| A | B |
|---|
| abate | to lessen; to subside |
| abdication | giving up control, authority |
| aberrant | deviating from normal or correct. |
| abberation | A departure from the normal or typical: events that were aberrations from the norm |
| abeyance | suspended action |
| abhor | to hate; to detest |
| abide | be faithful; to endure |
| abjure | promise or swear to give up |
| ablution | washing |
| abnegation | self-denial |
| abrogate | repeal or annul by authority |
| abscond | to go away suddenly (to avoid arrest) , to leave secretly and hide, often to avoid the law. |
| abstemious | restraint, especially of food and alcohol |
| abstruse | difficult to comprehend; obscure |
| abut | border on |
| abysmal | bottomless; extreme |
| acarpous | effete; no longer fertile; worn out |
| acclaimed | welcomed with shouts and approval |
| accolade | praise; approval |
| accretion | the growing of separate things into one |
| adamant | kind of stone; inflexible |
| addle | to become rotten; to become confused |
| adduce | to offer as example, reason or proof |
| adjudicate | to settle judicially |
| adjunct | something added; assistant |
| adjure | to beg |
| admonitory | containing warning |
| adorn | add beauty; decorate |
| adulteration | making unpure, poorer in quality |
| adumbrate | to suggest or hint; overshadow |
| adventitious | coming from another source and not innate |
| advocate | to speak, plead, or argue for a cause, or in anothers behalf. (n) -- one who advocates. |
| affable | polite and friendly |
| affinity | close connection relationship |
| aggrandize | to make greater, to increase, thus, to exaggerate. |
| aggravate | make worse; irritate |
| agile | active; quick-moving |
| agnostic | non-committal |
| agog | eager; excited |
| ail | trouble; be ill |
| alacrity | eager and cheerful readiness |
| alcove | recess; partially enclosed place |
| allegiance | duty; support; loyalty |
| alleviate | make (pain) easier to bear |
| alloy | to debase by mixing with something inferior |
| aloof | reserved; indifferent |
| altercate | to dispute angrily or noisily |
| amalgamate | to unite or mix. (n) -- amalgamation. |
| ambidextrous | able to use the left hand or the right equally well |
| ambiguous | vague; subject to more than one interpretation |
| ambivalent | having both of two contrary meanings |
| amble | leisurely walk |
| ambrosial | extremely pleasing to the senses, divine (as related to the gods) or delicious (n: ambrosia) |
| ameliorate | improve; make better |
| amorphous | shapeless |
| amortize | end (a debt) by setting aside money |
| anachronism | a person or artifact appearing after its own time or out of chronological order (adj: anachronistic) |
| anathema | something loathed; curse |
| anguish | severe suffering |
| animosity | strong dislike |
| anomalous | peculiar; unique, contrary to the norm (n: anomaly) |
| antebellum | existing before a war |
| antediluvian | made a long time ago; ancient; outmoded; (literally,before the flood) |
| anthropomorphic | having human characteristics |
| antidote | medicine used against a poison or a disease |
| antipathy | hostility toward, objection, or aversion to |
| antithetical | direct opposing |
| apartheid | brutal racial discrimination |
| aphasia | loss of the power to use or comprehend words |
| aphorism | concise statement of a principle |
| aplomb | self-confidence |
| apostasy | renunciation of a religion |
| apostate | one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions |
| apotheosis | deification; glorification to godliness |
| appease | make quiet or calm |
| appellation | identifying name or title |
| apprehensive | grasping; understanding; unhappy feeling about future |
| apprise | give notice; to inform |
| approbation | approval |
| apropos | appropriate to the situation; apt |
| apt | well-suited; quick-witted |
| arabesque | a complex ornate design |
| arbitrate | to settle a dispute by impulse (n: arbitration) |
| arboreal | of connected with trees |
| ardor | enthusiasm |
| arduous | steep; difficult; ascent; laborious |
| argot | jargon; slang |
| arrant | in the highest degree |
| arrogance | proud superior manner of behaviour |
| articulate | speak distinctly; connect by joints |
| ascend | go or come up |
| ascendancy | dominance |
