| Term | Definition |
|---|
| amnesty | an act of an authority (as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals |
| apex | the tip of anything; the top or peak of a mountain, pyramid, or spire |
| arduous | hard to accomplish or achieve; marked by great labor or effort |
| ascertain | to make subjectively certain; to inform |
| azure | a bright blue pigment or dye; the clear blue color of the unclouded sky |
| bayou | the marshy offshoots and overflowing of lakes and rivers |
| bombastic | pompous; speaking with inflated language or high-sounding language on a trivial or commonplace subject |
| buoyant | tending to float in a fluid; not easily depressed, cheerful |
| cessation | a temporary or permanent stoppage or discontinuance of an action |
| cogent | appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing; pertinent, relevant |
| contrite | caused by or showing sincere remorse |
| decorous | characterized by dignified propriety in conduct, manners, appearance, character, etc. |
| elegiac | mournful, melancholy, plaintive |
| encumbrance | a burden, impediment, useless addition; an annoyance, trouble |
| ennui | listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from boredom |
| epitome | a brief statement of the chief points in a literary work; an abridgment, abstract |
| excursion | a going out or forth; a brief pleasure trip; deviation from a direct, definite, or proper course |
| exogenous | growing by additions on the outside |
| exoteric | suitable to be imparted to the public; pertaining to the outside, external |
| extenuation | the action or process of making or becoming thin; emaciation |
| factitious | made by or resulting from art; artificial; not natural or spontaneous |
| firmament | the vault or arch of the sky; heaven, as a place where God dwells |
| grotesque | characterized by distortion or unnatural combinations; romantic, picturesquely irregular |
| isthmus | a narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water, connecting two larger bodies of land |
| lucid | suffused with light; clear to the understanding |
| myriad | countless numbers of people or things |
| obtrude | to press, impose, or force upon |
| oracle | the instrument, agency or medium (priest/priestess) through which the gods were supposed to speak or prophesy; a person of great wisdom or knowledge whose opinions or decisions are generally accepted |
| paltry | petty, trivial, insignificant, contemptible, unimportant, not worthy of consideration |
| panoply | a magnificent or impressive array; something forming a protective covering |
| pecuniary | of or relating to money |
| perpetual | lasting or destined to last forever, eternal |
| posthumously | after death |
| precept | a general command or injunction; a divine command |
| prosody | the science or study of poetic meters and versification |
| psalm | any song or poem of a sacred or serious nature |
| requiem | a special mass said or sung for the repose of the souls of the dead |
| rudiment | the elements or first principles of a subject; a mere beginning, the first slight appearance or undeveloped or imperfect form of something |
| scansion | the metrical analysis of verse |
| sojourner | a temporary resident |
| supernumerary | beyond the number needed or desired or expected; superfluous, unnecessary; more numerous |
| swath | track, trace; the space covered by a sweep of a mower's scythe; the width of grass or corn so cut |
| transpire | to pass in the form of a vapor from a living body; to become known or apparent |
| volubility | ready or rapid speech |
| waive | to relinquish voluntarily; to put off from immediate consideration; postpone |
| ague | a fever (as malaria) marked by paroxysms of chills, fever, and sweating that recur at regular intervals; a fit of shivering |
| arbitrary | based on or subject to individual judgment or preference; autocratic; despotic; tyrannical; proceeding from a whim or fancy |
| bequeath | to give or leave by will or testament |
| blight | a thing that spoils or damages something; ugly or neglected urban landscape |
| chattel | an item of tangible movable or immovable property; slave, bondsman |
| compulsion | a force that compels; an irresistible impulse to perform an irrational act |
| deference | submission or courteous yielding to the opinion, wishes, or judgment of another |
| descant | to sing melodiously; to comment, discourse, or write at length |
| evince | to indicate; display (a quality, feeling, etc.) |
| excoriate | to denounce or berate severely; to pull off the skin or hide from |
| inculcate | to teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions; implant |
| incur | to bring upon oneself |
| loquacious | full of excessive talk; wordy |
| obdurate | hardened in wrongdoing or sin; resistant or insensible to moral influence |
| odiousness | the quality of being offensive |
| odium | strong dislike, aversion, or contempt; state of disgrace resulting from hateful or detestable conduct |
| pernicious | causing great harm; destructive |
| pious | having or exhibiting religious reverence; marked by false devoutness |
| sophistry | plausible but fallacious argument |
| staunch | firm and steadfast; true |
| unabated | sustaining an original intensity or maintaining full force with no decrease |
| vestige | a trace, mark, or sign of something that once existed but has passed away or disappeared |
| vindication | the defense, such as evidence or argument, that serves to justify a claim or deed |
| analogy | likeness in some respects between things otherwise different; similarity; comparison |
| arbitrate | decide a dispute; submit a dispute to arbitration |
| axiom | self-evident truth; maxim |
| axiomatic | self-evident; universally accepted as true |
