| Term | Definition |
|---|
| abate | lessen in intensity or degree |
| accolade | an expression of praise |
| adulation | excessive praise |
| aesthetic | dealing with art or the beautiful |
| axiom | universally recognized principle |
| burgeon | to grow rapidly or flourish |
| avarice | greed |
| ascetic | rigid self-denial |
| bucolic | rustic and pastoral |
| cacophony | harsh, jarring, discordant sound |
| canon | established set of principles or code of laws |
| castigation | severe criticism or punishment |
| caustic | burning or stinging; causing corrosion |
| chary | wary, cautious |
| cogent | appealing forcibly to the mind of reason, convincing |
| complaisance | the willingness to comply with the wishes of others |
| contrite | regretful |
| culpable | deserving blame |
| dearth | smallness of quantity or number |
| demur | to question or oppose |
| didactic | intended to teach or instruct |
| discretion | cautious reserve in speech, ability to make responsible decisions |
| disinterested | free of bias or self-interest |
| dogmatic | expressing rigid opinion based on unproved or improvable principles |
| ebullience | lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings |
| elegy | a mournful poem |
| emollient | soothing, esp to the skin; making less harsh |
| empirical | based on observation or experiment |
| enigmatic | mysterious, obscure, difficult to understand |
| ephemeral | brief, fleeting |
| esoteric | intended for or understood by a small, specific group |
| eulogy | a speech honoring the dead |
| exonerate | remove blame |
| facetious | playful, humorous |
| fallacy | an invalid or incorrect notion; mistaken belief |
| furtive | marked by stealth, covert, surreptitious |
| gregarious | sociable, outgoing |
| harangue | to deliver a pompous speech or tirade |
| heretical | violating accepted dogma |
| hyperbole | an exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech |
| impecunious | lacking funds; without money |
| incipient | beginning to come into being or to become apparent |
| inert | unmoving, lethargic |
| innocuous | harmless, causing no damage |
| intransigent | refusing to compromise |
| odious | evoking intense aversion or dislike |
| penurious | penny-pinching, excessively thrifty |
| pernicious | extremely harmful, potentially causing death |
| peruse | to examine with great care |
| precursor | one that precedes and indicates or announces another |
| preen | to dress up, to primp |
| prodigious | abundant in size, force, or extend, extraordinary |
| prolific | producing large volumes or amounts; productive |
| putrefy | to rot to decay |
| quaff | to drink deeply |
| inveigle | to obtain by deception or flattery |
| quiescence | stillness; motionlessness |
| redoubtable | awe-inspiring, worth of honor |
| sanction | authoritative permission of approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance to give permission or authority to |
| squalid | sordid, wretched and dirty from neglect |
| stoic | indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain, steadfast |
| supplant | to take the place of, supersede |
| torpid | lethargic, sluggish |
| ubiquitous | existing everywhere at the same time |
| urbane | sophisticated, refined, elegant |
| contentious | argumentative; quarrelsome |
| contrite | regretful |
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