| Term | Definition |
|---|
| adulation | flattery; admiration |
| adversity | poverty; misfortune |
| advocate | urge; plead for |
| aesthetic | pertaining to art or beauty |
| affable | easily approachable; warmly friendly |
| affirmation | assertion; confirmation |
| aggregate | total |
| alleviate | relieve |
| aloof | apart; reserved |
| altruistic | unselfishly generous; concerned for others |
| ambiguous | unclear or doubtful in meaning |
| ambivalence | the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes |
| amorphous | formless; lacking shape or definition |
| anarchist | a person who seeks to overturn the established governemnt; an advocate of abolishing authority |
| anomaly | irregularity |
| antagonism | actively expressed hostility |
| antediluvian | antiquated; extremely old |
| antidote | medicine to counteract a poison or disease; something that relieves a harmful effect |
| antiquated | old-fashioned; obsolete |
| apathy | indifference |
| appease | pacify or soothe; relieve |
| apprehension | fear |
| archaic | ancient; out of date |
| ardent | intense; passionate; zealous |
| arrogance | pride; haughtiness |
| artifact | object made by human beings |
| artisan | manually skilled worker; craftsman as opposed to artist |
| ascendancy | controlling influence; domination |
| ascetic | practicing self-denial; auster |
| aspire | seek to attain; long for |
| assuage | ease or lessen; satisfy; soothe |
| audacious | daring; bold |
| austere | forbiddingly stern; severely simple and unornamented |
| autonomous | self-governing |
| avarice | greediness for wealth |
| aversion | firm dislike |
| beguile | charm; mislead or delude |
| belie | contradict; give false impression |
| bolster | support; reinforce |
| bombastic | pompous; using inflated launguage |
| braggart | boaster |
| calculated | deliberately planned |
| candor | frankness; open honesty |
| capricious | unpredictable; fickle |
| charlatana | a quack; pretender to knowledge |
| coalesce | combine; fuse |
| colloquial | pertaining to conversational or common speech |
| compile | assemble; gather; accumulate |
| complacency | self-satisfaction; smugness |
| conflagration | great fire |
| confound | confuse; puzzle |
| cordial | gracious; heartfelt |
| criterion | standard used in judging |
| cryptic | mysterious; hidden; secret |
| culpable | deserving balme |
| debilitate | weaken; enfeeble |
| depravity | extreme corruption; wickedness |
| deprecate | express disaprrobal of; belittle |
| deride | ridicule; make fun of |
| derivative | unoriginal; derived from another source |
| digression | wandering away from the subject |
| diligence | steadiness of effort; persistent hard work |
| disclose | reveal |
| discount | disregard; dismiss |
| discrimminating | able to see differences |
| disdain | scorn |
| disinclination | a lack of inclination; reluctance |
| disputatious | argumentative; fond of arguing |
| dissent | disagree |
| divergent | varying; going in different directions from the same point |
| document | provide written evidence |
| dogmatic | opinionated; arbitrary |
| eclectic | composed of elements drawn from diverse sources |
| egotism | excessive self-importance; conceit |
| elated | overjoyed; in high spirits |
| elegy | poem or song expressing lamentation |
| elusive | hard to grasp |
| embellish | adorn; ornament; add fictitious detail |
| emulate | imitate |
| enmity | ill will; hatred |
| ephemeral | short-lived; fleeting |
| equivocal | ambiguous; intentionally misleading |
| eulogy | expression of praise |
| evanescent | fleeting; vanishing |
| exalt | raise in rank or dignity; praise |
| exemplary | serving as a model; outstanding |
| exuberance | joyful enthusiasm; overflowing abundance |
| facilitate | help bring about; make less difficult |
| fallow | plowed but not sowed; uncultivated |
| fanaticism | excessive zeal; extreme devotion to a belief or cause |
| fastidious | difficult to please; really careful |
| feasible | pratical |
| furtive | stealthy; sneaky |
| garrulous | talkative; wordy |
| gregarious | sociable |
| gullible | easily deceived |
| hamper | obstruct; make more difficult |
| hardy | strong |
| haughtiness | pride; arrogance |
| hedonist | one who believes that pleasure is the sole aim in life |
| heresy | opinion contrary to popular belief |
| hierarchy | arrangement by rank or standing |
| homogeneous | composed of identical parts |
| hyperbole | exaggeration; overstatement |
| hypocritical | pretending to be virtuous; deceiving |
