
| aerography | descriptive work on the atmosphere |
| aerolite | meteorite |
| aerolith | stone that falls from the sky; meteorite |
| aerolithology | study of aerolites; meteorites |
| aerology | study of the atmosphere |
| aeromancy | divination by means of the weather |
| aerometer | instrument for measuring weight or density of gas |
| aerophane | thin crinkled semi-transparent fabric |
| aerophilately | collecting of air-mail stamps |
| aerophobia | fear of flying or draughts |
| aerophore | instrument used to inflate stillborn child's lungs |
| aeropleustic | of, like or pertaining to aerial navigation |
| aerostat | any lighter-than air craft; balloon |
| aerostatics | science of air pressure; art of ballooning |
| aeruginous | of, like or pertaining to copper-rust or verdigris |
| aerugo | rust of any metal |
| aesc | letter used in Old English for 'ae' |
| aesopian | conveying meaning only to those in a secret movement |
| aesthesia | sensibility |
| aesthesiogenic | producing or causing a sensation |
| aestheticism | doctrine that beauty is central to other moral principles |
| aestival | of, like or pertaining to summer |
| aethrioscope | instrument for measuring temperature variations due to sky conditions |
| aeviternal | everlasting; endless |
| aeviternity | eternal existence |
| afebrile | not suffering from fever |
| affabulation | moral of a fable |
| affeer | to assess; to reduce to a fixed sum |
| afferent | bearing, bringing or carrying towards |
| affiance | to trust; to betroth |
| affine | a relation by marriage |
| afflated | inspired |
| afflatus | inspiration; divine impetus |
| afforce | to strengthen a jury by adding skilled people |
| afforest | to cover with forest; to convert into hunting grounds |
| affranchise | to free from slavery or similar obligation |
| affray | an attack or assault; an alarm or fright |
| affrayer | disturber of the peace |
| affreightment | hiring of a vessel |
| affreux | frightening |
| affricate | consonant that begins as a plosive and ends as a fricative |
| affronté | of two heraldic animals, facing one another |
| affusion | pouring on; as of baptismal water |
| afore | before |
| afterclap | unexpected damaging or unsettling after-effect |
| afterdeck | deck behind a ship's bridge |
| aftergame | rematch; means employed after first turn of affairs |
| afterguard | men who work the aft sails on the quarterdeck and poop deck |
| afterings | last milk drawn when milking a cow |
| afterpiece | minor piece after a play |
| aftershaft | second shaft coming out of the quill of a feather |
| afterwil | locking of the barn after the cows have been let out |
| agacerie | allurement; coquetry |
| agalactia | failure or inability to produce milk |
| agalloch | eaglewood |
| agamist | one who opposes marriage |
| agamogenesis | reproduction by non-sexual means |
| agape | selfless Christian love; a feast in celebration of such love |
| agapeistic | characterized by Christian love |
| agapet | lover of women |
| agapetae | churchwomen who live platonically with celibate men |
| agapism | ethics of love |
| agastopia | admiration of part of another's body |
| agatewear | type of ceramic resembling agate stone |
| agathism | belief in ultimate triumph of good despite evil means |
| agathodaimon | one's good genius; the good part of one's conscience |
| agelast | one who never laughs |
| agennesic | sterile; impotent |
| agenocratia | opposition to birth control |
| agentive | indicating agent performing an action |
| ageotropic | moving or turning away from the earth |
| agersia | quality of not growing old |
| ageusia | damage to the sense of taste |
| agger | artificial mound or elevation for military use |
| aggerose | in heaps; piled up |
| aggiornamento | modernization of ideas of the Catholic church |
| aggrade | to raise level of a surface through depositing detritus |
| aggrandize | increase power or rank of; make greater |
| aggrate | to gratify or please |
| aggry | type of West African glass beads |
| agio | premium paid on foreign currency exchange |
| agiotage | playing the stock market; speculation |
| agist | to charge with a public burden; to take in to graze for payment |
| agistment | land tax assessed for cattle pasturing |
| aglet | metal point attached to a lace or string |
| agma | symbol or sound for a velar nasal consonant "ng" |
| agminate | grouped |
| agnail | sore, corn or hangnail on the toe or foot |
| agname | name over and above the ordinary name and surname |
| agnation | kinship |
| agnize | to acknowledge or confess |
| agnomen | additional name; surname; nickname |
| agnosic | unable to recognize familiar objects due to brain damage |
| agnosticism | doctrine that we can know nothing beyond material phenomena |
| agnosy | ignorance |
| agoge | tempo or sequence in melody in ancient Greek music |
| agogic | accenting a musical note by slightly dwelling on it |
| agomphosis | looseness in the teeth |
| agone | ago |
| agonic | making no angle |
| agonism | competition; effort; striving |
| agonistes | someone in the grip of inner conflict |
| agonistic | of, like or pertaining to or being aggressive or argumentative |
| agonistics | art and theory of prize-fighting |
| agoraphobia | fear of open spaces |
| agowilt | sudden sickening and unnecessary fear |
| agraffe | hooked clasp used by masons to hold blocks together |
| agrapha | sayings of Jesus not found in the canonical gospels |
| agraphia | inability to write |
| agravic | having no gravity; pertaining to the condition of zero-gravity |
| agrestic | of the fields; rural; unpolished |
| agriology | the comparative study of primitive peoples |
| agrize | to horrify; to disfigure |
| agrizoiatry | medicine specializing in wild animals |
| agrobiology | study of plant nutrition; soil yields |
| agrology | study of agricultural soils |
| agromania | intense desire to be in open spaces |
| agronomics | study of productivity of land |
| agrostography | writing about grasses |
| agrostology | science or study of grasses |
| agrypnia | insomnia |
| agrypnotic | anything taken to aid wakefulness |
| aguardiente | Spanish or Portuguese brandy |
| agyiophobia | fear of crossing busy streets |
| agynary | lacking female genitals |
| ahimsa | the duty of sparing animal life; non-violence |
| ahull | with sails furled and helm lashed to the lee-side |
| ai | three-toed sloth |
| aichmophobia | fear of sharp or pointed objects |
| aiger | tidal wave occurring in rivers |
