| abjure | to renounce upon oath |
| abrogate | to abolish by authoritative action |
| abstemious | marked by restraint especially in the consumption of food or alcohol |
| acumen | keenness and depth of perception, discernment, or discrimination especially in practical matters |
| antebellum | existing before a war |
| auspicious | affording a favorable auspice |
| belie | to give a false impression of |
| bellicose | favoring or inclined to start quarrels or wars |
| bowdlerize | to expurgate (as a book) by omitting or modifying parts considered vulgar |
| chicanery | deception by artful subterfuge or sophistry |
| chromosome | any of the rod-shaped or threadlike DNA-containing structures of cellular organisms that are located in the nucleus of eukaryotes, are usually ring-shaped in prokaryotes (as bacteria), and contain all or most of the genes of the organism |
| churlish | of, resembling, or characteristic of a churl |
| circumlocution | the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea |
| circumnavigate | to go completely around (as the earth) especially by water |
| deciduous | falling off or shed seasonally or at a certain stage of development in the life cycle |
| deleterious | harmful often in a subtle or unexpected way |
| diffident | hesitant in acting or speaking through lack of self-confidence |
| enervate | lacking physical, mental, or moral vigor |
| enfranchise | to set free (as from slavery) |
| epiphany | January 6 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of the baptism of Christ |
| equinox | either of the two points on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator intersects the ecliptic |
| euro | the basic unit of currency among membrers of the European Monetary Union |
| evanescent | tending to vanish like vapor |
| expurgate | to cleanse of something morally harmful, offensive, or erroneous |
| facetious | joking or jesting often inappropriately |
| fatuous | complacently or inanely foolish |
| feckless | generally incompetent and ineffectual |
| fiduciary | one that holds a fiduciary relation or acts in a fiduciary capacity |
| filibuster | an irregular military adventurer |
| gamete | a mature male or female germ cell usually possessing a haploid chromosome set and capable of initiating formation of a new diploid individual by fusion with a gamete of the opposite sex |
| gauche | lacking social experience or grace |
| gerrymander | the act or method of gerrymandering |
| hegemony | preponderant influence or authority over others |
| hemoglobin | an iron-containing respiratory pigment of vertebrate red blood cells that consists of a globin composed of four subunits each of which is linked to a heme molecule, that functions in oxygen transport to the tissues after conversion to oxygenated form in the gills or lungs, and that assists in carbon dioxide transport back to the gills or lungs after surrender of its oxygen |
| homogeneous | of the same or a similar kind or nature |
| hubris | exaggerated pride or self-confidence |
| hypotenuse | the side of a right-angled triangle that is opposite the right angle |
| impeach | to bring an accusation against |
| incognito | with one's identity concealed |
| incontrovertible | not open to question |
| inculcate | to teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions |
| infrastructure | the underlying foundation or basic framework (as of a system or organization) |
| interpolate | to alter or corrupt (as a text) by inserting new or foreign matter |
| irony | a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning -- called also Socratic irony |
| jejune | lacking nutritive value |
| kinetic | of or relating to the motion of material bodies and the forces and energy associated therewith |
| kowtow | an act of kowtowing |
| laissez faire | a doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights |
| lexicon | a book containing an alphabetical arrangement of the words in a language and their definitions |
| loquacious | full of excessive talk |
| lugubrious | exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful |
| metamorphosis | change of physical form, structure, or substance especially by supernatural means |
| mitosis | a process that takes place in the nucleus of a dividing cell, involves typically a series of steps consisting of prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase, and results in the formation of two new nuclei each having the same number of chromosomes as the parent nucleus -- compare MEIOSIS |
| moiety | one of two equal parts |
| nanotechnology | the art of manipulating materials on an atomic or molecular scale especially to build microscopic devices (as robots) |
| nihilism | a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless |
| nomenclature | the act or process or an instance of naming |
| nonsectarian | not having a sectarian character |
| notarize | to acknowledge or attest as a notary public |
| obsequious | marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness |
| oligarchy | government by the few |
| omnipotent | having virtually unlimited authority or influence |
| orthography | the art of writing words with the proper letters according to standard usage |
| oxidize | to combine with oxygen |
| parabola | a plane curve generated by a point moving so that its distance from a fixed point is equal to its distance from a fixed line |
| paradigm | an outstandingly clear or typical example or archetype |
| parameter | an arbitrary constant whose value characterizes a member of a system (as a family of curves) |
| pecuniary | consisting of or measured in money |
| photosynthesis | synthesis of chemical compounds with the aid of radiant energy and especially light |
| plagiarize | to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own |
| plasma | a green faintly translucent quartz |
| polymer | a chemical compound or mixture of compounds formed by polymerization and consisting essentially of repeating structural units |
| precipitous | very steep, perpendicular, or overhanging in rise or fall |
| quasar | any of a class of celestial objects that resemble stars but whose large redshift and apparent brightness imply extreme distance and huge energy output |
| quotidian | occurring every day |
| recapitulate | to restate briefly |
| reciprocal | inversely related |
| reparation | a repairing or keeping in repair |
| respiration | the placing of air or dissolved gases in intimate contact with the circulating medium of a multicellular organism (as by breathing) |
| sanguine | consisting of or relating to blood |
| soliloquy | the act of talking to oneself |
| subjugate | to bring under control and governance as a subject |
| suffragist | one who advocates extension of suffrage especially to women |
| supercilious | coolly and patronizingly haughty |
| tautology | needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word |
| taxonomy | the study of the general principles of scientific classification |
| tectonic | of or relating to tectonics |
| tempestuous | of, relating to, or resembling a tempest |
| thermodynamics | physics that deals with the mechanical action or relations of heat |
| totalitarian | of or relating to centralized control by an autocratic leader or hierarchy |
| unctuous | smooth and greasy in texture or appearance |
| usurp | to seize and hold (as office, place, or powers) in possession by force or without right |
| vacuous | emptied of or lacking content |
| vehement | marked by forceful energy |
| vortex | something that resembles a whirlpool |
| winnow | to remove (as chaff) by a current of air |
| wrought | to bring to pass |
| xenophobe | one unduly fearful of what is foreign and especially of people of foreign origin |
| yeoman | an attendant or officer in a royal or noble household |
| ziggurat | an ancient Mesopotamian temple tower consisting of a lofty pyramidal structure built in successive stages with outside staircases and a shrine at the top |