| ascertain | get to know |
| ascribe | consider to be the origin of or belonging to |
| aseptic | surgically clean |
| ashen | deadly pale |
| asperity | roughness; harshness; ill temper; irritability |
| aspersion | slander |
| assiduous | diligent; hard-working; sedulous |
| assuage | make smth (pain, desire) less |
| assuage | make smth (pain, desire) less; to appease or satisfy |
| asterisk | the mark * (e.g.. omitted letters) |
| astringent | substance that shrinks |
| astute | clever, quick at seeing to get an advantage |
| atelier | artist's workroom |
| atonement | repayment death of Jesus |
| attenuate | make thin; weaken; enervate |
| attenuate | weaken (adj: attenuated) |
| attune | bring into harmony |
| audacious | daring; foolishly bold; impudent (n: audacity) |
| augury | omen; sign |
| august | majestic; venerable |
| auspicious | favorable; successful; prosperous |
| austere | severely moral and strict; simple and plain |
| auxiliary | helping; supporting |
| aver | To affirm positively; to declare; to assert formally as a fact; to justify or prove |
| aversion | strong; dislike |
| avid | eager; greedy |
| avow | admit; declare openly |
| bacchanalian | orgy; a riotous, boisterous, or drunken festivity; a revel |
| bait | to persecute |
| baleful | harmful; ominous; causing evil |
| balk | obstacle; purposely to get on the way of |
| banal | commonplace or trite (n: banality) |
| baneful | causing harm or ruin; pernicious; destructive |
| barefaced | unconcealed, shameless, or brazen |
| barrage | artificial; obstacle built across a river |
| barren | not good enough; unable to have young ones without value |
| bask | enjoy warmth and light |
| beatify | to bless; make happy or ascribe a virtue to |
| bedizen | to adorn, especially in a cheap showy manner |
| belabor | beat hard |
| bellicose | belligerent; pugnacious; warlike |
| belligerent | (person, nation) waging war |
| benediction | something that promotes goodness or well-being |
| benefactor | person who has given help |
| benevolence | wish or activity in doing good |
| benign | kind and gentle; mild (climate) |
| bequest | arrangement to give smth at death |
| berate | scold sharply |
| bereft | rob or dispossess of smth (material) |
| bewilder | puzzle; confuse |
| bigot | stubborn; narrow-minded person |
| bilge | bulge the protuberance of a cask |
| bilk | to cheat |
| blandishment | flattery coaxing |
| blandishment | speech or action intended to coax someone into doing something |
| blandness | polite manner; comforting uninteresting |
| blatant | noisy and rough |
| blithe | cheerful; casual; carefree |
| bluster | to talk or act with noisy swaggering threats |
| bogus | sham; counterfeit; not genuine |
| boisterous | loud; noisy; rough; lacking restraint |
| bolster | give greatly needed support |
| bombast | pompous speech (adj: bombastic) |
| boorish | crude; offensive; rude |
| brash | hasty; rush; cheeky; saucy |
| brass | yellow metal (mixing copper and zinc) |
| brazen | made of brass |
| breach | opening; broken place; breaking |
| breach | a lapse, gap or break, as in a fortress wall. To break or break through.ex: Unfortunately, the club members never forgot his breach of ettiquette. |
| brittle | easily broken |
| broach | bring up; announce; begin to talk about |
| brook | to tolerate, endure |
| buoyant | able to float light-hearted |
| burgeon | grow forth; send out buds |
| burgeon | to grow or flourish; a bud or new growth (adj: burgeoning ) |
| burnish | to polish, rub to a shine |
| buttress | to support. a support |
| cabal | a scheme or plot; a group of plotters |
| cacophony | harsh sound |
| cadence | rhythmic modulation of sound |
| cadge | to beg; to get by begging |
| cadge | to get something by taking advantage of someone |
| cajole | use flattery or deceit; to persuade |
| calumny | slander; aspersion |
| candid | frank; straight-forward |
| cant | insincere talk |
| cantankerous | bad-tempered; quarrelsome |
| canvass | discuss thoroughly; sort of touting |
| caprice | impulse (adj: capricious) |
| captious | critical |
| carouse | to drink alcohol freely |
| carp | to find fault or complain querulously |
| carte blanche | full discretionary power |
| castigate | to chastise or criticize severely |
| castigation | severe punishment |