| aigrette | a spray of jewels; ornamental feather plume; an egret |
| aiguille | sharp; needle-like peak of rock |
| aileron | flap on airplane wing for lateral balance |
| ailette | plate of armour worn on shoulder |
| ailuromancy | divination by watching cats' movements |
| ailurophilia | love of cats |
| ailurophobia | fear of cats |
| aioli | garlic-flavoured mayonnaise |
| airscrew | aircraft propeller |
| aischrolatry | worship of filth, dirt, or smut |
| aisling | a vision or dream |
| ait | small island in lake or river |
| aitchbone | rump bone of cattle; rump cut of beef |
| aiué | elderly; senior |
| akeratophorous | not horned |
| akinesia | loss of ability to move |
| ala | membranous outgrowth on a plant or animal |
| alabamine | alternate name for the element astatine |
| alack | expression of sorrow or regret |
| alalia | loss of ability to speak |
| alameda | public walkway between rows of poplar trees |
| alamort | half-dead; dejected |
| alannah | term of endearment used with one's child |
| alar | of, like or pertaining to the wing or shoulder |
| alastrim | mild form of smallpox |
| alate | lately |
| alation | state of having wings; position of wings on a creature |
| alaudine | of, like or pertaining to skylarks |
| alb | long white robe worn by priests |
| albarello | cylindrical jar used to hold drugs |
| albata | variety of German silver |
| albedo | whiteness, as of a celestial object |
| albescent | becoming white; whiteness |
| albicant | whitish; becoming white |
| albificative | able to whiten or be whitened |
| albion | medieval astronomical device for finding positions of planets |
| albocracy | government by white people |
| albolith | white cement formed from magnesia and silica |
| albugineous | like the white of an eye or an egg; white-coloured |
| alcahest | alchemical universal solvent |
| alcatote | silly elf |
| alcine | of, like or pertaining to elks; of, like or pertaining to auks |
| alcoholometer | instrument for measuring proportion of alcohol in solutions |
| alcovinometer | instrument to measure strength of wine |
| aleatoric | depending on contingencies or chance |
| aleberry | beverage made from ale, spices, and dried bread |
| alecost | costmary, an herb used in flavouring ale |
| alectormancy | divination by sacrificing a rooster |
| alectryomachy | cock-fighting |
| alectryomancy | divination by watching a rooster gather corn kernels |
| alee | on or toward the lee |
| alegar | vinegar made by turning ale sour |
| alembicated | over-refined |
| alepine | mixed wool and silk or mohair and cotton fabric |
| alethiology | study of truth |
| aleuromancy | divination using flour or meal |
| alexia | inability to read |
| alexipharmic | antidote |
| alfet | cauldron of boiling water used during trials by ordeal |
| alforge | wallet or leather bag |
| algedonics | science of pleasure and pain |
| algefacient | cooling |
| algetic | causing or producing pain |
| algicide | killer of algae |
| algid | cold; chilly |
| alginuresis | painful urination |
| algolagnia | sexual pleasure derived from inflicting pain |
| algology | study of algae |
| algophobia | fear of pain |
| algor | coldness; shivering fit |
| algraphy | art of printing from aluminum plates |
| alible | nourishing |
| alidade | revolving index on astrolabe or other instrument for reading gradations |
| aliform | wing-shaped |
| aligerous | winged |
| aliped | having wings on the feet |
| aliphatic | of, like or pertaining to fat or fats in general |
| aliquant | number dividing into another with a remainder |
| aliquot | number dividing into another without leaving a remainder |
| aliter | requiring a different law or rule to be applied |
| alk | sap or resin from turpentine trees |
| alkalimeter | instrument for measuring strength of alkalines |
| alkanet | reddish plant-based dye |
| allantiasis | food poisoning resulting from inadequate preservation |
| allantoid | shaped like a sausage |
| allative | indicating movement towards |
| allemain | enormous pudding out of which acrobats leap |
| allemande | courtly baroque dance in which the arms are interlaced |
| alliaceous | of, like or pertaining to garlic; garlicky |
| allicient | attracting something else |
| allision | intentional collision of two ships |
| allocatur | amount allowed for costs |
| allochthonous | formed or produced elsewhere or externally |
| allodic | not subject to a superior |
| allogamy | cross-fertilization |
| allogeneous | different |
| allography | writing another individual's signature |
| allolalia | speech disorder featuring randomly spoken words |
| allonge | paper attached to commercial bill requiring signatures |
| allonym | other person's name used by an author |
| allotheism | belief in or worship of strange gods |
| allotriophagy | craving for strange foods |
| allotropy | of an element, having more than one form |
| alluvion | effect of water impacting on shoreline |
| almacantar | circle of altitude, parallel to the horizon |
| almagest | textbook or handbook, especially dealing with astronomy |
| almandine | violet-coloured garnet |
| almoner | giver of alms; social worker in a hospital |
| almuce | cloth or fur hood |
| alnager | inspector of cloth |
| alogism | illogical statement |
| alomancy | divination using salt |
| alopecia | baldness; hair loss |
| alopecoid | of or resembling a fox |
| alow | below |
| alpaca | fine wool made from alpaca hair |
| alpenglow | reddish glow appearing at sunrise or sunset in mountains |
| alpenstocker | mountain climber |
| alpestrine | of, like or pertaining to alpine regions |
| alphenic | sugary candy used in medicine |
| alphitomancy | divination using loaves of barley |
| alphonsin | instrument used to extract bullets from bodies |
| alt | high musical tone |
| altarage | payment to priest for mass; offerings at altar |
| alterity | state of being different |
| alternatim | alternately |
| altiloquence | pompous or high speech |
| altisonant | high-sounding |
| altitonant | thundering on high or loudly |
| altricial | having young requiring care for a lengthy period |
| aludel | pear-shaped pot used in sublimation |
| aluminiferous | bearing aluminum |
| alveary | beehive; area of the ear where wax collects; word-list |
| alveolate | of or like a honeycomb |
| alveromancy | divination using sounds |
| alviducous | purgative |
| alvine | of the belly |
| ama | a Japanese pearl-diver |
| amadelphous | outgoing; gregarious |