| bias | opinion formed before there are grounds for it; prejudice; predilection; partiality |
| bigoted | intolerant; narrow-minded |
| bigotry | views or behavior of a bigot; narrow-mindedness, intolerance |
| cogitate | think over; consider with care; ponder; deliberate |
| criterion | standard; rule or test for judging |
| crux | most important point; essential part |
| deduce | derive by reasoning; infer |
| dilemma | situation requiring a choice between two equally bad alternatives; predicament |
| dogmatic | asserting opinions as if they were facts |
| eclectic | choosing (ideas, methods, etc.) from various sources; selective |
| fallacious | based on a fallacy; misleading; deceptive |
| fallible | liable to be mistaken |
| heterodox | rejecting regularly accepted beliefs or doctrines; heretical; nonconformist |
| hypothetical | supposed; a supposition made as a basis for reasoning or research |
| illusion | misleading appearance; false impression; misconception |
| indubitable | certain; incontrovertible; indisputable |
| orthodox | generally accepted, especially in religion; conventional; approved |
| paradoxical | having the characteristics of a paradox (a self-contradictory statement which may nevertheless be true) |
| plausible | apparently trustworthy; superficially true or reasonable |
| preposterous | senseless; absurd; irrational |
| rational | able to think clearly; having the power to reason; intelligent; sensible |
| rationalize | invent excuses for one's actions, desires, failures, etc. |
| specious | superficially true, reasonable, attractive, or just, but not really so |
| speculate | reflect, meditate, conjecture; buy or sell with the hope of profiting by price fluctuations |
| tenable | capable of being maintained or defended; defensible |
| arabesque | a species of mural or surface decoration in color or low relief, composed in flowing lines of branches, leaves, and scroll-work fancily intertwined; a pose in which a dancer stands on one foot with one arm extended in front and the other arm and leg extended behind |
| bulwark | a solid wall-like structure raised for defense; a rampart, fortification |
| buxom | vigorously and healthily plump; full-bosomed; blithe; obedient |
| cabal | the artifices and intrigues of a group of persons secretly united in a plot |
| carven | wrought or ornamented by carving |
| circumvent | to hem in; to make a circuit around |
| cowl | a garment with a hood, worn by monks; covering, commonly shaped like a hood, placed on top of a chimney or ventilating shaft to assist ventilation |
| daguerreotype | an early photograph produced on a silver or silver-covered copper plate; the process of making such photographs |
| denouement | the outcome of a complex sequence of events |
| didactic | having the character or manner of a teacher or instructor; instructive |
| digress | to deviate or wander away from the main topic or purpose in speaking or writing |
| divulge | to make public; to make known as a confidence or a secret |
| doddering | feeble, senile; to tremble or shake from weakness or age |
| etherize | to anesthetize; to render groggy or sleepy, as if by an anesthetic |
| fatuity | something foolish or stupid; imbecility, dementia |
| felicity | the quality or state of being happy; prosperity, good fortune, success |
| fidelity | the quality of being faithful; strict conformity to truth or fact |
| fortuitous | occurring by chance |
| grail | the object of a prolonged endeavor |
| grist | a grain or batch of grain for grinding; a required or usual amount; something turned to advantage or use |
| imperious | befitting or characteristic or one of eminent rank or attainments; domineering, urgent |
| impertinence | the fact or character of being unsuitable, out of place, improper, or irrational; presumptuous or forward rudeness of behavior or speech |
| indiscretion | imprudence; a petty misdeed |
| insidious | intended to entrap or beguile |
| macabre | having death as a subject; dwelling on the gruesome |
| meticulous | taking or showing extreme care about minute details; precise, thorough |
| misconstrue | to misunderstand the meaning of; take in a wrong sense; misinterpret |
| mote | a particle of dust; one of the innumerable specks seen floating in a beam of light |
| niche | a recess in a wall, especially for a statue; a specialized market |
| obtuse | not sharp or pointed, blunt; difficult to comprehend, not clear or precise in thought or expression |
| patrimony | anything derived from one's father or ancestors; heritage |
| pugilistic | of or relating to boxing |
| pyre | a pile of material to be burned |
| querulous | habitually complaining; fretful, whining |
| retinue | the retainers or attendants accompanying a high-ranking person |
| servile | of, belonging to, or proper to a slave or slaves |
| sibilant | having, containing, or producing the sound or a sound resembling that of an s or the sh in a sash |
| somnolent | inclined to induce sleep; drowsy, sleepy |
| spasmodically | in spurts and fits; jerkily |
| suffuse | to overspread as with fluid, light, color |
| syntax | the study of the rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language; a system or orderly arrangement |
| tedious | tiresome because of length or dullness |
| temperament | constitution or habit of mind; the condition in which elements are combined in their due proportions |
| undulating | moving after the manner of waves |
| vignette | decorative design placed at the beginning or end of a book; a short, usually descriptive literary sketch |
| vitality | physical or mental vigor especially when highly developed; lively and animated character, power of enduring |
| wreathed | twisted or coiled; wound or turned about or other something |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace
!