| A | B |
|---|
| acuity | sharpness, keenness |
| adept | having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude |
| admonish; admonition | warn, scold, caution interpretations |
| ambiguous | unclear meaning, two possible interpretations |
| apocalyptic | involving or portending widespread devastation or ultimate doom |
| apocryphal | of questionable authenticity |
| appellation | a name, title, or designation |
| archetype; archetypal | an original model, pattern or type (after an original model) |
| ascertain | to determine; to find out |
| assiduous | diligent, persistent |
| baize | a type of coarse woolen cloth, often green, usually used for covering card tables |
| base | inferior; dishonorable |
| bastion | a well-fortified positon |
| berate | to rebuke, reprimand, or scold |
| bourgeoisie | the middle class; in the Marxist theory, the social group opposed to the proletariat (working class) |
| calumny | slander; a false statement maliciously made to injure another’s reputation |
| cat | tedious talk; monotonous talk filled with platitudes |
| censure | to reprimand; to excommunicate (expel, as for the priesthood) |
| coarse | lacking refinement or rough grained in texture |
| confute | to prove to be wrong or in error |
| connoisseur | a person with expert knowledge or training, especially in the fine arts |
| corporeal | having physical substance, material form |
| decry | express strong disapproval of |
| defer; deference | submit or yield to another’s wish or opinion |
| deliquesce (verb) | to disappear as if by melting |
| dilatory | inclined to waste time and lag behind |
| disparage | to criticize someone or something in a way that show you do not respect or value them |
| draught | a current of unpleasantly cold air blowing through a room (archaic for draft) |
| dray | a large low carriage with four wheels pulled by horses |
| dyspeptic; dyspepsia | always angry or easily annoyed or having indigestion |
| elicit | to call forth, draw out, or provoke; to bring or draw out |
| emit | to send out a beam, noise, smell or gas |
| espionage | spying; the discovering of secrets, especially political or military information of another country or the industrial information of a business |
| facile | easy, effortless |
| feign | to pretend, to dissemble, to misrepresent |
| fester | to become infected, to suppurate; an infection (can be a noun and a verb) |
| festoon(ed) | draped, decorated as for a parade or state event |
| fledgeling | new and inexperienced |
| gainsay | challenge, dispute |
| genuflect, genuflections | to bow as before a priest (obeisances, reverent gestures) |
| grandeur | magnificent, splendid, vast beauty |
| grudging, grudgingly | done in an unwilling way; unwillingly |
| hack | a reporter, artist or writer whose work is no very good |
| husband (ed) | to use something carefully so that you do not use all of it |
| illicit | contrary to accepted morality (especially sexual morality) or convention |
| illusory | not real, based on illusion |
| imbibe | to drink, especially alcohol |
| inexorable | without end, interminable |
| introspection | examination of the attention to your ow ideas, thoughts, and feelings |
| kowtow | to show too much respect to someone in authority, always obeying them and changing what you do in order to please them; what a “toady” does, sucking up |
| languid, languished, languor | without energy; pleasant mental or physical tiredness or lack of activity |
| latent | potentially existing but not presently evident or realized |
| magnanimity | great generosity of spirit or money |
| malevolent, malevolence | ill will, maliciousness |
| mutton | meat from a sheep |
| orthodoxy | a belief or orientation agreeing with conventional standards |
| parochial | provincial; country-like, or of a parish (church community or region) |
| pathos | poignancy; quality of emotion in a work of art of literature |
| pecuniary | relating to money; monetary |
| permeate | pervade, penetrate, get into everything |
| pernicious | deadly, harmful, pestilent |
| pious, piety | godly, reverent, holy (state of being pious) |
| plait, plaits | to braid; braids |
| porter | a railroad employee who assists passengers |
| prattle | idle talk, to go on and on meaninglessly |
| precipitate; precipitous | to cause to happen, especially suddenly or prematurely; done hastily, without thought |
| precocious | characterized by or characteristic of exceptionally early development or maturity, especially mental development |
| prerogative | privilege, right |
| profligate | wasteful, extravagant, prodigal |
| prostate | to lay face down on the ground in humility, submission, or adoration |
| prudent | careful and sensible; marked by sound judgment |
| qualm(s) | an uncomfortable feeling of doubt about whether you are doing the right thing |
| randy | sexually aroused |
| recitation | an event when one recites a literary work (usually) orally for an audience |
| reiterate; reiteration | to say or explain again |
| resonant; resonance | strong and deep in tone or strongly reminiscent; evocative |
| rheumatism | any painful disorder of the joints or muscles or connective tissues |
| sated; satiety | satisfied; full |
| scant, scanty | barely sufficient |
| schizoid | of, relating to, or having a personality disorder marked by extreme shyness, flat affect, discomfort with others, and an inability to form close relationships; a person who is reclusive |
| self-abasement | to put oneself down, to denigrate oneself |
| sodden | drenched, soaked, sopping; expressionless, stupid, or dull, especially from drink |
| tawdry | cheap, gaudy, trashy, tacky |
| throes | condition of agonizing struggle or trouble |
| timorous | fearful; shy; timid |
| torrent | an overwhelming number or amount or a violently fast stream of water |
| torpor | listlessness; languor, without energy, apathetic |
| transcendent; transcendence | beyond ordinary; sublime |
| transient, transience | fleeting; not lasting |
| tremulous | quivering as from weakness or fear |
| turbid | churned up; cloudy, muddy, murky |
| unabashed | not embarrassed |
| variegated | having streaks, marks, or patches of a different color or colors; varicolored |
| veracity | truthfulness |
| veritable | being truly so-called; real or genuine |
| vigilant ; vigilance | on guard, cautiously aware, continuous attention |
| vigilante | one who takes or advocates the taking of law enforcement into one’s own hands |
| vociferation; vociferous | cry out loudly and vehemently, especially in protest |
| voluble; volubility | talking easily, readily, and at length; fluen |
| weft | the horizontal threads interlace through the warp in a woven fabric |