| catalyst | substance that causes speeding up |
| catalyst | an agent of change (adj: catalytic; v. catalyze) |
| catatonic | immobile |
| catholic | comprehensive; universal |
| caustic | biting; sarcastic |
| caustic | capable of dissolving by chemical action; highly critical: "His caustic remarks spoiled the mood of the party." |
| cavil | to raise trivial and frivolous objection |
| cede/cession | to surrender possession of, especially by treaty |
| celerity | rapidity of motion or action |
| censure | expression of blame or disapproval a rebuke |
| centurion | leader of a unit of 100 soldiers |
| chaff | to tease good-naturedly |
| charlatan | quack or fraud |
| chary | cautious; wary |
| chastisement | punishment |
| chauvinist | a blindly devoted patriot |
| chicanery | legal trickery; false argument |
| chicanery | deception by trickery |
| chimera | illusion or fabrication of the mind |
| chisel | steel tool for shaping materials |
| chivy | to tease or annoy with persistent petty attacks |
| choleric | irritable; bad-tempered |
| chromatic | of color |
| churl | bad-tempered person |
| chutzpah | nerve; gall |
| circumscribe | to draw line around; to limit |
| clamor | shout; complain with a lot of noise |
| clerical | of the clergy or clerk |
| clientele | customers |
| clinch | come to grips; settle conclusively |
| cling | to resist separation |
| clot | half-solid lump formed from liquid |
| cloture | closing device (in Parliament) to end a debate by voting |
| coagulation | change to a thick and solid state |
| coalescing | coming together and uniting into one substance |
| coax | get smb to do smth by kindness |
| coda | passage that completes a piece of music |
| coddle | treat with care and tenderness |
| coerce | compel to force to make obedient |
| coeval | of the same period; coexisting |
| cogent | strong; convincing |
| cogitate | think deeply; mediate |
| cognizant | being fully aware of |
| collusion | secret agreement for a deceitful purpose |
| combustion | process of burning |
| comely | attractive |
| commemorate | keep the memory of |
| commodious | having plenty of space for what is needed |
| commuter | person who travels regularly |
| complaisance | tending to comply; obliging willingness to please |
| complaisant | willingly compliant or accepting of the status quo (n: complaisance) |
| compunction | feeling of regret for one's action |
| conceal | hide; keep secret |
| conceited | having an excessively high opinion of oneself |
| conciliatory | reconciling; soothing; comforting; mollifying |
| concomitant | accompanying |
| concord | agreement or harmony |
| concur | agree in opinion; happen together |
| condense | increase in density, strength; make laconic |
| condone | forgive |
| conflagration | a great fire |
| congeal | make or become stiff and solid |
| congenital | existing from birth; inherent |
| conjoin | to join together |
| connoisseur | a person with good judgement (e.g., in art) |
| connotation | suggestion in addition to |
| console | give comfort or sympathy to |
| conspicuous | easily seen; remarkable |
| consternation | surprise and fear; dismay |
| constrain | compel |
| constrict | make tight or smaller |
| consume | get to the end of |
| consummate | perfect; make perfec, complete |
| contemn | to scorn or despise |
| contentious | argumentative; pugnacious; combative; quarrelsome |
| contiguous | touching; neighboring |
| contrite | filled with deep sorrow for wrongdoing |
| contumacious | insubordinate; rebellious |
| conundrum | a riddle; dilemma; enigma |
| convalesce | to recover health gradually after sickness |
| conviction | firm belief |
| convivial | fond of feasting, drinking, and good company |
| convoke | call together; summon |
| convoluted | complicated; coiled; twisted |
| Copyright | Oleg Smirnov, 2002 |
| cordial | warm and sincere |
| cordon | line (of police acting as a guard) |
| cornucopia | abundant supply |
| corporal | of the body: "corporal punishment." a non-commissioned officer ranked between a sergeant and a private. |
| corporeal | physical of or for the body |
| corporeal | of or having to do with material, as opposed to spiritual; tangible. (In older writings, coeporeal could be a synonym for corporal. This usage is no longer common) |
| corpulent | having a large bulky body |