| amain | to a high degree; exceedingly; at full speed |
| amanous | lacking hands |
| amanuensis | one employed to write from dictation |
| amaranth | imaginary flower reputed never to fade |
| amaranthine | immortal; undying; deep purple-red colour |
| amasesis | inability to chew |
| amasthenic | focusing light rays to a single point |
| amathophobia | fear of dust |
| amaxophobia | fear of riding in a car |
| ambages | windings; roundabout ways; delays |
| ambeer | juice from chewing tobacco |
| ambisinistrous | awkward in the use of both hands |
| ambit | circuit; scope; compass; confines |
| ambo | early Christian raised reading desk or pulpit |
| ambry | recess for church vessels; cupboard or niche |
| ambsace | bad luck; a low score |
| ambulatory | aisle down the east end of a church |
| ambulomancy | divination by taking a walk |
| ambulophobia | fear of walking |
| ambustion | burn or scald |
| amende | fine or reparation paid |
| ament | a person who fails to develop mentally |
| amerce | to fine; to deprive; to punish |
| ametropia | abnormal optical refraction |
| amice | strip of fine linen worn as cloak or wrap by priest at mass |
| amicicide | murder of a friend |
| amidships | midway between the bow and stern of a ship |
| ammeter | instrument for measuring electrical current |
| ammophilous | sand-loving; preferring to dwell in sand |
| amnicolist | one who lives near a river |
| amniomancy | divination by examining afterbirth |
| amorce | percussion cap for a toy pistol |
| amoret | love sonnet or song |
| amoretto | a cherub or spirit of love |
| ampelidious | of, like or pertaining to vines |
| ampelography | scientific description of the vine |
| ampere | unit for measuring amount of electrical current |
| amphibiolith | fossilized amphibian |
| amphibolic | able to turn both backwards and forwards; double-jointed |
| amphibology | ambiguity in language; dual grammatical meaning |
| amphigean | occurring in both hemispheres of the brain or body |
| amphigory | a nonsense verse |
| amphimixis | interbreeding; intermixing of two individuals' genetic matter |
| amphipneust | animal with both lungs and gills |
| amphisbaena | mythical two-headed serpent or lizard |
| amphiscian | of, like or pertaining to torrid regions |
| amplexus | rutting of frogs and toads |
| ampliative | supplemental; additional |
| amplivagant | stretching far; having a great scope |
| ampulla | vessel for holy oil or wine for coronations or rituals |
| amrita | Hindu ambrosia bestowing immortality |
| amygdaloid | almond-shaped; of, like or pertaining to tonsils |
| amyloid | containing or pertaining to starch; starchy |
| amyous | lacking muscle |
| an | if |
| ana | in equal quantities |
| anabasis | journey leading upwards; first phase of an illness |
| anabiosis | return to life after apparent death |
| anacampserote | something which can bring back a lost love |
| anacamptic | reflecting or reflected light; sound or water |
| anacardic | of, like or pertaining to cashews |
| anacathartic | causing vomiting or expectoration |
| anachoric | foreign or geographically absurd relating to a country |
| anaclastic | refractive; of, like or pertaining to refraction |
| anaclitic | dependent on other phenomenon or ability |
| anacoluthon | moving to new topic of discussion before finishing current one |
| anacrisis | interrogation accompanied by torture |
| anacrusis | syllable prior to the normal rhythm of a verse |
| anacusic | completely deaf |
| anadem | wreath, fillet or band |
| anadiplosis | repeating last word of clause at beginning of next clause |
| anadromous | fish which ascend rivers to spawn |
| anaerectic | destructive |
| anaesthesiology | study of anaesthetics |
| anagalactic | coming from or existing beyond our own galaxy |
| anaglyph | ornament in low relief |
| anaglyptics | art of carving in bas-relief |
| anaglyptography | art of engraving so as to give the subject an embossed appearance |
| anagnorisis | recognition leading to denouement of a play |
| anagogy | mystical interpretation |
| anagraphy | art of constructing catalogues |
| analects | crumbs that fall from the table |
| analemma | sundial |
| analgia | inability to feel pain |
| anamnesis | reminiscence; prayer recalling death and resurrection of Jesus |
| anamorphic | changing to a more complex form |
| anandrious | impotent |
| ananym | name written backward; often used as synonym |
| anapeiratic | caused by excessive use |
| anapest | two short metrical syllables followed by one long one |
| anaphalantiasis | falling out of the eyebrows |
| anaphia | loss of sense of touch |
| anaphora | repetition of a word at beginning of successive phrases for emphasis |
| anapnea | recovery of one's breath; restoration of breath |
| anastasic | convalescent |
| anastrophe | reversing or inverting word order as rhetorical device |
| anatine | of, like or pertaining to ducks |
| anatocism | compound interest |
| anatreptic | overcoming; overturning |
| anaudia | loss of voice |
| anbury | soft fleshy tumour in horses |
| anchorite | one withdrawn from the world for religious reasons |
| ancillary | auxiliary; secondary |
| ancipitous | two-edged and flattened |
| ancistroid | hook-shaped |
| ancon | elbow |
| anconoid | of, like or pertaining to the elbow |
| ancoral | of, shaped like or resembling an anchor |
| ancress | female religious recluse |
| andiron | iron bar used to support the end of a log in a fire |
| andragogy | science of teaching adults |
| androcracy | government by men |
| androlepsia | governmental kidnapping for political purposes |
| andromania | nymphomania |
| androphagy | cannibalism |
| aneabil | single; unmarried |
| anele | to administer extreme unction to |
| anemocracy | government by the wind or by whim |
| anemograph | instrument for measuring pressure and velocity of wind |
| anemography | treatise on the winds |
| anemology | study of winds |
| anemometer | instrument for measuring wind velocity |
| anemophilous | pollinated by wind |
| anencephalic | lacking a brain |
| anent | about; concerning |
| anergia | failure of immune system; loss of energy |
| anesis | tuning to a lower musical pitch |
| aneuria | lack of nervous energy |
| anfractuous | full of windings and intricate turnings |
| angary | the right of a belligerent to seize neutral property |
| angelocracy | government by angels |
| angelolatry | worship of or belief in angels |
| angelology | study of angels |
