- adulation: flattery; admiration
- affable: easily approachable; warmly friendly
- aggregate: total
- aloof: apart; reserved
- ambivalence: the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes
- amorphous: formless; lacking shape or definition
- antediluvian: antiquated; extremely old
- antidote: medicine to counteract a posion or disease; something that relieves a harmful effect
- archaic: ancient; out of date
- ardent: intense; passionate; zealous
- ascendancy: controlling influence; domination
- audacious: daring; bold
- austere: forbiddingly stern; severely simple and unornamented
- autonomous: self-governing
- avarice: greediness for wealth
- aversion: firm dislike
- beguile: charm; mislead or delude
- belie: contradict; give a false impression
- bolster: support; reinforce
- bombastic: pompous; using inflated language
- boorish: improper or lacking manners; rude; disagreeable
- braggart: boaster
- calculated: deliberately planned
- candor: frankness; open honesty
- capricious: unpredictable; fickle
- censorious: severely critical; apt to blame or condemn
- charlatan: a quack; pretender to know knowledge
- coalesce: combine; fuse
- cogent: having the power to compel conviction or move the will
- colloquial: pertaining to conversational or common speech
- conflagration: great fire
- confound: confuse; puzzle
- culpable: deserving blame
- decadent: declining in standards; corrupt; immoral
- depravity: extreme corruption; wickedness
- deprecate: express disapproval of; belittle
- diatribe: a bitter, sharply abusive denunciation, attack, or criticism; tirade
- disclose: reveal
- discriminating: able to see differences
- disputatious: argumentative; fond of arguing
- dissent: disagree
- divergent: varying; going in different directions from the same point
- document: provide written evidence
- dogmatic: opinionated; arbitrary
- eclectic: composed of elements drawn from diverse sources
- eddy: a current of water or air moving in a circular direction
- egotism: excessive self-importance; conceit
- elated: overjoyed; in high spirits
- elegy: poem or song expressign lamentation
- elusive: hard to grasp
- enmity: ill will; hatred
- equivocal: ambiguous; intentionally misleading
- eulogy: expression of praise
- evanescent: fleeting; vanishing
- exuberance: joyful enthusiasm; overflowing abundance
- fallow: plowed but not sowed; uncultivated
- fastidious: difficult to please; really careful
- furtive: stealthy; sneaky
- garrulous: talkative; wordy
- gregarious: sociable
- heresy: opinion contrary to popular belief
- hyperbole: exaggeration; overstatement
- hypocritical: pretending to be virtuous; deceiving
- iconoclastic: attacking cherished traditions
- imbibe: to drink in; absorb
- immutable: unchangeable
- impudence: impertinence; insolence
- incite: arouse to action
- inconsequential: insignificant; unimportant
- induce: persuage; bring about
- insubordinate: not submitting to authority; disobedient
- insularity: narrow-mindedness; isolation
- intrepid: fearless
- jocular: said or done in jest; joking
- linger: loiter or dawdle; continue or persist
- mercenary: interesed in money or gain
- misanthrope: a hater of humanity
- mitigate: moderate; appease
- morose: ill-humored; sullen
- nadir: the lowest point; point of greatest adversity or despair
- nascent: in beggining stages; recently born
- nefarious: very wicked
- obstinate: stubborn; hard to control or treat
- pacifist: one opposed to force; antimilitarist
- pastiche: a composition made up of bits from various sources
- penury: severe poverty; stinginess
- peripheral: outer; marginal
- perspicacity: good judgement; acute understanding
- pithy: concise; meaningful; substantial; meaty
- placate: pacify; conciliate
- polemical: aggressive in verbal attack; disputatious
- ponderous: weighty; unwieldy
- prodigal: wasteful; reckless with money
- profusion: overabundance; lavish expenditure; excess
- quagmire: soft wet boggy land; complex or dangerous situation from which it is difficult to free oneself
- querulous: complaining; fretful
- quiescence: state of being at rest; dormancy; temporary inactivity
- rancor: bitterness; hatred
- raucous: harsh and shrill; disorderly and boisterous
- raze: destroy completely
- robust: vigorous; strong
- satiated: satisfied; full
- soporific: sleep-causing; marked by sleepiness
- sporadic: occuring irregularly
- stolid: dull; impassive
- strident: loud and harsh; insistent
- surfeit: satiate; stuff; indulge to excess in anything
- surreptitious: secret; furtive; sneaky; hidden
- sycophant: servile flatterer; bootlicker; yes man
- tantamount: equivalent in effect or value
- tenacity: firmness; persistance
- timorous: fearful of danger; timid; deficient in courage
- tirade: extended scolding; denunciation
- torpor: lethargy; sluggishness; dormancy
- trifling: trivial; unimportant
- truncate: shorten; cut the top off
- virulent: extremely posionous; hostile; bitter
- whimsical: capricious; fanciful
- zealot: fanatic; preson who shows excessive enthusiasm