 | Term | Definition |
| |
Arcane |
(adj) mysterious, abstruse; esoteric; knowable only to initiates |
| |
Arabesque |
(noun) a complex; ornate design; also to a dance position |
| |
Apprise |
(verb) to give notice to; to inform |
| |
Apposite |
(adj) appropriate; pertinent; relevant apropos |
| |
Apotheosis |
(noun) deification; glorification to godliness |
| |
Apostate |
(noun) one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions |
| |
Apogee |
(noun) farthest or highest point; culmination zenith |
| |
Apocryphal |
(adj) of dubious authenticity or orgin; spurious |
| |
Antithetical |
(adj) diametrically opposed; as in antithesis |
| |
Antipathy |
(noun) aversion; dislike |
| |
Anodyne |
(adj/noun) soothing; something that assuages or allays pain or comforts |
| |
Anathema |
(noun) a solemn or ecclesiastical (religious) curse; accursed or throughly loathed person or thing |
| |
Adumbrate |
(verb) to foreshadow or intimate; to suggest sketchilly; to obscure |
| |
Adroit |
(adj) adept; dexterous |
| |
Admonish |
(verb) to reprove; to express warning or disapproval |
| |
Accretion |
(noun) growth; increase by successive addition, building up |
| |
Acarpous |
(adj) effete; no longer fertile; worn out |
| |
Abscission |
(noun) the act of cutting off or removing |
| |
Abrogate |
(verb) to abolish or annul by authority; to put down |
| |
Abjure |
(verb) to renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to avoid |
| |
Chimera |
(noun) an illusion; originally, an imaginary fire-breathing she- monster |
| |
Chauvinist |
(noun) a blindly devoted patriot |
| |
Chasten |
(verb) to chastise or correct |
| |
Celerity |
(noun) speed; alacrity |
| |
Cavil |
(verb) to find fault without good reason |
| |
Caret |
(noun) an insertion mark (^) used by editors and proof- readers |
| |
Captious |
(adj) calculated to confuse or entrap in argument; hypercritical; cavailing |
| |
Caparison |
(verb) to adorn or bedizen |
| |
Calumny |
(noun) slander; aspersion |
| |
Calumniate |
(verb) to slander; to make a false accusation |
| |
Cajole |
(verb) to inveigle, coax, or wheedle |
| |
Cadge |
(verb) to sponge or mooch |
| |
Cachinnate |
(verb) to laugh loudly |
| |
Cabal |
(noun)a scheme or plot; group of plotters |
| |
Byzantine |
(adj) labyrinthine; complex |
| |
Burnish |
(verb) to polish; to rub; to shine |
| |
Boor |
(noun) a rudeor insensitive person, lout |
| |
Boisterous |
(adj) loud, noisy, rough, lacking restraint |
| |
Blithe |
(adj) carefree, merry |
| |
Blandish |
(verb) to toady or fawn |
| |
Bilge |
(noun) bulge; the protuberance of cask |
| |
Bellicose |
(adj) belligerent; pugnacious, warlike |
| |
Belie |
(verb) to give a false impression of; to misrepresent |
| |
Bedizen |
(verb) to adorn, especially in a cheap, showy manner; to feastoon |
| |
Beatify |
(verb) to bless, make happy or ascribe a virtue to; to regard as saintly |
| |
Bane |
(noun) cause of injury; poison; source of harm |
| |
Baleful |
(adj) sinister; pernicious, ominous |
| |
Aver |
(verb) to affirm, to assert, to prove, to justify, to asservate |
| |
Auspicious |
(adj) favorable; propitious; successful; prosperous |
| |
Auspice |
(noun) protection or support, patronage |
| |
Augury |
(noun) omen; portent |
| |
Attenuate |
(verb) to rarefy; to weaken or make thinner |
| |
Assiduous |
(adj) diligent, hard working, sedulous |
| |
Asseverate |
(verb) to aver; to allege; to assert |
| |
Assay |
(noun/ verb) an analysis; examination; test; to put to a test |
| |
Aspersion |
(noun) an act of defamation or maligning, animadversion |
| |
Asperity |
(noun) severity, rigor, roughness, harshness, acrimony, irritablilty |
| |
Asceric |
(noun/ adj) someone practicing self-denial, austere, stark |
| |
Artless |
(adj) completely without guile; natural; without artificiality |
| |
Arrant |
(adj) impudent |
