| Term | Definition |
|---|
| abate* | to reduce in amount, degree or severity |
| abdicate | to renounce or relinquish a throne |
| aberrant | abnormal or deviant |
| abeyance | suspended action |
| abject | utterly hopeless, humiliating or wretched |
| abjure | to renounce on oath |
| ablution | act of cleansing |
| abrogate | to abolish by formal means |
| abscond* | depart secretly and hide |
| abstemious* | sparing in eating and drinking; temperate |
| abstruse | hard to understand; secret, hidden |
| accretion | an increase by natural growth |
| acerbic | sour or astringent in taste, harsh in temper |
| acquiesce | to comply, give in |
| acrid | sharp or biting to the taste or smell |
| acrimonious | caustic, stinging or bitter in nature |
| adjoin* | to be close or in contact with |
| adjure | to charge bind or command earnestly and solmnly |
| admonish | to counsel against something; caution; warn; reprove |
| adulterate* | to make impure by adding inferior or tainted substances |
| adventitious | associated with something by chance; appearing in an abnormal or unusual position; accidental |
| aesthetic | artistic; dealing with or capable of appreciating the beautiful |
| affable | friendly, courteous |
| aggrandize | to increase in power, influence and reputation |
| aggregate | gather; accumulate |
| alacrity | cheerful promptness; eagerness |
| alleviate | relieve |
| altruist | a person unselfishly concerned for the welfare of others |
| amalgamate | combine; unite in one body |
| amatory | of or pertaining to lovers or lovemaking |
| ambiguous | unclear or doubtful in meaning |
| ambivalence | the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes |
| ameliorate | to make better; to improve |
| amity | friendship; peaceful harmony |
| anachronism* | something or someone misplaced in time; an obsolete or archaic form |
| analogous | comparable |
| anarchy | absence of governing body; state of disorder |
| androgen | any substance that promotes masculine characteristics |
| androgynous | being both male and female |
| animus | hostile feeling or attitude |
| anomalous | abnormal; irregular |
| antipathy* | aversion; dislike |
| apartheid | any system or caste that separates people according to race |
| apathy* | lack of interest or emotion; uncaring; indifference |
| apogee | the highest or most distant point |
| apostasy* | renunciation of one's previous loyalty; a total desertion of one's religion, principles, cause, etc. |
| apotheosis | glorification, glorified ideal, exalting person or thing to the position of god |
| appease | pacify or soothe; relieve |
| apprise | inform |
| approbation* | approval; praise, consideration |
| appropriate | acquire; take possession of for one's own use |
| arduous | hard; strenuous |
| arrogate | to claim unwarrantably or presumptuously |
| artless | without guile, open and honest, free from deceit; lacking art, knowledge or skill |
| ascetic | practicing self-denial; austere |
| assiduous* | diligent, persistent, hardworking |
| assuage | to make less severe; ease or lessen (pain); satisfy (hunger); soothe (anger) |
| atrophy | to waste away; wither or deteriorate; the wasting away of body tissue |
| attenuate | make thinner |
| audacious | daring; bold |
| austere* | forbiddingly stern in appearance; severely simple and unornamented |
| autonomous* | self-governing; independent |
| aver* | assert confidently or declare; as used in law, state formally as a fact |
| avocation | something one does in addition to a principle occupation |
| banal | boring; commonplace; trite; lacking originality; clichéd; hackneyed |
| belie | contradict; give a false impression |
| belligerent | warlike, given to waging war |
| bemoan | to express pity for |
| beneficent | kindly; doing good |
| benevolent | desiring to do good to others |
| benign | having a kindly disposition |
| bilateral | pertaining to or affecting two or both sides |
| bolster | support; reinforce |
| bombastic* | pompous in speech and manner ; using inflated language |
| boorish | rude; insensitive |
| burgeon | grow or develope quickly; send out buds |
| burnish | make shiny by rubbing; polish |
| buttress | support; prop up |
| capitulate | to surrender unconditionally or on stipulated terms |
| capricious* | unpredictable; fickle; changing one's mind quickly and often |
| castigate* | to punish in order to correct; criticize harshly |
| catalyst | agent that increases the rate of a chemical action; person or thing that causes action |
| caustic | burning; sarcastically biting |
| chicanery* | trickery; deception by means of craft or guile |
| circuitous | roundabout, indirect |
| circumambulate | to walk about or around |
| circumscribe | to draw a line around |
| circumspect | watchful and discreet |
| coagulate | thicken; congeal; clot |
| coda | concluding section of a musical or literary composition; something that summarizes or concludes |
| cogent* | convincing and well reasoned |
| commensurate | corresponding in extent, degree, etc.; proportionate, equal measure |
| compendium | brief, comprehensive summary |
| complacent | self-satisfied, unconcerned |
| complaisant* | trying to please; overly polite; obliging |
| compliant | yielding; conforming to requirements |
