 | Term | Definition |
| |
abase |
lower ; humiliate |
| |
abash |
to embarrass |
| |
abate |
to lessen |
| |
abominate |
to loathe ; hate |
| |
abstruse |
profound ; difficult to understand |
| |
accentuate |
to stress ; emphasize |
| |
acclivity |
sharp incline of a hill |
| |
accolade |
award ; honor |
| |
accost |
to approach and speak to |
| |
adroit |
skillful |
| |
adulate |
to flatter and praise so much it's sickening |
| |
adulterate |
to make impure |
| |
adumbrate |
to foreshadow by disclosing only partially |
| |
adverse |
hostile ; opposed ; unfavorable |
| |
advocate |
to urge ; recommend |
| |
aesthetic |
artistic ; pertaining to a sense of what is beautiful |
| |
affected |
fake |
| |
affinity |
attraction |
| |
affluent |
rich |
| |
affray |
public brawl |
| |
agape |
open-mouthed |
| |
aghast |
horrified |
| |
agile |
able to move in a quick and easy fashion |
| |
alacrity |
cheerful promptness |
| |
alias |
a false name |
| |
alimentary |
supplying nourishment |
| |
allay |
to soothe ; to make more bearable |
| |
alleged |
stated without proof |
| |
alleviate |
to make more bearable |
| |
allude |
to refer indirectly |
| |
allusion |
a reference to something |
| |
altercation |
a violent dispute |
| |
amass |
to collect; to get a bunch of |
| |
ambulatory |
able to walk |
| |
ameliorate |
to improve a bad situation |
| |
amity |
peaceful relation; friendship |
| |
amnesia |
loss of memory |
| |
amok |
freaked out and violently pissed off |
| |
amorphous |
shapeless |
| |
anthropoid |
humanlike |
| |
antipathy |
hatred; aversion; dislike |
| |
apathetic |
indifferent; showing lack of interest |
| |
apathy |
indifference; lack of interest |
| |
apex |
tip; peak; summit; way up there |
| |
appease |
to soothe; placate |
| |
arbitrary |
chosen at random or without apparent reason |
| |
ardor |
heat; passion; zeal |
| |
askew |
crooked; off to one side |
| |
assuage |
to ease; pacify |
| |
astute |
shrewd; wise; observing |
| |
attribute |
(n.) a characteristic, usually a good one (v.) to explain by indicating a cause |
| |
atypical |
not typical |
| |
audacity |
boldness |
| |
august |
majestic; awe-inspiring |
| |
austerity |
severity; strictness |
| |
averse |
opposed; unwilling |
| |
avuncular |
a funky word meaning "like an uncle" |
| |
awry |
twisted; crooked; out of whack; askew; wrong |
| |
bacchanalian |
orgiastic; like wild drunken revelry |
| |
baleful |
refers to something that exerts an evil influence or foreshadows evil |
| |
baneful |
refers to somethingthat is really poisonous or deadly |
| |
barrister |
lawyer |
| |
bawdy |
obscene; coarse; humorous |
| |
beatific |
displaying or imparting joy |
| |
begrudge |
to envy; to resent |
| |
beguile |
trick |
| |
belated |
delayed; late |
| |
bellicose |
violent; warlike |
| |
benevolent |
kind |
| |
berate |
to scold severely |
| |
bereft |
lacking something needed |
| |
betroth |
to become engaged |
| |
biennial |
every two years |
| |
bland |
not stimulating; dull |
| |
blandishment |
flattery |
| |
blighted |
ruined; destroyed; withered |
| |
boisterous |
rowdy |
| |
bombastic |
grandiloquent |
| |
braggadocio |
cockiness; a braggart |
| |
brevity |
briefness |
| |
brusque |
brief; curt; gruff; discourteous |
| |
bucolic |
pastoral; typical of farms and rural life |
| |
bumptious |
self-assertive |
| |
burgeon |
to grow; sprout; flourish |
| |
burnish |
to polish |
