 | Term | Definition |
| |
abate |
subside or moderate |
| |
aberrant |
abnormal or deviant |
| |
abeyance |
suspended action |
| |
abscond |
depart secretly and hide |
| |
abstemious |
sparing in eating/drinking; temperate |
| |
admonish |
warn |
| |
adulterate |
make impure by adding inferiour substances |
| |
aesthetic |
artistic |
| |
aggregate |
gather |
| |
alacrity |
eagerness |
| |
alleviate |
relieve |
| |
amalgamate |
combine |
| |
ambiguous |
unclear in meaning |
| |
ambivalence |
conflicting emotional attitudes |
| |
ameliorate |
improve |
| |
anachronism |
misplaced in time |
| |
analogous |
comparable |
| |
anarchy |
state of disorder |
| |
anomalous |
abnormal |
| |
antipathy |
dislike; aversion |
| |
apathy |
lack of caring |
| |
appease |
pacify |
| |
apprise |
inform |
| |
approbation |
approval |
| |
appropriate |
acquire |
| |
arduous |
hard |
| |
artless |
without guile; open and honest |
| |
ascetic |
practicing self-denial; austere |
| |
assiduous |
diligent |
| |
assuage |
ease or lesson; satisfy hunger; soothe anger |
| |
attenuate |
make tinner; weaken; lessen |
| |
audacious |
daring |
| |
austere |
stern |
| |
autonomous |
self-governing |
| |
aver |
assert confidently or declare; law term |
| |
banal |
commonplace; trite |
| |
belie |
contradict |
| |
beneficent |
kindly; doing good |
| |
bolster |
support |
| |
bombastic |
pompous |
| |
boorish |
rude |
| |
burgeon |
go forth; send out buds |
| |
burnish |
polish |
| |
buttress |
support |
| |
cacophonous |
inharmonious |
| |
capricious |
unpredictable |
| |
castignation |
punishment |
| |
catalyst |
influences chemical reaction |
| |
caustic |
burning; biting |
| |
chicanery |
deception |
| |
coagulate |
congeal |
| |
coda |
end of music or literary composition; concludes |
| |
cogent |
convincing |
| |
commensurate |
proportionate |
| |
compendium |
brief |
| |
complaisant |
trying to please |
| |
complaint |
yielding |
| |
conciliatory |
reconciling |
| |
condone |
forgive |
| |
confound |
confuse |
| |
connoisseur |
competent to act as judge |
| |
contention |
claim |
| |
contentious |
quarrelsome |
| |
contrite |
penitent |
| |
conundrum |
riddle |
| |
converge |
approach |
| |
convoluted |
intricate |
| |
craven |
cowardly |
| |
daunt |
intimidate |
| |
decorum |
good taste in manners |
| |
default |
failure to act |
| |
deference |
courteous regard for another's wish |
| |
delineate |
portray |
| |
denigrate |
blacken |
| |
deride |
ridicule |
| |
derivative |
unoriginal; from other source |
| |
desiccate |
dry up |
| |
desultory |
aimless |
| |
deterrent |
discourages |
| |
diatribe |
bitter scolding |
| |
dichotomy |
split in two |
| |
diffidence |
shyness |
| |
diffuse |
wordy; spread out |
| |
digression |
wandering away from the subject |
| |
dirge |
lament with music |
| |
disabuse |
correct a false impression |
| |
discerning |
mentally quick and observant |
| |
discordant |
conflicting |
| |
discredit |
defame |
| |
discrepancy |
difference |
| |
discrete |
separate, unconnected |
| |
disingenuous |
insincere |
| |
disjointed |
lacking coherence |
| |
disparage |
belittle |
| |
disparate |
unrelated |
| |
dissemble |
disguise; pretend |
| |
dissolution |
looseness in morals |
| |
dissonance |
opposite of harmony |
| |
distend |
swell out |
| |
distill |
purify |
| |
diverge |
go in different ways |
| |
divest |
strip; deprive |
| |
document |
provide written evidence |
| |
dogmatic |
opinionated |
| |
dormant |
sleeping |
| |
dupe |
easily fooled |
| |
ebullient |
showing excitement |
| |
eclectic |
selective; different sources |
| |
efficacy |
power to produce desired effect |
| |
effrontery |
shameless boldness |
| |
elegy |
poem or song in lamentation |
| |
elicit |
drawn out by discussion |
| |
embellish |
enhance |
| |
empirical |
based on experience |
| |
emulate |
imitate |
| |
endemic |
prevailing amoung a group of people in an area |
| |
enervate |
weaken |
| |
engender |
cause |
| |
ephemeral |
short-lived |
| |
equanimity |
calmness of temperment |
| |
eqivocate |
lie |
| |
erudite |
learned; scholarly |
| |
esoteric |
hard to understand |
| |
eulogy |
expression of praise; funeral |
| |
eqphemism |
mild expression rather than unplesant one |
| |
exacerbate |