| compunction | a feeling of uneasiness for doing wrong |
| concentric | having a common center |
| conciliate | to placate, win over |
| conciliatory | reconciling; soothing |
| condone | overlook; forgive; give tacit approval; excuse |
| conflagration | a large destructive fire |
| confluence | merging into one |
| confound | confuse; puzzle |
| congenital | existing or as such from birth |
| connoisseur | person competent to act as a judge of art; a lover of art |
| contention | struggling together in opposition, strife; opposing claim or thesis |
| contentious | quarrelsome |
| contravene | to come into conflict with |
| contrite | feeling regret and sorrow for one's sins or offenses; penitent |
| conundrum | riddle; difficult problem |
| convalescent | recovering from illness |
| converge | approach; tend to meet; come together |
| convoke | to call together |
| convoluted* | intricate and complicated |
| corroborate | to provide supporting evidence |
| craven | cowardly |
| credulous* | too trusting; gullible |
| cursory | going rapidly over something; hasty; superficial |
| daunt | intimidate; frighten |
| decadent | excess; decaying, deteriorating |
| decorum | propriety; orderliness and good taste in manners |
| default | failure to act |
| deference* | respect; courteous regard for another's wishes |
| deferential | respectful, to yield judgment to; showing deference |
| deign | to think fit or in accordance with one's dignity |
| delineate | portray; depict; sketch; portray in words |
| delude | to mislead the mind of judgment of, deceive |
| denigrate | to speak damagingly of ; to blacken |
| deride | ridicule; make fun of |
| derision | contemptuous or jeering laughter; ridicule. |
| derivative | unoriginal; obtained from another source |
| desiccate* | to dry out thoroughly |
| desultory* | aimless; haphazard; irregular; digressing at random |
| deterrent | something that discourages; hindrance |
| diatribe | bitter scolding; sharply abusive denunciation |
| dichotomy* | split; branching into two parts (especially contradictory ones) |
| diffident* | lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid. |
| diffuse* | to spread widely or thinly |
| digression | wandering away from the subject |
| dilatory* | inclined to delay or procrastinate |
| dilettante | someone with an amateurish and superficial interest in a topic |
| dirge | lament with music; funeral song |
| disabuse* | correct a false impression; to set right; to free from error |
| discerning | mentally quick and observant; having insight |
| discordant | not harmonious; conflicting |
| discredit | defame; destroy confidence in; disbelieve |
| discrepancy | lack of consistency; difference |
| discrete | separate; unconnected; consisting of distinct parts |
| disingenuous | lacking genuine candor; insincere |
| disinterested | unprejudiced by personal interest |
| disjointed | lacking coherence; separated at the joints |
| dismiss | eliminate from consideration; reject |
| disparage | belittle; to bring reproach or discredit upon |
| disparate | fundamentally distinct or different in kind; entirely dissimilar |
| disport | to divert or amuse oneself; to display oneself in a sportive manner |
| disquiet | a lack of calm or peace |
| dissemble* | disguise; pretend; to disguise one's real intentions or character |
| disseminate* | distribute; spread widely; scatter (like seeds) |
| dissolution | disintegration of organization, company, gov.; looseness in morals; reduction to a liquid |
| dissonance | discord; opposite of harmony |
| distend | to expand by stretching; swell out |
| distill | purify; refine; concentrate |
| diverge | vary; go in different directions from the same point |
| divest | strip; deprive of clothing, ornament, etc.; to sell off, to take away |
| doctrine | a principle or body of principles presented for acceptance or belief; dogma |
| document | provide written evidence |
| dogma | a firmly held opinion, often a religious belief |
| dogmatic* | opinionated; arbitrary; doctrinal |
| doleful | sorrowful, mournful |
| dormant | sleeping; lethargic; in a state of rest or inactivity |
| dour | sullen, gloomy |
| dupe* | to deceive; a person who is easily deceived |
| duplicity | deceitfulness in speech or conduct; double-dealing |
| dystrophy | faulty or inadequate nutrition or development |
| ebullient | showing excitement; overflowing with enthusiasm |
| eclectic* | selective; composed of elements from a variety of sources |
| efficacy* | effectiveness ; power to produce desired effect |
| effigy | a likeness or image, especially of a person; possible crude representation |
| effluence | flowing out of |
| effrontery | impudence; shameless boldness; sheer nerve; presumptuousness |
| elegy | a sorrowful poem or speech |
| elicit | to bring or draw out; to draw forth |
| elocution | art of clear and expressive speech |
| embellish | adorn; ornament; enhance, as a story |
| empathy | the identification with the feelings or thoughts of others |
| empirical | based on experience |
| emulate | imitate; rival with success |
| endemic | prevailing among a specific group of people or in a specific area or country; native to, indigenous |
