| attenuate | rarefy, weaken, make thinner, lessen |
| apocryphal | of dubious authenticity; spurious |
| aver | state as a fact, confirm, support |
| austere | without adornment; bare; severely simple; ascetic |
| auspice | protection, support; patronage; (sign, portent) |
| astringent | having a tightening effect on living tissue; harsh; severe |
| antipathy | aversion, dislike |
| ascetic | one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as an act of religious devotion |
| aspersion | an act of defamation or maligning |
| alacrity | eager and enthusiastic willingness |
| arrest | suspend, engage |
| abrogate | abolish or annul by authority; put down |
| abjure | renounce, reject, recant, avoid |
| ambivalence | quality of having opposing ideas or feelings |
| assuage | ease, lessen; appease, pacify |
| approbation | an expression of approval or praise |
| augury | omen, portent; the reading of omens |
| apprise | give notice to, inform |
| adulterate | reduce purity by combining with inferior ingredients |
| apostate | one who abandons long help religious or political convictions; betrayer of a cause |
| arrant | impudent; in every way, completely such, utter |
| adroit | adept, dextrous |
| articulate | annunciate, pronounce clearly; express self clearly |
| aggrandize | make appear greater; increase in intensity, power or prestige |
| audacious | daring and fearless; recklessly bold |
| august | majestic, venerable |
| auspicious | favorable, propitious, successful, prosperous |
| amalgamate | combine several elements into a whole |
| ambiguity | uncertainty in meaning |
| asperity | rigor, severity; roughness, harshness; acrimony, irritability |
| apposite | appropriate, pertinent, relevant, apropos |
| archaic | outdated, associated with earlier, primitive time |
| anathema | solemn, ecclesiastical curse; loathed or accursed person or thing |
| accretion | growth, increase by successive addition, building up |
| apotheosis | deification, glorification to godliness, the perfect example |
| acerbic | having a sour or bitter taste or character |
| avarice | greed, esp. for wealth |
| axiom | universally recognized principal; common saying |
| abscond | depart clandestinely; steal off and hide |
| abscission | the act of cutting off or removing |
| abrogate | abolish or annul by authority |
| aberrant | deviating from the norm |
| accolade | expression of praise; award |
| abstain | refrain from an activity |
| anachronism | something or someone out of place in terms of historical or chronological context |
| apathy | lack of interest or feeling |
| anodyne | soothing; something that soothes |
| appropriate | take for one's own use |
| assiduous | hard-working, diligent |
| amenable | agreeable, responsive to suggestion |
| antithetical | diametrically opposed |
| apogee | farthest or highest point, culmination, zenith |
| artless | completely without guile, natural, without artificiality |
| advocate | argue for or support a cause |
| admonish | reprove, express warning or disapproval |
| aesthetic | dealing with, appreciative of or responsive to art or the beautiful |
| acumen | quick, keen, accurate knowledge or insight |
| artifice | ingenious or skillful device or expedient; clever skill |
| arcane | mysterious, abstruse, esoteric, knowable only to initiates |
| ameliorate | make better or more tolerable |
| antagonize | irritate or cause hostility |
| abate | lessen in intensity or degree |
| anomaly | deviation from normal order or rule; abnormality |
| alchemy | magical or wonderful transformation |
| adulation | excessive praise; intense adoration |
| alloy | commingle; debase by mixing with something inferior |
| adumbrate | vaguely foreshadow, intimate, suggest, outline sketchily |
| arabesque | complex, ornate design |
| Amortize | to liquidate or extinguish (a mortgage, debt, or other obligation), esp. by periodic payments to the creditor or to a sinking fund |
| analgesia | absence of the sense of pain without loss of consciousness |
| arrogate | make undue claims to having |