| correlate | have a mutual relation |
| corroborate | to strengthen or support: "The witness corroborted his story." (n: corroboration) |
| corroboration | additional strengthening evidence |
| countenance | to favor or approve of |
| counterfeit | forgery |
| countervail | counterbalance |
| covert | disguised |
| covetous | eagerly desirous |
| cower | crouch; shrink back |
| coy | shy, modest (esp of a girl) |
| cozen | to cheat |
| crass | very great (esp. stupidity) |
| cravat | piece of linen worn as a necktie |
| craven | cowardly |
| craven | cowardly; a coward |
| crease | line made by crushing white line on the ground in cricket |
| credulous | ready to believe things |
| cringe | to behave in an excessively servile way |
| crotchet | highly individual and usually eccentric opinion |
| cryptic | secret; with a hidden meaning |
| culpable | deserving of blame (n: culpability) |
| cumbersome | burdensome; heavy and awkward to carry |
| cupidity | greed; lust |
| curmudgeon | bad-tempered person |
| curriculum | course of study |
| cursory | quick hurried |
| curtail | make shorter then was planned |
| dainty | pretty, delicate (food); difficult to please |
| dastard | coward |
| daunt | intimidate; make fearful |
| dawdler | person who is slow; waste of time |
| dearth | shortage |
| dearth | lack, scarcity: "The prosecutor complained about the dearth of concrete evidence against the suspect." |
| debacle | a breakup; overthrow; sudden disaster |
| deciduous | ephemeral |
| declaim/declamation | to speak pompously or bombastically |
| declivity | downward inclination |
| decorum | propriety; properness |
| decree | order given by authority |
| decry | disapprove of |
| deference | submission or courteous yielding: "He held his tongue in deference to his father." (n: deferential. v. defer) |
| deferential | showing respect |
| defiance | open disobedience or resistance |
| deign | to condescend; to give |
| deleterious | harmful |
| delineate | to portray, depict, sketch out |
| deluge | great flood; heavy rush of water |
| demagogue | person appealing not to reasons |
| demur | to hesitate; raise objections |
| denigrate | blacken; belittle; defame |
| denouement | an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot |
| depict | to show, create a picture of. |
| deplete | use until none remains |
| deposition | dethronement; depositing |
| deprave | make morally bad, corrupt |
| deprecate | protest against; express disapproval of |
| deprecation | belittlement. (v. deprecate) |
| depredation | the act of preying upon or plundering: "The depredations of the invaders demoralized the population." |
| dereliction | deserting and leaving; to fall into ruins |
| derision | ridicule; mockery; deriding |
| derivative | unoriginal; obtained from another source |
| derogatory | insulting; tending to damage |
| descry | catch sight of; see smth in the distance |
| descry | to make clear, to say |
| desiccant | substance used to absorb moisture |
| desiccate | to dry out thoroughly (adj: desiccated) |
| desuetude | cessation of use; disuse |
| desultory | aimless; haphazard; digressing at random |
| deter | discourage; hinder |
| detraction | slandering; verbal attack; aspersion |
| detumescence | diminishing or lessening of swelling |
| deviance | being different in moral standards (from normal) |
| dexterity | skill (esp. in handling) |
| diaphanous | transparent; gauzy |
| diatribe | bitter and violent attack in words |
| diatribe | a bitter abusive denunciation. |
| didactic | intended to teach; preachy |
| diffidence | shyness |
| diffident | lacking self-confidence, modest (n: diffidence) |
| dilate | speak comprehensively; become wider, large |
| dilatory | intended to delay |
| disabuse | to free from error |
| disabuse | to free a person from falsehood or error: "We had to disabuse her of the notion that she was invited." |
| disallow | refuse to allow or accept as a correct |
| discern | see with an effort but clearly |
| discomfit | confuse; embarrass |
| discompose | to destroy the composure of |
| disconcert | upset the self-possession of |
| disconsolate | cheerless; dejected |
| discountenance | refuse to approve of |
| discourse | speech lecture |
| discredit | refuse to believe |
| discreet | careful, prudent |
