| Term | Definition |
|---|
| burgeon | to grow and flourish |
| expidient | convenient; speedy |
| reticent | reserved |
| euphemism | mild or vague substitute for harsh or offensive term |
| vindictive | revengeful |
| perspicacious | shrewd, clear-sighted |
| tenacity | persistence |
| distend | to expand from internal pressure |
| exacerbate | to increase the severity of, aggratave |
| lugubrious | mounrful, esp. to an exaggerated degree |
| jaded | wearied |
| prospectus | proposal |
| multiplicity | variety, great number |
| pedantic | concerned with book learning and rules |
| beneficial | helpful |
| vigilant | alert, watchful |
| cacophony | discordant; unpleasant noise |
| sonorous | producing a deep or full sound |
| obstinate | stubborn |
| superfluous | extra, unnecessary |
| conspicuous | obvious |
| vapid | dull |
| ephemeral | lasting for only a brief time |
| concur | to agree |
| portent | omen |
| hackneyed | worn out through overuse |
| dearth | lack |
| stratify | to layer or separate into layers |
| arboreal | relating to trees |
| vituperative | marked by harshly abusive condemnation |
| circumspect | careful, discreet |
| renounce | to give up, esp. by formal announcement |
| diffidence | timidity; shyness |
| profundity | depth |
| reclusive | preferring isolation |
| aesthetic | related to the appreciation of beauty |
| relinquish | give up or retire from |
| husbandry | the application of scientific principles to agriculture, esp. to animal breeding |
| circumscribe | to draw a cricle around, restrict |
| partisan | biased in support of a group, party, or cause |
| rectitude | moral uprightness |
| conciliatory | appeasing; soothing |
| litigious | prone to engage in lawsuits |
| alleviate | to ease a pain or burden |
| convoluted | complex |
| dubious | doubtful |
| epitome | representative of a type |
| complement | something that completes |
| fallacy | false notion |
| credible | capable of being believed |
| incoherent | lacking cohesion or connection |
| lavish | extravagent |
| penchant | liking |
| vignette | short scene or story |
| erudition | extensive learning |
| austere | without decoration; strict |
| gaffe | clumsy social error |
| inscrutable | difficult to understand |
| palliative | relieving symtoms without effecting a cure |
| ingenuous | lacking in cunning or guile; unwordly |
| verdant | green with vegetation |
| extrapolate | to infer from known information |
| conjecture | inference or guesswork |
| derivative | something that comes from another source |
| variegated | varicolored |
| nefarious | wicked, vicious |
| affable | friendly |
| denounce | to condemn openly |
| debunk | to expose untruths |
| solicitous | concerned |
| supplant | to usurp the place of |
| concord | agreement |
| prosaic | dull, unimaginative |
| maverick | one who is independent |
| paucity | scarcity |
| squander | to spend wastefully |
| strident | loud, harsh |
| averse | disinclined |
| obsequious | fawning and servile |
| surreptitious | sneaky |
| redolent | aromatic; suggestive |
| rhetoric | art of using language persuasively |
| vindicate | to free from blame |
| sycophant | flatterer |
| lucid | clear |
| idiosyncrasy | characteristic peculiar to an individual or group |
| docile | submissive to instruction |
| insolent | insulting |
| vicarious | as if one were taking part in another's experience |
| pejorative | insulting |
| repudiate | to reject the validity of |
| capricious | impulsive and unpredictable |
| amalgam | mixture |
| tawdry | gaudy and cheap |
| disseminate | to scatter widely |
| anchronistic | in the wrong time period |
| bombastic | given to pompous speech or writing |
| censure | to issue official blame |
| indict | to officially charge with wrongdoing |
| esoteric | understood only by a small group |
| expurgate | to remove objectionable content |
| felicitous | admirably suited |
| mendacious | lying |
| impetus | impulse, stimulus |
| extol | to praise highly |
| assimilate | to make or become absorbed |
| incongruous | lacking in harmony; incompatible |
| tenuous | having little substance or strength |
| flippant | disrespectfully humorous or casual |
| sanguine | optimistic |
| gratuitous | unnecessary |
| subterfuge | deceptive strategem |
| extraneous | irrelevant; inessential |
| extirpate | to destroy |
| erratic | inconstitent |
| synergy | combined action or operation |
| temporal | relating to or limited by time |
| equivocal | ambiguous, often intended to confuse |
| dogmatic | attached to insufficiently proven beliefs |
| fastidious | attentive to detail; difficult to please |
| specious | having the ring of truth but actually false |
| cantankerous | ill-tempered |
| candid | completely honest |
| insinuate | to introduce or communicate stealthily |
| prodigious | enormous |
| eclectic | made up of various sources or styles |
| soporific | sleep-inducing |
| onerous | burdensome |
| reciprocate | to respond in kind |
| laudatory | full of praise |
| diligent | hard-working |
| aural | related to the ear or hearing |
| whimsical | unpredictable |
| bolster | to support or prop up |
| insipid | uninteresting; unchallenging |
| copious | plentiful |
| redouble | to make twice as great |
| meticulous | careful and precise |
| brevity | briefness |
| exonerate | to free from blame |
| intransigence | refusal to compromise |
| abstruse | difficult to understand |
| disparage | to speak of negatively |
| incontrovertible | indisputable |
| contentious | quarrelsome |
| vacillate | to sway from one side to the other |
| pragmatic | practical |
| insular | isolated |
| parity | equality |
| repugnant | offensive, repulsive |
| precocious | exhibiting early aptitude |
| impugn | to attack as false or questionable |
| rancorous | marked by bitter ill-will |
| debacle | disastrous or ludicrous failure |
| ambivalent | simultaneously feeling opposing feelings |
| astute | shrewd |
| juxtapose | to place side by side |
| pernicious | deadly; irrevocably harmful |
| dirge | funeral hymn or lament |
| ignominy | humiliation; disgraceful conduct |
Combine with other sets
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