| angelus | prayer said in morning, at noon and at sunset |
| angiogenesis | production of blood vessels |
| angiology | study of blood flow and lymphatic system |
| anglomania | craze or obsession with England and the English |
| anglophilia | love or fondness for England or the English |
| anglophobia | fear of England or the English |
| angora | silk-like fabric made from wool of angora goats |
| angstrom | unit of one ten-billionth of a meter |
| anguiform | shaped like a snake |
| anguilliform | shaped like an eel |
| anguine | of, like or pertaining to snakes |
| anguine | of, like or pertaining to snakes |
| anhedonia | an unresponsiveness to pleasure |
| anhelation | shortness of breath |
| anhidrosis | absence of perspiration |
| aniconic | symbolizing without aiming at resemblance |
| anicular | like an old woman |
| anile | imbecilic; senile; like a very old woman |
| animadvert | to comment critically on; to censure |
| animastic | spiritual; animate |
| animism | attribution of soul to inanimate objects |
| anion | positively charged ion |
| anisothenic | being of unequal strength |
| anker | liquid measure of 8 1/2 gallons |
| ankus | spiked elephant goad |
| ankyroid | hook-shaped |
| anlace | short two-edged dagger |
| anneal | to heat and cool metal gradually to temper |
| annectent | having intermediate features between two taxa |
| annihilationism | doctrine that the wicked are utterly destroyed after death |
| annodated | shaped like the letter S |
| annomination | pun; play on words |
| annuent | nodding or moving of the head |
| annulet | small ring around a classical column |
| annulose | ringed; composed of rings |
| anocathartic | emetic; causing vomiting or expectoration |
| anodontia | toothlessness |
| anodyne | something that relieves pain or suffering |
| anoesis | sensation not accompanied by understanding of it |
| anogenic | formed from below or beneath |
| anomia | inability to remember names |
| anomic | in a state lacking social order and norms |
| anomie | condition of lacking accepted social values or standards |
| anomphalous | without a navel |
| anon | at once; immediately |
| anonym | person whose name is not given; pseudonym |
| anopheline | of, like or pertaining to malarial mosquitoes |
| anopisthographic | bearing writing or inscription only on one side |
| anopsia | blindness |
| anorchous | lacking testicles |
| anosmia | lack or loss of sense of smell |
| anotic | lacking ears |
| ansate | having a handle or hand-like shape |
| anserine | of, like or pertaining to geese |
| anta | pier produced by thickening wall at one end |
| antalgic | alleviating or relieving pain |
| antanaclasis | repetition of key word of phrase as a play on words |
| antapology | response to an apology |
| antarchy | opposition to government; anarchy |
| anteambulo | usher |
| antechapel | anteroom to a chapel or church |
| antejentacular | before breakfast |
| anteloquy | a preface |
| antelucan | before dawn or daylight |
| antemundane | before one's own birth; before the creation of the world |
| antenniferous | bearing antennae |
| antepast | foretaste |
| antependium | covering or cloth over pulpit or altar |
| antephialtic | preventing nightmares |
| antepone | to put before; to prefer |
| anteprandial | before dinner |
| antevenient | preceding |
| anthelion | luminous ring seen on a cloud opposite the sun |
| anthelminthic | destroying or expelling worms |
| anthesis | full bloom |
| anthomancy | divination using flowers |
| anthomania | obsession with flowers |
| anthophilous | loving or frequenting flowers |
| anthorism | counter-definition |
| anthracomancy | divination using burning coals |
| anthrophobia | fear of humans |
| anthropobiology | study of human biology |
| anthropogenesis | origin of human beings |
| anthropoglot | animal with human tongue; animal capable of speech |
| anthropolatry | worship of human beings |
| anthropolith | fossilized human skeleton |
| anthropomancy | divination using human entrails |
| anthropopathy | ascription of human feelings to inanimate object |
| anthropophaginian | cannibal |
| anthropophagous | eating humans |
| anthroposophy | knowledge of the nature of humanity; human wisdom |
| anthropotheism | belief that gods are only deified men |
| antibasilican | opposed to monarchic principle |
| antiblastic | providing natural immunity against harmful substances |
| antibromic | eliminating offensive odours |
| antichresis | enjoyment of mortgaged property in lieu of interest payments |
| antichthon | hypothetical second Earth on the opposite side of the sun |
| anticryptic | camouflaged; having protective resemblance to environment |
| antidisestablishmentarianism | doctrine opposed to removing Church of England's official religion status |
| antigalactic | preventing the secretion of milk |
| antigropelos | waterproof leggings |
| antilapsarianism | denial of doctrine of the fall of humanity |
| antilegomena | books of the New Testament not part of early Christian Bible |
| antilogarithm | number of which a given number is the logarithm |
| antilogism | statement of three propositions containing contradiction |
| antilogy | contradiction |
| antimnemonic | damaging the memory; eliminating memories |
| antimony | brittle, bluish-white metallic element |
| antinomianism | doctrine of the rejection of moral law |
| antinomy | contradiction between two logical conclusions |
| antipedobaptism | denial of validity of infant baptism |
| antiperistasis | opposition or resistance |
| antiphon | anthem sung as a response during church service |
| antiphrasis | use of words in a sense opposite to literal |
| antipudic | concealing private parts of the body |
| antiscian | dweller on the exact opposite side of the world |
| antistrophe | repetition of words in reverse order |
| antithalian | opposed to mirth or fun |
| antithesis | contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangement of words or clauses |
| antitypy | resistance to being penetrated |
| antonomasia | use of descriptive phrase or epithet instead of proper name |
| antre | cave |
| antrorse | turned upward and forward |
| anuptaphobia | fear of staying single |
| anuresis | inability to urinate |
| anurous | tailless |
| anzactile | army biscuit |
| aorist | expressing simple past time with no continuance |
| apaesthesia | numbness or loss of sensation in a limb |
| apagoge | proof by showing the falsehood of the opposite |