| discrete | individually distinct |
| disdain | look on with contempt |
| disencumber | free from encumbrance |
| disheveled | untidy |
| disingenuous | sophisticated; artful; trying to deceive; cunning |
| disinter | dig up from the earth |
| dislodge | move force from the place occupied |
| dismal | sad; gloomy; miserable |
| disparaging | belittling (n: disparagement. v. disparage) |
| disparate | essentially different |
| dispassionate | calm; objective; unbiased |
| disproof | proof to the contrary |
| disquiet | to take away the peace or tranquility |
| dissemble | speak or behave so as to hide smth (in mind) |
| dissemble | to conceal one's real motive, to feign |
| disseminate | distribute (esp. ideas) |
| dissent | have a different opinion refuse to assent |
| dissipate | to be dissolute |
| dissolute | marked by indulgence in vices |
| dissolution | disintegration; looseness in morals |
| distraught | distracted violently; upset in mind |
| divergence | getting farther apart from a point |
| divestiture | taking off; getting rid of; giving up |
| divulge | make known smth secret |
| dogged | stubborn or determined: "Her dogged pursuit of the degree eventually paid off." |
| doggerel | trivial, poorly constructed verse |
| dogmatic | positive; certain; arbitrary without room for discussion |
| dogmatic | relying upon doctrine or dogma, as opposed to evidence |
| dolorous | marked by misery or grief |
| dolt | stupid fellow |
| dormant | in a state of inactivity but awaiting development |
| dote | show much fondness; center one's attention |
| drawl | slow way of speaking |
| droll | jesting |
| drone | male bee; person who isn't self-employed |
| drowsiness | feeling sleepy; half asleep |
| drudge | to do hard, menial or monotonous work |
| dubious | feeling doubt |
| dud | no use person; smth that fails |
| dulcet | melodious; harmonious |
| dupe | cheat; make a fool of |
| duplicity | deliberate deception |
| duress | threats to compel smb |
| dwarf | person or smb much below the usual size |
| dynamo | a generator; something that produces electric current |
| earthenware | dishes made of baked clay |
| ebullience | exuberance; outburst of feeling |
| ebullient | overflowing with enthusiasm; showing excitement |
| eclectic | selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources: "Many modern decorators prefer an eclectic style." (n: eclecticism) |
| ecumenical | representing the whole Christian world |
| edacious | voracious; devouring |
| eddy | circular or spiral movement (e.g., of wind) |
| edible | fit to be eaten; not poisonous |
| efface | to make indistinct |
| effete | infertile; worn out; weak |
| efficacy | production of a desired result |
| efficacy | effectiveness; capability to produce a desired effect |
| effluent | the quality of flowing out. something that flows out, such as a stream from a river (n: effluence) |
| effluvia | outflow in a stream of particles; a noxious odor or vapor |
| effrontery | boldness; impudence; arrogance |
| egregious | flagrant |
| egress | way out; exit |
| elaborate | worked out with much care, in great detail |
| elegy | a lament; a melancholy composition |
| elicit | draw out |
| eloquence | fluent speaking; skillful use of language |
| emaciate | make thin and weak |
| embellish | make beautiful |
| embezzle | use in a wrong way for one's own benefit |
| emollient | soothing to the skin; mollifying |
| emollient | softening; something that softens |
| emote | stir up; excite |
| empirical | relying on experiment |
| emulate | to strive to equal or excel (n: emulation) |
| encapsulate | enclose in capsule |
| encomium | warm or glowing praise; eulogy; panegyric |
| encomium | a formal eulogy or speech of praise |
| encumbrance | burden things that get on the way of |
| endearing | making dear or liked |
| endemic | prevalent in or native to a certain region, locality, or people: "The disease was endemic to the region." Don't confuse this word with epidemic. |
| endorse | write one's name on the back of |
| enduring | lasting |
| enervate | weaken; deprive of strength; attenuate |
| enervate | to weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of: "The heatenervated everyone." (adj: enervating) |
| engender | to give rise to, to propagate, to cause: "His slip of the toungue engendered much laughter." |
