 | Term | Definition |
| |
Burgeon |
to grow rapidly or flourish |
| |
Caustic |
causing corrosion; burning or stinging |
| |
Chary |
wary; cautious; sparing |
| |
Cogent |
appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing |
| |
Contentious |
argumentative; causing controversy or disagreement; quarrelsome |
| |
Contrite |
regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness |
| |
Demur |
to question or oppose |
| |
Eclectic |
composed of elements from various sources |
| |
Emollient |
soothing to the skin |
| |
Ephemeral |
brief; fleeting |
| |
Esoteric |
intended for or understood by a small, specific group |
| |
Furtive |
marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious |
| |
Impecunious |
lacking funds; w/o money |
| |
Incipient |
beginning to come into being or to become apparent |
| |
Inveigle |
to obtain by deception or flattery |
| |
Pernicious |
extremely harmful; potentially causing death |
| |
Putrefy |
to rot; to decay and give off a foul odor |
| |
Quiescence |
stillness; motionless; quality of being at rest |
| |
Torpid |
lethargic; sluggish; dormant |
| |
Acquiesce |
to give in or permission |
| |
Glut |
excessive in supply |
| |
Foible |
minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect; weaker part of a sword or blade |
| |
Salve |
to soothe or heal; an analgesic or medicinal ointment |
| |
Fester |
to generate pus; to grow worse or hostile |
| |
Egalitarian |
affirming; characterized by belief in the equality of all people esp. in political, economic, social, and civil aspects |
| |
Abate |
to lessen in intensity or degree |
| |
Accolade |
an expression of praise |
| |
Adulation |
excessive praise; intense adoration |
| |
Aesthetic |
dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art of the beautiful |
| |
Ameliorate |
to make better or more tolerable |
| |
Ascetic |
one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as an act of religious devotion |
| |
Avarice |
greed, esp. for wealth |
| |
Axiom |
a universally recognized principle |
| |
Bucolic |
rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants |
| |
Cacophony |
harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance |
| |
Canon |
an estab. set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature |
| |
Castigation |
severe criticism or punishment |
| |
Catalyst |
a person or thing that causes change |
| |
Complaisance |
the willingness to comply with the wishes of others |
| |
Culpable |
deserving blame |
| |
Dearth |
smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; a lack |
| |
Didactic |
intended to teach or instruct |
| |
Discretion |
cautious reserve in speech; ability to make responsible decisions |
| |
Disinterested |
free of bias or self-interest; impartial |
| |
Dogmatic |
expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or unprovable principles |
| |
Ebullience |
the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings |
| |
Elegy |
a mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead |
| |
Empirical |
based on observation or experiment |
| |
Enigmatic |
mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand |
| |
Eulogy |
a speech honoring the dead |
| |
Exonerate |
to remove blame |
| |
Facetious |
playful; humorous |
| |
Fallacy |
an invalid or incorrect notion; a mistaken belief |
| |
Gregarious |
sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people |
| |
Harangue |
to deliver a pompous speech or tirade; a long pompous speech |
| |
Heretical |
violating accepted dogma or convention |
| |
Hyperbole |
an exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech |
| |
Inert |
unmoving; lethargic; sluggish |
| |
Innocuous |
harmless; causing no damage |
| |
Intransigent |
refusing to compromise |
| |
Morose |
sad; sullen; melancholy |
| |
Odious |
evoking intense aversion or dislike |
| |
Opaque |
impenetrable by light; not reflecting light |
| |
Oscillation |
the act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm |
| |
Penurious |
penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous |
| |
Peruse |
to examine with great care |
| |
Pious |
extremely reverent or devout; showing strong religious devotion |
| |
Precursor |
one that precedes and indicate or announces another |
| |
Preen |
to dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care |
| |
Prodigious |
abundant in size, force or extent; extraordinary |
| |
Prolific |
producing large volumes or amounts; productive |
| |
Quaff |
to drink deeply |
| |
Redoubtable |
awe-inspiring; worthy of honor |
| |
Sanction |
authoritative permission or approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority to |
| |
Satire |
a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision |
| |
Squalid |
sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect |
| |
Stoic |
indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast |
| |
Supplant |
to take the place of; supercede |
| |
Ubiquitous |
existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; widespread |
| |
Urbane |
sophisticated; refined; elegant |
| |
Vilify |
to defame; to characterize harshly |
| |
Viscous |
thick; sticky |
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