| apanage | privilege of office; especially one given to younger offspring |
| apantomancy | divination using objects at hand |
| apatetic | of an animal's coloration or markings |
| apay | to satisfy |
| apercu | brief outline; glimpse; intuitive insight |
| aperient | laxative |
| aphagia | inability to eat or swallow |
| aphemia | loss of ability to produce articulate speech |
| apheresis | taking away a sound or syllable at the beginning of a word |
| aphesis | loss of initial unaccented vowel from beginning of a word |
| aphicide | killer of aphids |
| aphidicide | killer of aphids |
| aphnology | science of wealth |
| aphologistic | flameless |
| aphotic | lightless |
| aphrasia | inability to speak |
| aphrodisiomania | abnormal sexual interest |
| aphthong | silent letter |
| apian | of, like or pertaining to bees |
| apiarian | of, like or pertaining to bees or beekeeping |
| apical | of or at the apex |
| apiculture | beekeeping |
| apiology | study of bees |
| apistia | faithlessness in marriage |
| apivorous | eating bees |
| aplanatic | a lens free of spherical aberration |
| apocalypticism | doctrine of the imminent end of the world |
| apocarteresis | suicide by starvation |
| apocatastasis | final restitution of all things at the appearance of the Messiah |
| apocatastisis | reversion or restoration to original position |
| apocope | cutting off the last sound of a word |
| apocrisiary | papal secretary |
| apodal | lacking feet |
| apodictic | necessarily true beyond contradiction |
| apodosis | main clause in a conditional sentence |
| apodysophilia | feverish desire to undress |
| apograph | exact copy; facsimile |
| apolaustic | dedicated to the search for enjoyment |
| apologetics | defense and proof of Christianity or other doctrine |
| aponia | painlessness |
| apopemptic | valedictory |
| apophasis | saying something by stating that you will not mention it |
| apophoret | a gift given to celebrate a new year |
| apophthegm | brief saying; proverb; epigram |
| aporia | professed but false doubt of what to say or choose |
| aposiopesis | suddenly stopping in the middle of a speech for emphasis |
| apositia | dislike of or distaste for food |
| apostasy | renunciation of former beliefs |
| apostil | marginal note |
| apostrophe | addressing of a personified thing rhetorically |
| apotelesm | casting of a horoscope |
| apothegm | a short, instructive saying or formula |
| apotheosis | elevation to divine status; a perfect example |
| apotropaic | designed to turn away evil |
| apparitor | officer in court who attends to execute orders; harbinger |
| appendant | attached to; hanging from; adjunct |
| apperception | mind's perception of itself as a conscious agent |
| appersonation | irrational belief that one is another person |
| appetence | strong craving or powerful desire |
| applanate | flat; flattened; compressed |
| apport | to transport objects without material agency |
| appose | to place in juxtaposition or proximity |
| apposite | appropriate |
| approbation | approval; consent |
| apprompt | to borrow |
| appropinquity | nearness |
| appui | to support militarily |
| appulse | a striking against something |
| appurtenance | a subordinate or adjunct part of |
| apricate | to bask in the sun |
| aprique | sunny |
| apse | rounded extension of church or other building |
| apselophesia | loss of sense of touch |
| apsidal | shaped like an apse |
| apterygial | wingless; finless |
| aptotic | uninflected; indeclinable |
| aptronym | name that suits its owner |
| apyrexy | period of intermission in a fever |
| aquamanile | ewer in the form of a human or animal figure for ceremonial handwashing |
| aquaphobia | fear of water |
| aquarelle | watercolour painting |
| aquifer | a rock formation containing water |
| aquiform | watery; liquid |
| aquiline | of, like or pertaining to eagles; hooked like an eagle's beak |
| araba | wheeled Middle Eastern carriage |
| arachibutyrophobia | fear of peanut butter sticking to roof of mouth |
| arachnivorous | feeding on spiders |
| arachnology | study of spiders |
| arachnophobia | fear of spiders |
| araneidan | of, like or pertaining to spiders |
| araneiform | shaped like a spider |
| araneous | transparent; delicate; like a spider's web |
| araphorostic | seamless |
| aration | ploughing |
| arbalest | type of crossbow |
| arborescent | branched; branching; tree-shaped |
| arboricolous | growing on or living in trees |
| arboriform | shaped like a tree |
| arbrolatry | worship of start |
| arbuscle | dwarf or shrub-like tree |
| arbustum | orchard; copse of trees |
| arcanna | red chalk used to mark trees |
| arcate | bow-shaped |
| archaeolatry | worship of archaic things or old customs |
| archelogy | the study of first principles |
| archet | violin box |
| archididascalian | of, like or pertaining to headmasters |
| archididascalos | school principal |
| archimandrite | head of a monastery or convent |
| archimime | chief buffoon or mimic |
| architectonics | of, like or pertaining to the arrangement of knowledge |
| architrave | parts surrounding a door or window, especially the top |
| archology | science of the origins of government |
| arciform | shaped like a bow |
| arctician | one skilled in navigating arctic regions |
| arctogaeal | of the arctic regions of the earth |
| arctoid | bear-like |
| arctophile | collector of teddy bears |
| arctophily | study of teddy bears |
| arcuate | arched; bow-shaped |
| ard | plough used to scratch top surface of soil |
| ardass | fine silk |
| arefy | to dry up; to wither |
| arenaceous | like, growing in or consisting of sand |
| arenoid | sandy; like sand |
| areology | study of Mars |
| areometer | instrument used for measuring specific gravity |
| areopagitic | of, like or pertaining to tribunals or courts |
| aret | to assign or allot |
| aretaics | the science of virtue |
| arete | sharp mountain ridge |
| argand | gas or oil lamp |
| argent | the heraldic colour silver or white |
| argentiferous | bearing silver |
| argentocracy | government by money |
| argil | clay used in making pottery |
| argillaceous | clayey; of or resembling clay |
| argol | crust formed on wine kept too long or improperly |
| argol | dried cow dung used as fuel |
| argosy | a large merchant ship; a rich supply |
| arguria | silver poisoning |
| argute | shrill; keen; shrewd |
| argyll | silver gravy dish |
| arietine | of, like or pertaining to rams |
| arietinous | shaped like a ram's head |
| aright | right; correctly |
