| Term | Definition |
|---|
| astral | adj. of or from the stars |
| astringent | n. substance, used medically or in cosmetics, that makes skin or body tissue contract and so stops bleeding |
| astronomical | inconceivably large |
| astute | adj. clever and quick at seeing how to gain an advantage; shrewd |
| asunder | adv. into pieces; apart |
| asylum | n. safety; refuge |
| asymmetric | adj. not having parts that correspond to each other in size, shape, etc; lacking symmetry |
| atavism | n. reappearance in a person of a characteristic or quality that has not been seen in his family for many generations |
| atheistic | adj. rejecting any belief in god |
| atone | v. ~ (fml ) act in a way that compensates for a previous wrong, error, etc |
| atrocity | n. great wickedness or cruelty |
| atrophy | n. wasting away of the body or part of it through lack of nourishment or use |
| attentive | adj. ~ giving attention (to sb/sth); alert and watchful |
| attenuate | v. make (sth/sb) thin or slender; weaken; reduce in value; enervate |
| attest | v. ~ (to) sth be or give clear proof of sth |
| attire | n. clothes; dress |
| attribute | v. ~ sth to sb/sth regard sth as belonging to, caused by or produced by sb/sth |
| attrition | n. process of gradually weakening sb's strength and confidence by continuous harassment |
| atypical | adj. not representative or characteristic of its type; not typical |
| audacious | adj. showing a willingness to take risks; daring; fearless |
| audit | n. official examination of accounts to see that they are in order |
| augment | v. make (sth) larger in number or size; increase |
| augury | omen; prophecy; an event that is experienced as indicating important things to come; a sign of something coming up. |
| august | majestic, venerable |
| aureole | sun's corona; halo |
| auroral | [ aurora: ] an atmospheric phenomenon consisting of bands, curtains, or streamers of light, usually green, red, or yellow, that move across the sky in polar regions. |
| auspicious | adj. showing signs of future success; favourable; promising |
| austere | adj. severely and strictly moral; having no pleasures or comforts |
| austerity | n. quality of being austere |
| authenticate | to verify. prove genuine |
| authoritarian | characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule |
| authoritative | having the weight of authority; regarded as providing knowledge that can be trusted; reliable; peremptory and dictatorial |
| autocrat | n. ruler of an autocracy |
| autocratic | adj. offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power |
| automaton | n. = robot, someone who acts or responds in a mechanical or apathetic way |
| autonomous | adj. self-governing; acting independently |
| autopsy | n. examination of a dead body to learn the cause of death; post-mortem () |
| auxiliary | adj. giving help or support; additional |
| avalanche | n. mass of snow, ice and rock that slides rapidly down the side of a mountain |
| avarice | n. greed for wealth or gain |
| avenge | v. take or get revenge for |
| aver | v. (fml ) state (sth) firmly and positively; assert ; |
| averse | adj. ~ to sth not liking sth; opposed to sth, reluctant; disinclined; not liking |
| aversion | n. ~ strong dislike |
| avert | v. ~ turn away; prevent occurrence of |
| aviary | n. large cage or building for keeping birds in, eg in a zoo , |
| avid | adj. ~ eager; greedy |
| avocation | secondary or minor occupation |
| avow | v. declare (sth) openly; admit |
| avuncular | adj. of or like an uncle, esp in manner |
| awe | n. feeling of respect combined with fear or wonder |
| awful | adj. extremely bad or unpleasant; terrible |
| awl | n. small pointed tool for making holes, esp in leather or wood |
| awry | adv. crookedly; out of position; askew ; |
| axiom | n. statement that is accepted as true without further proof or argument |
| azure | n. , adj bright blue, as of the sky |
| babble | v. talk in a way that is difficult or impossible to understand |
| bacchanal | n. (dated or fml ) bout of noisy, drunken merrymaking . bacchana-lian adj |
| backslide | v. lapse from good ways into one's former bad ways of living; revert |
| badger | v. Pester. n. animal of the weasel family, grey with black and white stripes on its head, living in holes in the ground and moving about at night . |
| badinage | playful repartee , banter |
| baffle | v. be too difficult for to understand; puzzle |
| bait | n. food or imitation food put on a hook to catch fish or placed in nets, traps, etc to attract prey |
| baleful | adj. threatening evil or harm; menacing |
| balk | stop short, recoil, thwart |
| ballast | n. heavy material placed in a ship's hold to keep it steady |
| balm | n. sweet-smelling oil or ointment obtained from certain types of tree, used for soothing pain or for healing , |
| balmy | adj. (of air) gentle and pleasantly warm |
| banal | adj. commonplace; uninteresting |
| bandy | discuss glibly; exchange words heatedly |
| bane | n. the bane of sb's existence/life cause of sb's ruin or trouble |
| bank | n. land sloping up along each side of a river or canal; ground near a river |
| bantering | Adj. good-natured ridiculing e.g. bantering tone |
| bar | n. piece of solid material |
| barb | n. point of an arrow, a fish-hook, etc curved backwards to make it difficult to pull out . |
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