| A | B |
|---|
| abstract | theoretical; lacking substance |
| acclaim | praise; applause; admiration |
| acquiesce | to give in; to agree |
| acute | sharp; shrewd |
| advocate | to speak in favor of; to support |
| aesthetic | having to do with artistic beauty |
| alleviate | to lessen; to relieve |
| amass | to accumulate |
| ambiguous | unclear in meaning; confusing |
| ambivalent | undecided; blowing hot and cold |
| ameliorate | to make better or more tolerable |
| amiable | friendly |
| amity | friendship |
| anarchy | absence of government |
| anecdote | a brief, entertaining story |
| animosity | resentment; hostility; ill will |
| apathy | lack of emotion or interest |
| apocryphal | of doubtful origin; false |
| appease | to soothe; to pacify by giving in to |
| apprehensive | worried; anxious |
| arrogant | feeling superior to others; snooty |
| articulate | speaking clearly and well |
| ascetic | hermitlike; practicing self-denial |
| assuage | to soothe; to pacify; to ease the pain of |
| astute | perceptive; intelligent |
| atrophy | to waste away from lack of use |
| augment | to add to; to increase; to make bigger |
| auspicious | favorable; promising; pointing to a good result |
| austere | unadorned; stern; forbidding |
| authoritarian | like a dictator |
| banal | unoriginal; ordinary |
| bastion | stronghold; fortress |
| belittle | to make to seem little |
| belligerent | combative; quarrelsome; waging war |
| benefactor | a generous donor |
| benevolent | kind; good-hearted; generous |
| benign | gentle; not harmful; kind; mild |
| blasphemy | irrevernce; an insult to something held sacred |
| brevity | briefness |
| candid | honest; frank |
| caustic | like acid; corrosive |
| censure | to condemn severely for doing something bad |
| coalesce | to come together as one; to fuse; to unite |
| complacent | smug; self-satisfied |
| compliant | yielding; submissive |
| conciliatory | making peace |
| concise | brief and to the point; succinct |
| condescend | to stoop to someone else's level; to patronize |
| condone | to overlook; to permit to happen |
| congenial | agreeably suitable; pleasant |
| conspicuous | standing out; obvious |
| contempt | reproachful disdain |
| credulous | believing; gullible |
| cryptic | mysterious; mystifying |
| deference | submission to another's will; respect |
| denounce | to speak out against; to condemn |
| deplete | to use up; to reduce; to lessen |
| depravity | moral corruption |
| deride | to ridicule |
| desecrate | to profane a holy place |
| deter | to prevent; to stop |
| didactic | instructive; intended to instruct |
| digress | to go off the subject |
| diligent | hardworking |
| discernment | insight; ability to see things clearly |
| discord | disagreement |
| discriminate | to make a clear distinction |
| disdain | arrogant scorn; contempt |
| disparage | to belittle; to say uncomplimentary things about |
| disparate | different; incompatible |
| dispassionate | without passion; objective; neutral |
| dissent | disagreement |
| diverse | varied |
| dogmatic | arrogantly assertive of unproven ideas |
| dubious | doubtful; uncertain |
| eccentric | not conventional |
| efface | to erase; to rub away the features of |
| elaborate | detailed; careful; thorough |
| elusive | hard to pin down; evasive |
| emulate | to strive to equal or excel, usually by imitation |
| engender | to create; to produce |
| enhance | to make better; to augment |
| enigma | mystery |
| ephemeral | short-lived; fleeting; not lasting |
| esoteric | hard to understand; peculiar |
| euphony | pleasant sound |
| exemplary | outstanding; setting a great example |
| exhaustive | thorough; complete |
| expedient | providing an immediate advantage |
| expedite | to make faster or easier |
| extol | to praise |
| extraneous | irrelevant; extra; unnecessary; unimportant |
| fallacious | deceptive; misleading; false |
| fanatic | one who is extremely devoted to a cause or idea |
| fastidious | meticulous; demanding |
| fervor | passion |
| fickle | capricious; whimsical; unpredictable |
| flagrant | shocking; outstandingly bad |
| fortuitous | accidental;occurring by chance |
| frivolous | not serious; not solemn; with levity |
| furtive | secret |
| futile | hopeless; without effect |
| gravity | seriousness |
| guile | cunning; duplicity |
| hackneyed | banal; overused; trite |
| hedonistic | pleasure-seeking; indulgent |
| heresy | opinion violently opposed to established beliefs |