| engrave | impress deeply |
| engrossing | taken up all the time or attention; writing in large or formal |
| engulf | swallow up |
| enigma | smth that is puzzling |
| enigma | puzzle; mystery: "Math is an enigma to me." (adj: enigmatic) |
| enmity | hatred; being an enemy |
| ennui | boredom |
| ensign | flag; badge |
| entangle | put into difficulties |
| enthral | please greatly; enslave (fig.) |
| entice | tempt or persuade |
| entreat | ask earnestly |
| enunciate | pronounce (words); express a theory |
| enzyme | catalyst |
| ephemeral | lasting for only a brief time, fleeting (n: ephemera) |
| epicurean | devoted to pleasure (sensuous enjoyment) |
| epigram | terse or witty and often paradoxical saying |
| epistle | letter |
| epithet | adjective |
| epitome | brief summary; representative example; a typical model |
| equable | steady; regular |
| equanimity | calmness of temperament |
| equilibrium | state of being balanced |
| equipoise | equal distribution of weight; equilibrium |
| equivocal | having a double or doubtful meaning; suspicious |
| equivocal | ambiguous; unclear; subject to more than one interpretation -- often intentionally so: "Republicans complained that Bill Clinton's answers were equivocal." (v. equivocate) |
| equivocate | try to deceive by equivocal language |
| eradicate | get rid of; pull up by the roots |
| erratic | irregular in behaviour or opinion |
| erudite | learned scholarly |
| erudite | scholarly; displaying deep intensive learning. (n: erudition) |
| eschew | avoid |
| esoteric | abstruse; intended only for a small circle of |
| esoteric | intended for or understood by only a few: "The esoteric discussion confused some people." (n: esoterica) |
| espouse | marry; give one's support to |
| eulogy | formal praise; panegyric |
| eulogy | a spoken or written tribute to the deceased (v. eulogize) |
| euphoria | elation state of pleasant excitement |
| euthanasia | easy and painless death |
| evasive | tending to evade |
| evince | to show clearly; to indicate |
| evoke | call up; bring out |
| exacerbate | to make more violent, bitter or severe |
| exacerbate | to increase the bitterness or violence of; to aggravate: "The decision to fortify the border exacerbated tensions." |
| excoriation | severe criticism |
| exculpate | to clear from a charge of guilt |
| exculpate | to demonstrate or prove to be blameless: "The evidence tended to exculpate the defendant."(adj: exculpatory) |
| execrate | to denounce; to detest utterly |
| exhaustive | complete; thorough |
| exigency | emergency an urgent situation |
| exoneration | set smb clear, free (e.g., from blame) |
| exorbitant | much too high or great |
| exorbitant | exceeding customary or normal limits, esp. in quantity or price: "The cab fare was exorbitant." |
| expatiate | to roam; wander freely |
| expedient | likely to be useful for a purpose |
| expiation | ending; expiring |
| explicit | fully and clearly expressed |
| exploit | brilliant achievement; develop, use selfishly |
| expostulate | argue earnestly; to dissuade, correct or protest |
| expurgate | to remove obscenity, purify, censor |
| exscind | to cut out; cut away |
| extant | still in existence |
| extant | in existence, still existing: The only extant representative of that species." |
| extempore | without previous thought or preparation |
| extenuate | reduce the strength; lessen seriousness; partially excuse |
| extinct | no longer active |
| extinguish | end the existence of; wipe or put out |
| extirpate | to destroy; exterminate |
| extol | praise highly |
| extort | obtain by threats, violence |
| extralegal | outside the law |
| extraneous | extrinsic; not forming an essential part |
| extricable | that can be freed |
| extrovert | cheerful person |
| exuberance | state of growing vigorously; being full of life |
| facetious | humorous; funny; jocular |
| facile | easily done |
| fallacious | based on error |
| falter | waver; move in an uncertain manner |
| fanciful | imaginary |
| fathom | a measure of length (six feet) used in nautical settings. to penetrate to the depths of something in order to understand it: "I couldn't fathom her reasoning on that issue." |
| fatuous | without sense; foolish self-satisfaction |
| fawn | young deer; try to win smb's favor |
