| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Burgeon | to grow rapidly or flourish |
| Caustic | causing corrosion; burning or stinging |
| Chary | wary; cautious; sparing |
| Cogent | appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing |
| Contentious | argumentative; causing controversy or disagreement; quarrelsome |
| Contrite | regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness |
| Demur | to question or oppose |
| Eclectic | composed of elements from various sources |
| Emollient | soothing to the skin |
| Ephemeral | brief; fleeting |
| Esoteric | intended for or understood by a small, specific group |
| Furtive | marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious |
| Impecunious | lacking funds; w/o money |
| Incipient | beginning to come into being or to become apparent |
| Inveigle | to obtain by deception or flattery |
| Pernicious | extremely harmful; potentially causing death |
| Putrefy | to rot; to decay and give off a foul odor |
| Quiescence | stillness; motionless; quality of being at rest |
| Torpid | lethargic; sluggish; dormant |
| Acquiesce | to give in or permission |
| Glut | excessive in supply |
| Foible | minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect; weaker part of a sword or blade |
| Salve | to soothe or heal; an analgesic or medicinal ointment |
| Fester | to generate pus; to grow worse or hostile |
| Egalitarian | affirming; characterized by belief in the equality of all people esp. in political, economic, social, and civil aspects |
| Abate | to lessen in intensity or degree |
| Accolade | an expression of praise |
| Adulation | excessive praise; intense adoration |
| Aesthetic | dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art of the beautiful |
| Ameliorate | to make better or more tolerable |
| Ascetic | one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as an act of religious devotion |
| Avarice | greed, esp. for wealth |
| Axiom | a universally recognized principle |
| Bucolic | rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants |
| Cacophony | harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance |
| Canon | an estab. set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature |
| Castigation | severe criticism or punishment |
| Catalyst | a person or thing that causes change |
| Complaisance | the willingness to comply with the wishes of others |
| Culpable | deserving blame |
| Dearth | smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; a lack |
| Didactic | intended to teach or instruct |
| Discretion | cautious reserve in speech; ability to make responsible decisions |
| Disinterested | free of bias or self-interest; impartial |
| Dogmatic | expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or unprovable principles |
| Ebullience | the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings |
| Elegy | a mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead |
| Empirical | based on observation or experiment |
| Enigmatic | mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand |
| Eulogy | a speech honoring the dead |
| Exonerate | to remove blame |
| Facetious | playful; humorous |
| Fallacy | an invalid or incorrect notion; a mistaken belief |
| Gregarious | sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people |
| Harangue | to deliver a pompous speech or tirade; a long pompous speech |
| Heretical | violating accepted dogma or convention |
| Hyperbole | an exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech |
| Inert | unmoving; lethargic; sluggish |
| Innocuous | harmless; causing no damage |
| Intransigent | refusing to compromise |
| Morose | sad; sullen; melancholy |
| Odious | evoking intense aversion or dislike |
| Opaque | impenetrable by light; not reflecting light |
| Oscillation | the act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm |
| Penurious | penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous |
| Peruse | to examine with great care |
| Pious | extremely reverent or devout; showing strong religious devotion |
| Precursor | one that precedes and indicate or announces another |
| Preen | to dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care |
| Prodigious | abundant in size, force or extent; extraordinary |
| Prolific | producing large volumes or amounts; productive |
| Quaff | to drink deeply |
| Redoubtable | awe-inspiring; worthy of honor |
| Sanction | authoritative permission or approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority to |
| Satire | a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision |
| Squalid | sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect |
| Stoic | indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast |
| Supplant | to take the place of; supercede |
| Ubiquitous | existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; widespread |
| Urbane | sophisticated; refined; elegant |
| Vilify | to defame; to characterize harshly |
| Viscous | thick; sticky |
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