| idiom | a peculiar expression |
| immutable | unchangeable; permanent |
| impartial | unbiased; neutral |
| inadvertent | lax; careless; without intention |
| incessant | unceasing; never-ending |
| incoherent | jumbled; chaotic; impossible to understand |
| incongruous | not harmonious; not consistent |
| indifferent | not caring one way or the other |
| indolence | laziness |
| indulgent | lenient; yielding to desire |
| inevitable | unavoidable; bound to happen |
| infamous | shamefully wicked; disgraceful |
| innate | existing since birth; inborn; inherent |
| innocuous | harmless; banal |
| innovate | to be creative; to introduce something new |
| innumerable | too many to number or count; many |
| insipid | dull; banal |
| instigate | to provoke; to stir up |
| ironic | satiric; unexpected |
| jeopardy | danger |
| languish | to become weak, listless, or depressed |
| laudable | worthy of praise |
| lax | careless; not diligent; relaxed |
| lethargy | sluggishness; laziness; drowsiness |
| levity | lightness; frivolity; unseriousness |
| lucid | clear; easy to understand |
| meander | to wander slowly, like a winding river |
| mitigate | to lessen the severity of something |
| negligence | carelessness |
| neutral | unbiased; not taking sides; objective |
| novel | new; original |
| objective | without bias |
| obscure | unclear; clouded; partially hidden |
| orthodox | conventional; adhering to established doctrines |
| paucity | scarcity |
| pedestrian | common; ordinary; banal |
| peripheral | unimportant |
| philanthropy | love of mankind; donating to charity |
| pious | reverent or devout |
| pivotal | crucial |
| pragmatic | practical; down-to-earth |
| preclude | to prevent; to make impossible; to shut out |
| predecessor | someone or something that came before another |
| prodigal | extravagant; wasteful |
| prodigious | extraordinary; enormous |
| profound | deep; insightful |
| profuse | flowing; extravagant |
| prosaic | dull; unimaginative |
| provincial | limited in outlook; narrow |
| provocative | exciting; attracting attention |
| prudent | careful; having foresight |
| redundant | repetitive; unnessary; excessively wordy |
| refute | to disprove; to prove to be false |
| relegate | to banish; to send away |
| relevant | important; pertinent |
| remorse | sadness; regret |
| reprehensible | worthy of blame or censure |
| repress | to hold down |
| reproach | to scold |
| repudiate | to reject; to deny |
| rescind | to repeal; to take back formally |
| resignation | reluctant acceptance of a bad situation |
| resolute | determined; firm; unwavering |
| respite | a rest; a period of relief |
| reticent | restrained; uncommunicative |
| retract | to take back; to withdraw; to pull back |
| revere | to worship; to honor |
| rigorous | strict; harsh; severe |
| sage | wise; possessing wisdom derived from experience |
| scanty | inadequate; minimal |
| scrupulous | strict; careful; hesitant for ethical reasons |
| scrutinize | to examine closely |
| servile | submissive and subservient |
| slander | to defame; to speak maliciously of someone |
| solemn | serious; grave |
| solicit | to ask for; to seek |
| squander | to waste |
| stagnation | motionlessness; inactivity |
| static | stationary; not changing or moving |
| stoic | indifferent to pleasure or pain, to joy or grief |
| stringent | strict; restrictive |
| subtle | not obvious; able to make fine distinctions |
| supercilious | haughty; patronizing |
| superficial | on the surface only; shallow |
| sycophant | one who sucks up to others |
| taciturn | untalkative by nature |
| tangible | touchable; palpable |
| tedious | boring |
| temperate | moderate; restrained |
| tentative | experimental; temporary; uncertain |
| torpor | sluggishness; inactivity; apathy |
| trepidation | fear; apprehension; nervous trembling |
| uniform | consistent; unchanging |
| unprecedented | happening for the first time; never seen before |
| vacillate | to be indecisive; to waver back and forth |
| vehement | urgent; passionate |
| verbose | wordy; overly talkactive |
| virtuoso | masterful musician; a masterful practitioner |
| virulent | extremely poisonous; malignant |
| volatile | quick to evaporate; highly unstable; explosive |
| volition | will; conscious choice |
| voluminous | very large; spacious |
| voluntary | willing; unforced |
| willful | deliberate; obstinate; insistenton having one's way |
| zealous | fervent; enthusiastically devoted to something |