| iconoclastic | attacking cherished traditions |
| immutable | unchangeable |
| impeccable | faultless; having no flaws |
| impundence | impertinence; insolence |
| incite | arouse to action |
| incongruous | not fitting; absurd |
| inconsequential | insignificant; unimportant |
| indifferent | unmoved; unconcerned by; mediocre |
| induce | persuade; bring about |
| innocuous | harmless |
| innovation | change; introduction of something new |
| insularity | narrow-mindedness; isolation |
| integrity | uprightness; wholeness |
| intimidate | frighten |
| intrepid | fearless |
| ironic | reasulting in an unexpected and contrary outcome |
| jocular | said or done in jest |
| lavish | liberal; wasteful |
| linger | loiter or dawdle; continue or persist |
| listless | lacking in spirit or energy |
| mercenary | interested in money or gain |
| meticulous | painstaking; excessibely careful |
| mitigate | moderate; appease |
| morose | ill-humored; sullen |
| mosaic | picture made of colorful small inlaid tiles; something that resembles a mosaic |
| mundane | wordly as opposed to spiritual; everyday; concerned with the commonplace |
| nefarious | very wicked |
| nonchalance | indifference; lack of concern; composure |
| notoriety | disrepute; ill fame |
| obliterate | destroy completely |
| oblivion | obscurity; forgetfulness |
| obscure | indistinct; not easily understood |
| obstinate | stubborn; ahrd to control or treat |
| opportunist | one who sacrifices principles for expediecny by taking advantage of circumstances |
| orator | public speaker |
| ornate | excessively ot elaborately decorated |
| pacifist | one opposed to foce; antimilitarist |
| penury | severe poverty; stinginess |
| peripheral | outer; marginal |
| phenomena | observable facts; subjects of scientific investigation |
| pithy | concise; meaningful; substantial; meaty |
| placate | pacify; conciliate |
| polemical | aggressive in verbal attack; disputatious |
| ponderous | weighty; unwieldy |
| pretentious | ostentatious; pompous; making unjustified claims; overly ambitious |
| prodigal | wasteful; reckless with money |
| profusion | overabundancel lavish; expenditure; excess |
| quagmire | soft wet bogg land; complex or dangerous sistuation from which it is diffcult to free oneslef |
| querulous | complaining; fretful |
| quiescence | state of being at rest; dormancy; temporary inactivity |
| ramble | wander aimlessly |
| rancor | bitterness; hatred |
| rant | ravel; talk excitedly; scold; make a grandiloquent speech |
| ratify | approve formally; confirm; verify |
| raucous | harsh and shrill; disorderly and boisterous |
| ravenous | extremely hungry |
| raze | destroy completely |
| recount | narrate or tell; count over again |
| redundant | unnecessary; repetitious; excessively wordy |
| rhetorical | pertaining to effective communication; insincere in language; characterized by overly elaborate, bombastic language |
| robust | vigorous; strong |
| sage | person celebrated for wisdom |
| satirical | mocking; characterized by ironic, sarcastic, caustic wit to to attack or expose folly |
| saturate | soak thoroughly |
| scanty | meager, insufficient |
| scrupulous | conscientious; extremely thorough |
| scrutinize | examine closely and critically |
| seclusion | isolation; solitude |
| servile | slavish; cringing |
| sluggish | slow; lazy; lethargic |
| soporific | sleep-causing; marked by sleepiness |
| sporadic | occurring irregularly |
| stagnant | motionless; stale; dull |
| stolid | dull; impassive |
| strident | loud and harsh; insistent |
| subside | settle down; descent; grow quiet |
| superficial | trivial; shallow |
| superfluous | unnecessary; excessive; overabundant |
| surfeit | satiate; stuff; indulge to excess in anything |
| surreptitious | secret; furtive; sneaky; hidden |
| sycophant | servile flatterer; bootlicker; yes man |
| tantamount | equivalent in effect or value |
| tenacity | firmless; persistence |
| threadbare | worn throught till the threads show; shabby and poor |
| tirade | extended scolding; denunciation; harangue |
| torpor | lethargy; sluggishness; dormancy |
| trifling | trivial; unimportant |
| truncate | shorten; cut the top off |
| turmoil | great commotion and confusion |
| uniformity | sameness; monotony |
| vaporize | turn into vapor |
| virtuoso | highly skilled artist |
| virulent | extremely poisonous; hostile; bitter |
| whimsical | capricious; fanciful |
| zealot | fanatic; person who shows excessive zeal |
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