worsen |
| |
exculpate |
clear from blame |
| |
exigency |
urgent situation |
| |
extrapolation |
projection |
| |
facetious |
joking |
| |
rallacious |
false; misleading |
| |
fatuous |
brainless |
| |
fawning |
trying to please by flattery |
| |
felicitous |
apt |
| |
fervor |
intensity of feeling |
| |
flag |
droop; grow feeble |
| |
flout |
reject |
| |
forestall |
prevent taking action in advance |
| |
forment |
stir up |
| |
gainsay |
deny |
| |
garrulous |
wordy |
| |
goad |
urge on |
| |
grandiloquent |
using high sounding language |
| |
gregarious |
sociable |
| |
gouge |
overcharge |
| |
guileless |
without deceit |
| |
harrangue |
long speech |
| |
iconoclastic |
attacking cherished traditions |
| |
immutable |
unchangeable |
| |
impair |
hurt |
| |
impassive |
without feeling |
| |
imperturbable |
calm |
| |
implacable |
not capable of being pacified |
| |
implode |
burst inward |
| |
inchorate |
recently begun |
| |
incongruity |
lack of harmony; absurdity |
| |
indigence |
poverty |
| |
indolent |
lazy |
| |
inert |
inactive |
| |
ingenuous |
`naive and trusting |
| |
inherent |
firmly est. by nature or habit |
| |
insensible |
unconscious |
| |
insipid |
lack flavor; dull |
| |
insularity |
narrow-minded; isolation |
| |
intractable |
unruly; stubborn |
| |
intransigence |
refusal of any compromise |
| |
inundate |
overwhelm |
| |
inured |
accustomed |
| |
invective |
abuse |
| |
irascile |
irritable |
| |
irresolute |
uncertain how to act; weak |
| |
laconic |
brief and to the point |
| |
lassitude |
weariness; languor |
| |
latent |
potential but undevloped |
| |
laud |
praise |
| |
levity |
lack of seriousness |
| |
loquacious |
talkative |
| |
lucid |
easy to understand |
| |
magnanimity |
generously |
| |
malingere |
fakes illness to escape duty |
| |
malleable |
capable of being shaped; impressionable |
| |
maverick |
rebel |
| |
mendacious |
lying |
| |
misanthrope |
one who hates mankind |
| |
mitigate |
moderate |
| |
mollify |
soothe |
| |
morose |
sullen |
| |
neophyte |
recent convert; beginner |
| |
obdurate |
stubborn |
| |
obsequious |
slavishly attentive |
| |
obviate |
make unecessary |
| |
occlude |
shut; close |
| |
officious |
meddlesome |
| |
onerous |
burdensome |
| |
opprobrium |
infamy; villification |
| |
partisan |
one-sided; commited to a party |
| |
pathological |
pertaining to disease |
| |
paucity |
scarcity |
| |
pedantic |
showing off learning; bookish |
| |
penury |
severe poverty |
| |
perennial |
long-lasting |
| |
perfidious |
treacherous; disloyal |
| |
perfunctory |
superficial |
| |
permeable |
porous; allow liquids/gas to pass through |
| |
phlegmatic |
calm |
| |
piety |
devoutness |
| |
plasticity |
ability to be molded |
| |
platitude |
trite remark |
| |
precipitate |
rash; premature |
| |
prevaricate |
lie |
| |
pristine |
unspoiled |
| |
probity |
uprightnes |
| |
prodigal |
wasteful |
| |
proliferate |
grow rapidly |
| |
propitiate |
appease |
| |
propriety |
correct conduct |
| |
proscribe |
banish; outlaw |
| |
pungent |
sharp in taste or smell |
| |
quiescent |
at rest |
| |
rarefied |
made less dense (gas) |
| |
recalcitrant |
determined to resist authority |
| |
recondite |
profound; secret |
| |
refractory |
stubborn |
| |
refute |
disprove |
| |
relegate |
banish to inferior position |
| |
reproach |
express disapproval |
| |
reprobate |
person hardened in sin; no decency |
| |
repudiate |
disown |
| |
rescind |
cancel |
| |
reticent |
reserved; inclined to silence |
| |
salubrious |
healthful |
| |
satiate |
satisfy fully |
| |
solicitous |
worried |
| |
soporific |
sleep-causing |
| |
specious |
seeming reasonable but incorrect |
| |
stint |
thrifty; set limits |
| |
stolid |
dull |
| |
striated |
parallel bands; grooved |
| |
strut |
supporting bar |
| |
supersede |
cause to be set aside |
| |
supposition |
hypothesis |
| |
tacit |
understood but not put in words |
| |
tangential |
only slightly connected |
| |
torpor |
sluggishness |
| |
tractable |
docile |
| |
truculence |
aggressiveness |
| |
vacillate |
waver; fluctuate |
| |
venerate |
revere |
| |
veracious |
truthful |
| |
viable |
workable |
| |
viscous |
skicky, gluey |
| |
vituperative |
abusive; scolding |
| |
welter |
turmoil |
