| A | B |
|---|
| invective | denounce He hated his former business partner so much that he let forth a stream of invective whenever someone mentioned his name. |
| judicious | wise and considered. She made a judicious decision when she refused to have children; her career consumed all her time and energy. |
| labyrinth | maze. the New York City subway resembles a labyrinth to out of town visitors. |
| licentious | lascivious. Fielding's novel TOM JONES satirizes the loose and licentious society of the 18th century. |
| lineament | feature or contour of a body or figure. Race horses have more slender lineaments and graceful appearance than horses bred for work. |
| malign | defame, slander. A candidate with integrity will not malign the reputation of her opponent in order to gain votes for herself. |
| maudlin | weakly and excessively sentimental. "Don't get all mush and maudlin on me!" remonstrated the handsome rescuer. "Your're all right now." |
| mordant | bitingly sarcastic. "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift contains perhaps the most mordant and penetrating social criticism every written. |
| nadir | lowest point. The opposite of being at the zenith of one's career, is being at the nadir and unemployed. |
| nebulous | vague, unclear, befuddled. Her explanations were nebulous and sounded more like excuses than an honest account of the incident. |
| noxious | harmful; pernicious. Good ventilation in the chemistry lab dispelled the noxious fumes of the experiment. |
| obliterate | erased. An eraser will obliterate any pencil marks you wish to remove. |
| officious | meddlesome. Officious people are never welcome in any office because they decrease the efficiency of everyone. |
| omnivorous | taking everything in; eating everything. She is an onmivorous reader and will eagerly peruse any written work placed before her. |
| perspicuous | lucid, concise. You are expected to write perspicous literary papers with appropriate tone, mechanics and content. |