| fawn | to seek favor or attention; to act subserviantly (n, adj: fawning) |
| feckless | lacking purpose or vitality; ineffective |
| fecund | fertile |
| feign | to give false appearance or impression: "He feigned illness to avoid going to school." (adj: feigned) |
| feint | pretend |
| felicitous | apt; suitably expressed; well chosen |
| felon | person guilty of murder |
| ferment | substance; become excited |
| ferocity | savage cruelty |
| ferret | discover by searching; search |
| fervid | showing earnest feeling |
| fervid, fervent | highly emotional; hot: "The partisans displayed a fervent patriotism." (n: fervor) |
| fervor | warmth of feelings; earnestness |
| fetid | stinking |
| fetter | to shackle; put in chains |
| feud | bitter quarrel over a long period of time |
| fidelity | loyalty; accuracy |
| fidget | move restlessly; make nervous |
| figurehead | carved image on the prow of a ship |
| finesse | delicate way of dealing with a situation |
| finical | too fussy about food, clothing, etc. |
| finicky | finical |
| fission | splitting or division (esp. of cells) |
| fixate | stare at |
| flak | criticism; anti-aircraft guns |
| flamboyant | brightly colored; florid |
| flaunting | show off complacently |
| flax | pale; yellow (hair); a plant |
| flay | to skin; to excoriate |
| fledged | able to fly; trained, experienced |
| fledgling | a baby bird; an inexperienced person; inexperienced. |
| fleet | number of ships; quick-moving |
| flinch | draw; move back; wince |
| flop | fail; move; fall clumsily |
| florid | very much ornamented; naturally red (e.g., of face) |
| florid | flushed with a rosy color, as in complexion; very ornate and flowery: "florid prose." |
| flounder | to struggle to move; to proceed clumsily |
| floundering | struggling: "We tried to save the floundering business." |
| flout | reject, mock; to go against (as in going against tradition) |
| fluke | lucky stroke |
| fluster | make nervous or confused |
| foible | defect of character (a person is wrongly proud) |
| foil | prevent from carrying out; contrast |
| foment | put smth warm (to lessen the pain) |
| foolproof | incapable; of failure or error |
| foppish | like a man who pays too much attention to his clothes |
| forage | food for horses and cattle |
| forbear | refrain from; be patient; ancestor |
| forbearance | patience; willingness to wait |
| ford | shallow place in a river (to cross) |
| forebode | to foretell or predict |
| forensic | belonging to courts of judicature |
| forestall | prevent by taking action in advance preempt |
| foretoken | premonitory sign |
| forfeit | suffer the loss of smth |
| forge | workshop for the shaping of metal; to shape metal lead |
| forgery | counterfeit |
| forswear | renounce; disallow; repudiate |
| foster | nurture; care for |
| fracas | noisy quarrel |
| fractious | quarrelsome; irritable |
| fragile | easily injured, broken or destroyed |
| fragrant | sweet-smelling |
| frantic | wildly excited with joy; anxiety |
| frenetic | frantic, frenzied |
| fret | worry; irritation; wear away |
| fringe | edge; ornamental border; part of hair over the forehead |
| froward | intractable; not willing to yield or comply; stubborn |
| frugal | careful; economical |
| fulmination | bitter protest |
| fulsome | disgusting; offensive due to excessiveness |
| fusty | musty; rigidly old-fashioned or reactionary |
| gainsay | to deny; to oppose |
| garble | make unfair selection from facts |
| garment | article of clothing |
| garner | to gather and save to store up |
| garrulity | talkativeness |
| garrulous | too talkative |
| garrulous | verbose; talkative; rambling: "We tried to avoid our garrulous neighbor." |
| gaucherie | socially awkward, tactless behavior |
| germane | relevant pertinent to |
| gist | the point; general sense |
| glean | gather facts in small quantities |
| glib | ready and smooth but not sincere |
| glimmer | weak, unsteady light |
| gloat | look at with selfish delight |
| glut | supply too much; fill to excess |
| gnaw | waste away; bite steadily |
| gnomic | characterized by aphorism |
| goad | smth urging a person to action |
| gorge | eat greedily; narrow opening with a stream |
| gossamer | soft light; delicate material |
| gossamer | fine cobweb on foliage; fine gauzy fabric; very fine: "She wore a gossamer robe." |