| ariolation | divination in general |
| aristarch | a severe critic |
| aristarchy | government by the best |
| aristology | the science or art of dining |
| arithmancy | divination using numbers |
| arithmocracy | government by simple majority |
| arithmogram | number composed of numerical values of letters in a word |
| arithmomania | obsessive preoccupation with numbers |
| armamentarium | collective equipment available to a doctor |
| armigerous | entitled to bear arms |
| armillary | like or composed of rings |
| armipotent | having strong weapons; militarily potent |
| armisonant | resounding with noises of battle or weapons |
| armomancy | divination by examining one's shoulders |
| armure | twilled woollen or silk fabric |
| aroint | begone |
| arpent | unit of land area slightly smaller than an acre |
| arpenteur | land surveyor |
| arrant | downright; unmitigated |
| arras | tapestry covering a wall |
| arrasene | embroidery fabric of wool and silk |
| arrect | attentive; erect; raised up |
| arrendator | one who rents or farms at a yearly rent |
| arreptitious | ecstatic; frantic; hasty or hurried |
| arrestant | substance causing an insect to stop moving |
| arrhizal | lacking roots |
| arris | sharp edge on stone; meeting of two surfaces |
| arrogate | to claim unduly as one's own; to ascribe |
| arrosive | gnawing; chewing; corroding |
| arthrology | study of joints |
| arthroscope | instrument for examining interior of a joint |
| arundiferous | bearing or producing reeds |
| arundinaceous | like or having the properties of a reed |
| arval | of, like or pertaining to ploughed land |
| ascesis | the practice of disciplining oneself; asceticism |
| asceticism | doctrine that self-denial of the body permits spiritual enlightenment |
| ascham | box for keeping bows and arrows dry |
| ascian | inhabitant of the equatorial zone |
| aseity | self-origination |
| ashlar | squared stone used in building walls |
| ashplant | walking stick |
| asinine | of, like or pertaining to asses; stupid |
| asitia | lack of appetite |
| askefise | one who blows on ashes to bring them to flame |
| asomatous | lacking a body; incorporeal |
| asonia | deafness to specific pitches of sound |
| asperge | to sprinkle |
| aspergilliform | shaped like a brush |
| aspergillum | vessel for sprinkling holy water |
| asperity | roughness of surface or sound |
| asperse | slander; disparage |
| aspersory | vessel for holding holy water |
| aspheterism | denial of the right to private property |
| aspidate | shield-shaped |
| aspidomancy | divination by sitting and chanting within a circle |
| asportation | to carry property away wrongfully |
| assart | to reclaim for agriculture by clearing away trees |
| assecuration | marine insurance |
| assentation | insincere or glib assent |
| asseveration | positive or earnest affirmation |
| assibilate | to pronounce with a hiss or sibilant |
| assiduity | persevering application to a pursuit |
| assizer | officer or judge in charge of weights and measures |
| assocative | indicating association with or accompaniment by |
| assoil | to absolve; to acquit |
| assot | to befool; to besot |
| assuefaction | habituation |
| assuetude | accustomedness; habit |
| assurgent | ascending; rising; curving upward |
| astacology | the science of crayfish |
| astatic | in equilibrium |
| asteism | refined irony |
| asterism | three asterisks used to direct attention to a passage |
| astern | at the stern of a ship |
| astheniology | study of diseases of weakening and aging |
| asthenopia | muscular weakening of the eyes |
| astichous | not in rows |
| astragal | small semicircular moulding; dice |
| astragalomancy | divination using dice or knucklebones |
| astraphobia | fear of being struck by lightning |
| astrapophobia | fear of thunder and lightning |
| astriction | binding obligation |
| astringe | to draw together; to tighten |
| astrionics | electronics as applied to space flight |
| astrobleme | scar on the earth's surface from meteorite impact |
| astrobolism | sun-stroke |
| astrogeology | study of extraterrestrial geology |
| astrognosy | knowledge of fixed stars |
| astrogony | theory of the origin of stars |
| astrolatry | worship of stars |
| astrologaster | a foolish or petty astrologer |
| astromancy | divination using stars |
| astrometeorology | study of effect of stars on climate |
| astronomical unit | unit of distance equal to the distance from the earth to the sun |
| astrophile | person interested in astronomy |
| astroseismology | study of star oscillations |
| astrut | protrudingly; distendedly |
| asynartetic | having two members with different rhythms |
| asyndeton | rhetorical device of omitting conjunctions |
| atactic | irregular |
| ataraxia | tranquility; freedom from anxiety; stoicism |
| atavism | reversion to early or ancestral type |
| ateknia | childlessness |
| atelier | artist's studio or workshop |
| ateliosis | imperfect development; developmental irregularity |
| athanasy | deathlessness |
| athanor | alchemist's self-feeding digesting furnace |
| atheling | Anglo-Saxon prince or nobleman |
| athenaeum | literary or scientific association |
| athermic | lacking heat |
| athetesis | rejection of a passage as spurious |
| athetosis | nervous twitching of digits and extremities |
| athwart | across; in opposition to; sideways; transversely |
| athymia | melancholy |
| atimy | loss of honour; disgrace |
| atlantes | male figures used as columns |
| atlas | rich satin fabric |
| atmatertera | great-grandfather's grandmother's sister |
| atmology | the science of aqueous vapour |
| atmometer | instrument for measuring evaporating capacity of air |
| atocia | female sterility |
| atokous | lacking offspring |
| atomism | belief that the universe consists of small indivisible particles |
| atony | muscular weakness |
| atpatruus | great-grandfather's grandfather's brother |
| atrabiliary | melancholy; hypochondriac |
| atrabilious | melancholy; splenetic; acrimonious |
| atrament | blacking; ink; black dye |
| atresia | absence or irregular closure of a passage in the body |
| atrichia | baldness |
| atrous | jet black |
| attainder | the loss of civil rights for high treason |
| attaint | disgrace; sully; infect; taint |
| attemper | to adapt or alter quality by adding to something |
| attenuate | make thin; reduce in value |
| atticism | expression characterized by conciseness and elegance |
| attingent | touching |
