 | Term | Definition |
| |
bucolic |
characteristic of the countryside; rustic; pastoral |
| |
burgeon |
to grow and flourish |
| |
burnish |
to polish |
| |
buttress |
to reinforce; support |
| |
cacaphonous |
unpleasant or harsh-sounding |
| |
cadge |
to beg; sponge |
| |
callous |
thick-skinned; insensitive |
| |
calumny |
false and malicious accusation; slander |
| |
canard |
false; deliberately misleading story |
| |
canon |
an established set of principles; a basis or standard for judgment; a group of literary works |
| |
cant |
insincere talk; language of a particular group |
| |
cantankerous |
irritable; ill-humored |
| |
capricous |
fickle |
| |
captious |
faultfinding; intended to entrap, as in an argument |
| |
cardinal |
of foremost importance |
| |
carnal |
of the flesh or body; related to physical appetities |
| |
carping |
to find fault; complain |
| |
cartography |
science of making maps |
| |
caste |
any of the hereditary social classes in Hindu society; social stratification |
| |
castigation |
punishment; chastisement; criticism |
| |
cataclysm |
a violent upheaval that causes great destruction and change |
| |
catalyst |
something that causes change |
| |
categorical |
absolute; without exception |
| |
caucus |
smaller group within an organization |
| |
causal |
involving a cause |
| |
caustic |
burning; stinging; causing corrosion |
| |
celestial |
concerned with sky or heavens; sublime |
| |
centrifugal |
moving away from a center |
| |
centripetal |
moving or directed toward a center |
| |
champion |
to defend or support |
| |
chasten |
to correct by punishment or reproof; to restrain or subdue |
| |
chicanery |
trickery; fraud |
| |
chivalry |
the qualities idealized by knighthood such as bravery and gallantry toward women |
| |
churlish |
rude; boorish |
| |
circuitous |
roundabout |
| |
clamor |
noisy outcry |
| |
clique |
a small, exclusive group |
| |
cloister |
to confine; seclude |
| |
coagulate |
thicken; congeal |
| |
coalesce |
to cause to become one |
| |
coda |
concluding part of a literary or musical composition; something that summarizes or concludes |
| |
codify |
to systematize |
| |
cognizant |
informed; conscious; aware |
| |
collage |
artistic composition of materials pasted over a surface; an assemblage of diverse elements |
| |
commensurate |
proportional |
| |
compendium |
brief, comprehensive summary |
| |
complacent |
self-satisfied |
| |
complaisant |
overly polite; willingness to comply with the wishes of others |
| |
complement |
something that completes or makes up a whole |
| |
compliant |
yielding |
| |
compunction |
uneasiness caused by guilt |
| |
concave |
curving inward |
| |
conciliatory |
overcoming distrust or hostility |
| |
concoct |
to invent |
| |
concomitant |
existing concurrently |
| |
condone |
to overlook voluntarily; forgive |
| |
confound |
to baffle; perplex; mix up |
| |
congenial |
similar in tastes and habits; friendly; suited to |
| |
conjugal |
pertaining to marriage agreement |
| |
connoisseur |
expert in matters of taste; expert knowledge or training |
| |
conscript |
a person compulsorily enrolled for military service |
| |
consecrate |
to declare sacred |
| |
contend |
to assert |
| |
contentious |
quarrelsome; causing quarrels |
| |
contiguous |
touching; neighboring; connecting without a break |
| |
continence |
self-control; abstention from sexual activity |
| |
contrite |
very sorrowful for a wrong; seeking forgiveness |
| |
contumacious |
disobedient; rebellious |
| |
conundrum |
riddle; puzzle with no solution |
| |
convention |
practice widely observed in a group; custom; accepted technique or device |
| |
converge |
to approach; come together; tend to meet |
| |
convex |
curved outward |
| |
convivial |
sociable |
| |
convoluted |
twisted; complicated |
| |
copious |
abundant; plentiful |
| |
coquette |
woman who flirts |
| |
cornucopia |
horn overflowing with fruit and grain; state of abundance |
| |
cosmology |
study of the universe as a totality; theory of the origin and structure of the universe |
| |
covert |
hidden; secret |
| |
covetous |
desiring something owned by another |
| |
cozen |
to mislead by trick or fraud; decieve |
| |
craven |
cowardly |
| |
credence |
acceptance of something as true |
| |
credo |
statement of belief or principle; creed |
| |
daunt |
to discourage; intimidate; dishearten |
| |
dearth |
scarcity |
| |
debauchery |
corruption |
| |
decorum |
proper behavior |
| |
defame |
to malign; harm someone's reputation |
| |
default |
to fail to act |
| |
deference |
respect; regard for another's wish |
| |
defunct |
no longer existing |
| |
delineate |
to represent or depict |
| |
demographic |
related to population balance |
| |
demotic |
pertaining to people |
| |
demur |
to express doubt; question or oppose |
| |
denigrate |
to slur someone's reputation |
| |
denizen |
an inhabitant; a regular visitor |
| |
denouement |
outcome; unraveling of the plot of a play or work of literature |
| |
clairvoyant |
one who can predict the future; psychic |
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