| Term | Definition |
|---|
| amiss | improper |
| antithesis | a contradiction that establishes a work's theme |
| auspicious | favorable circumstances |
| avaricious | greedy |
| behoove | to be necessary or proper |
| belie | to show to be false |
| blase | nonchalant |
| calumnious | malicious |
| castellated | like a castle |
| circumvent | to avoid or get around by artful maneuvering |
| cleft | split or divided |
| coalesce | to grow together |
| collateral | property acceptable as security for a loan |
| contrition | sincere remorse for wrong doing |
| crystalline | resembling a crystal |
| cynical | negative and pessimistic |
| dearth | a scarce supply |
| depreciate | to lesson the price of value of |
| despotic | abusing unlimited power |
| desultory | random |
| dire | fraught with danger; hopeless |
| dominion | a territory of influence or control |
| droll | amusingly odd |
| encompass | to enclose or envelope or surround |
| entreat | to ask for earnestly |
| equivocation | an intentionally vague or ambiguous statement |
| expostulate | to reason with someone in an effort to correct |
| felicity | happiness |
| filial | pertaining to a son or daughter |
| garish | loud and flashy |
| hone | to make perfect or more intense |
| idiom | an expression given to a particular person |
| imminent | threatening or about to happen |
| impeccable | perfect |
| incantation | a ritual recitation a charm or spell |
| incarnate | embodied in human form |
| incognito | ones identity disguised |
| indiscriminate | unselective |
| inexorable | determined; relentless |
| inexplicable | difficult or impossible to explain |
| infuse | to fill or cause to be filled |
| jocund | cheerful and lighthearted |
| lilting | a cheerful or lively manner of speaking |
| myriad | constituting a large indefinite number |
| nascent | coming into existence |
| nonchalant | in different; careless; coolly unconcerned |
| opaque | impenetrable by light |
| pall | a cover for a coffin |
| pedagogical | characterized by pedantic formality; academically snobish |
| perdition | eternal damnation; loss of soul |
| peruse | to read or examine |
| pervasive | having the ability to spread throughout |
| portentious | full of unspecified significance |
| precept | a rule of conduct |
| prodigal | wastefully extravagant |
| proficient | having an advanced degree or level of competence |
| provocative | tending to provoke or stimulate |
| pulsate | to expand or contract rhythmically |
| qualms | reservations |
| quandary | a state of uncertainty or perplexity |
| rapt | deeply absorbed |
| reiterate | to repeat, to say again repeatedly |
| requiem | a mass for a dead person |
| rueful | feeling or expressing sorrow or regret for sins of offenses |
| suave | smoothly agreeable |
| subversive | intending to overthrow or undermine an established government |
| sullen | showing a brooding ill humor; morose or sulky |
| superfluous | beyond what is necessary or sufficient |
| surcease | to bring or come to an end |
| tactual | relating to the sense of touch |
| transfix | to pierce or impale with a weapon; to render motionless with terror or amazement |
| umbrage | offense or resentment |
| usurp | to seize and hold without legal authority |
| voracious | marked by an insatiable appetite; ravenous |
| zephyr | a gentle breeze; a light fabric or garment |
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