| attollent | lifting up; raising |
| attorn | to transfer to another |
| attrahent | attracting or drawing |
| attrist | to sadden |
| attrite | repentant through fear of punishment |
| attuition | operation between sensation and perception |
| aubade | musical announcement of dawn; sunrise song |
| aubergine | eggplant |
| aubin | horse's gait between an amble and a gallop |
| auceps | hawker or bird-tender |
| aucupate | to hunt birds; to pursue prey with vigilance |
| audile | person more attuned to sound than the other senses |
| audiology | study of hearing |
| audiometer | instrument for measuring acuity of hearing |
| audiophile | one who loves accurately reproduced recorded sound |
| augean | filthy; difficult |
| augend | number to which another number is added |
| aught | at all |
| aularian | of, like or pertaining to a hall in a university |
| aulete | flautist |
| aulic | courtly; ceremonious; genteel |
| auncel | crude balance for weighing |
| aurantiaceous | of, like or pertaining or pertaining to oranges or orange trees |
| aureity | property of being golden in colour or substance |
| aureole | radiant light around head or body of holy personage |
| auricomous | having golden or blond hair |
| auricular | of, like or pertaining to the ear; spoken secretly |
| auriferous | bearing gold |
| aurifex | goldsmith |
| auriform | shaped like an ear |
| aurigation | charioteering |
| aurilave | instrument for cleaning the ear |
| auriphrygia | gold embroidery |
| auriscope | instrument for examining the ear |
| aurochs | extinct wild ox |
| aurulent | gold-coloured |
| auscultation | listening to sounds arising within organs |
| auslaut | final sound of a word or syllable |
| austringer | keeper of goshawks |
| austromancy | divination using wind |
| autarchy | government by an absolute ruler |
| autarkic | self-sufficient; independent |
| autecology | study of ecology of one species |
| autocephality | ecclesiastical self-government |
| autocoprophagy | eating one's own feces |
| autocracy | government by one individual |
| auto-da-fe | burning of a heretic |
| autodidact | self-taught person |
| autogenesis | spontaneous generation |
| autognosis | knowledge of or about oneself |
| autolatry | self-worship |
| autology | scientific study of oneself |
| automorphism | ascription to others of one's own characteristics |
| automysophobia | fear of being dirty |
| autonym | a writer's real name; work published under writer's own name |
| autophagy | feeding on body's own tissues |
| autophanous | self-luminous |
| autophobia | fear of solitude |
| autoschediasm | anything extemporized |
| autosoterism | belief that one can obtain salvation through oneself |
| autotelic | being an end in itself |
| autothaumaturgist | person pretending to be mystical or mysterious |
| autotheism | belief that one is God incarnate or that one is Christ |
| autotropic | growing in a straight line |
| auxanometer | instrument for measuring growth of plants |
| auxesis | increase in size; hyperbole |
| auxology | science of growth |
| auxometer | instrument for measuring magnifying power |
| aval | of, like or pertaining to a grandparent |
| avalement | allowing knees to flex while skiing |
| avaunt | away; hence |
| avaunt | to boast |
| aveniform | shaped like oats |
| averruncate | to ward off; to uproot |
| averruncator | pole for pruning trees |
| avicide | killing of birds |
| avicular | of, like or pertaining to birds |
| avinosis | air sickness |
| avionics | the science of electronic devices for aircraft |
| avital | ancestral |
| avizandum | private consideration of a case by a judge |
| avolitional | involuntary |
| avulse | to pluck or tear away by force |
| avuncular | like an uncle; of, like or pertaining to uncles |
| awn | beard or similar bristly growth on stalk of grain |
| axilla | armpit |
| axiniform | shaped like an axe-head |
| axinomancy | divination using an axe or hatchet |
| axiology | the science of the ultimate nature of values |
| azimuth | arc of the horizon |
| azoth | alchemical name for mercury |
| azuline | blue |
| azure | light or sky blue; the heraldic colour blue |
| azymous | unleavened |
| babeldom | a confused sound of voices |
| baccate | having berries; berry-like |
| bacchanal | drunkard; reveller |
| bacciferous | bearing berries |
| bacciform | shaped like a berry |
| baccivorous | eating berries |
| bacillicide | killer of berries |
| backstay | stay extending from ship's mastheads to the side of the ship |
| bactericide | killer of bacteria |
| baculiform | rod-shaped |
| baculine | of, like or pertaining to the stick or cane; of, like or pertaining to flogging |
| baculum | penis bone in some mammals |
| baculus | rod, staff or scepter of power |
| badigeon | plaster and ground stone mixture for repairing masonry |
| badinage | playful repartee or banter |
| badious | chestnut-coloured |
| baedeker | guide book |
| baetyl | magical or holy meteoric stone |
| baft | cheap coarse cotton fabric |
| bagarre | scuffle or brawl |
| bagging | coarse fabric for making bags or sacks |
| bagnio | bathing house |
| bahadur | self-important official |
| bahuvrihi | compound word whose second part is a noun but that acts as an adjective |
| bail | barrier or pole separating horses in an open stable |
| bailivate | office of a bailiff |
| bailment | delivery of goods in trust |
| baisemain | kiss on the hand |
| baize | coarse napped cotton or wool fabric |
| bakelite | type of solid plastic |
| balaniferous | acorn-bearing |
| balanism | use of suppositories |
| balanoid | acorn-shaped |
| balatron | joker; clown |
| balbriggan | knitted cotton fabric |
| balbutient | stammering |
| baldachin | rich embroidered silk and gold fabric |
| baldaquin | covering or canopy over a throne or altar |
| baldric | shoulder strap for holding sword |
| balefire | bonfire or beacon-fire |
| balisaur | long-tailed badger |
| balistarius | crossbowman |
| balistraria | cross-shaped opening in wall for firing arrows |
| balize | pole mounted on seashore as beacon |
| ballaster | one who supplies ships with ballast |
| balletomania | abnormal fondness for ballet |
| ballistocardiograph | instrument for detecting body movements caused by heartbeat |
| ballistophobia | fear of missiles |
| ballottement | diagnosis of pregnancy by applying sharp force to abdomen |
| balmorality | superficial enthusiasm for Scottish culture |
| balneary | bath |
| balneology | the science of the therapeutic use of baths |