| enervate | weaken to reduce in strength |
| engender | to produce, cause or bring about |
| enhance | increase; improve |
| enigma | a puzzle; a mystery |
| ephemeral* | short lived; fleeting |
| epigram | a witty or pointed saying tersely expressed |
| epithet | a word or phrase characteristically used to characterize a person or thing; "man's best friend" |
| equanimity | calmness of temperament; mental or emotional stability or composure |
| equivocate* | lie; mislead; attempt to conceal the truth |
| erudite | characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly |
| esoteric* | hard to understand; known only to the chosen few |
| estimable | admirable; worthy of esteem |
| eugenics | improvement of qualities of race by control of inherited characteristics |
| eulogy* | expression of praise, often on the occasion of someone's death |
| euphemism | an inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive |
| euphony | pleasantness of sound |
| exacerbate* | worsen; to increase bitterness or violence; intensify, inflame |
| exculpate* | to clear from blame; prove innocent |
| execrable | utterly detestable; abominable; abhorrent. |
| exigency | urgent situation; pressing needs or demands; state of requiring immediate attention |
| exigent | urgent; requiring immediate action |
| expound | to set forth in detail |
| extrapolation | projection; to infer (an unknown) from something that is known; conjecture. |
| exult | to show or feel triumphant joy |
| facetious | amusing, humorous; not meant to be taken seriously or literally |
| facilitate | help bring about; make less difficult |
| fallacious | false; misleading; containing a fallacy |
| fatuous | brainless; inane; foolish, yet smug |
| fawning* | trying to please by behaving obsequiously, flattering, or cringing |
| felicitous | apt; suitably expressed; well chosen |
| fervor | glowing ardor; intensity of emotion |
| fiduciary | of a trust; held or given in trust; a person to whom property or power is entrusted |
| flag | droop; grow feeble; to decline in vigor or strength; symbolic cloth |
| fledgling | inexperienced |
| flout | reject; mock; show contempt for |
| foment* | to arouse or incite |
| forestall* | prevent by taking action in advance |
| fractious | irritable, readily angered |
| frugality | thrifty; economy |
| fusillade | continuous discharge of firearms; outburst of criticism |
| futile | useless; hopeless; ineffectual |
| gainsay | deny, dispute; to speak or act against |
| garrulous | loquacious; talkative; wordy |
| goad | urge on |
| goad | overcharge |
| grandiloquent* | pompous or inflated in language; bombastic; using high-sounding language |
| gregarious | sociable; fond of the company of others |
| guile | deceit or trickery; artful deception |
| guileless | without deceit |
| gullible | easily deceived |
| harangue | long, passionate, and vehement speech |
| heterodox | different from acknowledged standard; holding unorthodox opinions or doctrines |
| heterogeneous | different in kind; composed of different substances; not originating in the body |
| homogeneous | of the same kind |
| hyperbole | exaggeration; overstatement |
| hypocritical | pretending to have virtues or qualities one does not truly have |
| iconoclast* | one who opposes established beliefs, customs, institutions and religious images |
| idolatry | worship of idols; excessive admiration |
| immutable | unchangeable |
| impair | injure; hurt |
| impassive | without feeling; showing or feeling no emotion; unconscious |
| impede | hinder; block |
| impermeable | impervious; not permitting passage through its substance |
| imperturbable | calm; placid; incapable of being upset or agitated |
| impervious* | impenetrable; incapable of being damaged or distressed |
| impetuous* | quick to act without thinking |
| implacable | incapable of being pacified |
| implicit | understood but not stated |
| implode | burst inward |
| importune | to urge or press with excessive persistence; improper advances toward another |
| impugn | to attack as false or questionable; challenge in argument |
| inadvertently | unintentionally; by oversight; carelessly |
| inamorata | a female lover |
| inchoate* | not fully formed; disorganized; rudimentary; elementary |
| incongruity | lack of harmony; absurdity |
| inconsequential | insignificant; unimportant |
| incorporate | introduce something into a larger whole; combine; unite |
| inculpate | to charge with fault |
| incursion | a hostile entrance into a place |
| indeterminate | uncertain; not clearly fixed; indefinite |
| indigence | seriously impoverished condition; poverty |
| indigent | experiencing want or need; impoverished. |
| indoctrinate | to imbue someone with learning |
| indolence* | state of being lazy or slothful |
| induce | to move or lead by influence; to produce |
| ineffable | too great for description |
| inert | inactive; lacking power to move |
| infusion | liquid extract so obtained |
| ingenuous* | free from reserve, restraint, or dissimulation; naive and trusting; young |
| inherent | firmly established by nature or habit; a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute |
| inimical | hostile, unfriendly |
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