- abstruse: difficult to understand, recondite, concealed
- aesthetic: relating or pertaining to a sense of beauty or art
- affable: friendly, courteous, amiable
- aloof: apart, indifferent
- altruistic: unselfishly concerned for the welfare of others, generous
- ambivalent: having contrary feelings or attitudes, uncertain as to course of action
- angular: lean; sharp cornered; gaunt
- antithesis: a direct opposite, a contrast
- archaic: antiquated, old, out of use
- arrogant: overbearingly assuming; insolently proud
- ascend: to move upward, to rise from a lower station
- assuage: to ease, to mitigate, to make less painful or burdensome, to calm
- audacity: excessive boldness, rashness, daring
- austere: strict, stern; unadorned, ascetic
- autonomous: independent, self-contained
- aversion: strong disinclination, disliking
- banal: common, ordinary, lacking freshness, hackneyed
- belie: to contradict, to give a false impression
- benign: not causing harm, of gentle disposition, beneficial
- capricious: changing suddenly, fickle
- contentious: quarrelsome, stirring controversy
- contrite: extremely apologetic, remorseful, repentant
- credulous: believing on slight evidence, gullible
- daunt: to intimidate, to dismay
- dawdle: to waste time, to spend time idly, to move in a lackadaisical manner
- debililate: to weaken, to enfeeble
- defamation: act of harming or ruining another's reputation
- depravity: moral corruption, a wicked or perverse act
- deprecate: to disapprove regretfully, to belittle, to express mild disapproval
- didactic: instructive, designed to teach
- discern: to differentiate between two or more things
- discord: lack of agreement, tension, strife
- disdain: intense dislike; to treat with scorn or contempt, to reject as unworthy
- disparage: to degrade; to speak of someone or something in a derogatory manner
- disparity: inequality, the condition or fact of being unequal in age, rank, or degree
- dissemination: the act of spreading widely; scattering
- dogmatic: strongly opinionated in an unwarranted manner
- dormant: inactive, sleeping
- duplicity: double-healing, hypocrisy
- egocentric: self-centered, selfish
- embellish: to decorate, to make beautiful with ornamentation
- engender: to cause, to produce, to create
- enigmatic: mysterious, inexplicable, puzzling
- erudite: scholarly
- esoteric: understood only by a small group or a select few
- euphemism: substitution of an inoffensive term for one that is offensive
- exacerbate: to aggravate, to irritate, to vex
- exotic: foreign, unfamiliar
- extol: to praise, to glorify
- fastidious: reflecting a meticulous or demanding attitude, critical to an extreme
- furtive: secret in an underhand way, stealthy
- fuse: to mix or to join
- gluttonous: greedy for food and drink
- gregarious: sociable and outgoing
- hypocrite: one who is insincere or deceitful
- immutable: unchanging
- incorrigible: incapable of being reformed or improved
- innate: existing from birth, inborn
- innocuous: harmless, producing no injury
- insipid: boring and stupid
- lament: to mourn or to express sorrow in a demonstrative manner
- laud: to praise, to extol
- lethargic: sluggish, languid
- loathe: to detest
- melancholy: depression of spirits
- mitigate: to cause to become less harsh or hostile; to make less severe
- mundane: ordinary, commonplace
- nullify: to cause not to be in effect, to negate
- obscure: difficult to see, vague
- ominous: threatening
- opaque: not allowing the passage of light; not transparent; hard to understand
- ostentatious: showy, pretentious
- pacifistic: opposed to war or to use of force
- petulance: unreasonable touchiness or irritability
- pompous: exaggerated show of dignity or self-importance, bombastic
- precocious: exceptionally early in development or occurrence
- pretentious: making an extravagant outward show, self-important
- prodigal: wastefulm a person given to extravagance
- prolific: abundantly fruitful, marked by great productivity
- prologue: introductory remarks in a speech, play or literary work; introductory action
- recant: to withdraw or to repudiate a statement or belief, revoke
- reprove: to scold or to rebuke for a misdeed usually with kindly intent
- repudiate: to reject, to disown, to disavow
- reticence: restraint in speech, reluctance to speak
- revere: to honor, to regard with respect
- serene: calm, placid
- servile: overly submissive
- slothful: lazy, indolent
- subtle: delicate, elusive, not obvious
- superflous: beyond what is needed or required, an overflow
- symmetry: balanced proportions
- taciturn: quiet, not verbose
- tranquil: peaceful, calm
- trepidation: fear, trembling, agitation
- trivia: insignificant matters
- venerate: to honor, to revere
- verbose: wordy, very talkative
- villify: to malign, to defame, to utter abusive statements against
- virulent: extremely poisonous; hateful
- volatile: quickly changeable, easily vaporized