| balustrade | row of columns supporting a stair rail |
| balzarine | light cotton dress material |
| banausic | materialistic; merely mechanical; pertaining to workshops |
| bandelet | small flat moulding around a column |
| banderol | flat band with an inscription; small banner |
| bandobast | detailed organization; settlement |
| bandolier | shoulder belt for carrying ammunition |
| bangtail | mustang or wild horse |
| bannock | flat unleavened loaf of bread |
| banquette | raised way or footway above a parapet |
| bantling | brat; whelp; bastard child |
| baptistery | part of church reserved for performing baptisms |
| bar | unit of pressure of one million dynes per square centimeter |
| baragnosis | loss of ability to distinguish weight |
| baragouin | any jargon or unintelligible language |
| barathea | pebbly silk or worsted fabric with broken rib weave |
| barathrum | an abyss; an insatiable person |
| barbarocracy | government by barbarians |
| barbate | bearded |
| barbette | earthen terrace inside the parapet of a rampart |
| barbican | projecting watchtower over the gate of a castle |
| barbigerous | bearded; bearing a beard |
| barbula | small tuft of hair just below the lower lip |
| barcarole | gondolier's song |
| bardel | pack saddle |
| bardocucullus | hooded cloak worn by monks |
| bardolatry | excessive devotion to or worship of Shakespeare |
| barege | gauzy fabric of silk, cotton, wool, or worsted |
| bargemaster | owner of a barge |
| barkentine | three-masted vessel |
| barleycorn | old unit of length equal to one-third inch |
| barm | yeast; froth on fermenting liquor |
| barmaster | local judge among miners |
| barmcloth | an apron |
| barmkin | battlement or turret on the outer wall of a castle |
| barn | unit of area measurement of particles equal to 100 square femtometres |
| barnard | member of gang of thieves who acts as decoy |
| barodynamics | science of the support and mechanics of bridges |
| barognosis | ability to perceive weight |
| barograph | instrument for recording air pressure |
| barology | study of gravitation |
| baroscope | weather-glass |
| barouche | four-wheeled hooded carriage |
| barracan | fine silk cloth |
| barracoon | depot for slaves |
| barras | coarse linen fabric |
| barrateen | some kind of fabric |
| barratry | inciting riot or violence |
| barre | placing capo or finger across guitar strings |
| barrulet | narrow heraldic bar |
| bartisan | parapet or battlement |
| barton | farmyard |
| baryecoia | deafness; hardness of hearing |
| baryphonic | having difficulty speaking |
| bascule | apparatus of which one end rises as the other sinks |
| basial | of, like or pertaining to kissing |
| basiation | kissing |
| basilica | Roman Catholic church given special privileges |
| basilicon | kind of ointment |
| bassinet | light, conical helmet |
| bastinade | to beat with a stick or baton, especially on the feet |
| bastion | tower at the corner of a fortification |
| bastle | fortified house with vaulted ground floor |
| bathmism | directive evolutionary force |
| batholith | large mass of intruded igneous rock |
| bathophobia | fear of falling from a high place |
| bathos | appearance of the commonplace in elevated matter |
| bathykolpian | deep-bosomed |
| bathymeter | instrument for recording contours of deep oceans |
| bathyorographical | of, like or pertaining to depth underwater or elevation above sea level |
| bathypelagic | found in the depths of the sea |
| bathysmal | of, like or pertaining to the depths of the ocean |
| bathythermograph | instrument for recording water temperature as compared to depth |
| batik | method of dyeing fabric by covering certain sections with wax |
| batiste | fine soft sheer fabric of plain weave |
| batology | the study of brambles |
| batophobia | fear of heights or being close to tall buildings |
| batrachian | of, like or pertaining to frogs or toads |
| batrachivorous | frog-eating |
| batrachophobia | fear of frogs and toads |
| batraquomancy | divination using frogs |
| batten | timber used to fasten down a door or hatch |
| battledore | bat used to strike shuttlecock; game played with such a bat |
| battology | futile, futile repetition in speech or writing |
| battue | indiscriminate slaughter; driving game towards slaughter |
| baud | unit of data transmission speed of one signal event per second |
| bausond | having white spots on the forehead |
| bavardage | chattering; prattle |
| bavian | insignificant or unskilled poet |
| bavin | a bundle of brushwood |
| bayadere | fabric with horizontal stripes in strongly contrasting colours |
| bdellism | use of leeches for blood-letting |
| bdelloid | of, like or pertaining to leeches |
| bdellotomy | act of cutting a leech to increase its suction |
| beadle | church caretaker or usher |
| beadle | mace-bearing official of an institution |
| beadsman | monk or almoner who prays for benefactor |
| beata | beatified woman |
| Beatlemania | obsession with the Beatles |
| beatster | fish net repairer |
| beatus | beatified man |
| beaupers | linen fabric used for flags |
| beaver | hinged face guard on a helmet |
| beblubbered | disfigured from weeping |
| bechic | relieving coughs |
| becket | large hook or bracket used to hold tackle or spars |
| beckets | rope handles |
| bedaggle | to soil by dragging along the wet ground |
| bedswerver | unfaithful spouse |
| bee | hardwood on either side of bowsprit through which forestays are reeved |
| beele | double-pointed miner's pick |
| beerocracy | government by brewers or brewing interests |
| beeskep | straw beehive |
| beestings | the first milk drawn from a cow after calving |
| beforetime | formerly |
| behoof | a benefit resulting from some course of action |
| bel | unit of noise intensity equal to ten decibels |
| belay | to secure a rope by winding on a pin or cleat |
| belcher | coloured; spotted neckerchief |
| beldam | an old woman; a hag; an ancestress |
| belemnoid | shaped like a dart |
| belike | most likely; probably |
| bellarmine | large jug with rounded belly and narrow neck |
| bellcote | ornamental structure to hold one or two large bells |
| bellecism | inclination towards violence; hawkishness |
| belleter | bell-founder |
| belliferous | bringing war |
| belling | deer's mating call |
| bellipotent | militarily powerful |
| bellonion | mechanical instrument combining trumpets and drums |
| bellwether | one who takes the lead; indicator of trends |
| beloid | |