| gouge | tool for cutting grooves in wood |
| grandiloquent | using pompous words |
| grave | serious; requiring consideration |
| graze | touch or scrape lightly in passing |
| gregarious | living in societies; liking the company |
| grievous | causing grief or pain; serious |
| grovel | crawl; humble oneself |
| guile | deceit; cunning |
| guile | skillful deceit: "He was well known for his guile." (v. bequile; adj: beguiling. Note, however, that these two words have an additional meaning: to charm (v.) or charming (adj:), while the word guile does not generally have any such positive connotations) |
| guileless | honest; straightforward (n: guilelessness) |
| gullible | easily gulled |
| gush | burst out suddenly; talk ardently |
| gust | outburst of feeling; sudden rain, wind, fire, etc. |
| hack | cut roughly; hired horse |
| halcyon | calm and peaceful |
| hallow | to make holy; consecrate |
| hapless | unfortunate |
| harangue | a long passionate speech |
| harbinger | smth or smb that foretells the coming of |
| hardihood | resolute; courage and fortitude |
| harrow | to distress; create stress or torment |
| haughty | arrogant; conceited |
| headlong | headfirst; impulsive; hasty. impulsively; hastily; without forethought: "They rushed headlong into marriage." |
| heckle | to harass with questions, challenges or gibes |
| hector | to bully |
| heed | attention; give notice to |
| heinous | odious (of crime) |
| heresy | belief contrary to what is generally accepted |
| hermetic | sealed by fusion |
| heterogeneous | made up of different kinds |
| hew | make by hard work cut (by striking) |
| highbrow | (person) with superior tastes |
| hirsute | hairy; shaggy |
| hoax | mischievous trick played on smb for a joke |
| holster | leather case for a pistol |
| homiletics | act of preaching |
| homogenous | similar in nature or kind; uniform: "a homogeneous society." |
| hone | stone used for sharpening tools |
| honorific | conferring or conveying honor |
| hoodwink | trick; mislead |
| hospitable | liking; to give hospitality |
| hubbub | noise; confusion |
| hubris | arrogant pride |
| hush | make or become silent |
| husk | worthless outside part of anything |
| hyperbole | extravagant exaggeration |
| hypocrisy | falsely making oneself appear to be good |
| iconoclast | person who attacks popular beliefs |
| iconoclast | one who attacks traditional ideas or institutions or one who destroys sacred images (adj: iconoclastic) |
| idiosyncrasy | personal mannerism |
| idolatry | excessive admiration of |
| idyll | a carefree episode or experience |
| ignoble | dishonorable; common; undignified |
| ignominious | shameful; dishonorable; undignified; disgraceful |
| illicit | unlawful; forbidden |
| imbroglio | complicated and embarrassing situation |
| immaculate | pure faultless |
| imminent | likely to come or happen soon |
| immutable | that cannot be changed |
| impair | worsen; diminish in value |
| impassioned | filled with passion or zeal |
| impassive | unmoved feeling; no sign of passion |
| impeach | to accuse; to charge with a crime |
| impecunious | having little or no money |
| impecunious | penniless; poor |
| impede | hinder; get in the way of |
| impending | imminent; being about to happen; expected |
| imperative | urgent; essential |
| imperious | commanding; haughty; arrogant |
| imperious | commanding |
| impermeable | that cannot be permeated |
| impertinent | given to insolent rudeness |
| imperturbable | calm; not capable of being excited |
| impervious | not allowing to pass through (of materials) |
| imperviousness | haughty; arrogant; commanding |
| impetuous | having sudden energy; impulsive |
| impiety | lack of reverence or dutifulness |
| implacable | incapable of being placated; unpleasable |
| implicate | show that smb has a share |
| implication | insinuation or connotation (v. implicate) |
| implicit | implied though not plainly expressed |
| implosion | collapse; bursting inward |
| imply | to suggest indirectly; to entail: "She implied she didn't believe his story." (n: implication) |
| importune | beg urgently; solicit (of a prostitute) |
| imprecation | an invocation of evil; a curse |
| impromptu | without preparation |
| improvidence | an absence of foresight; a failure to provide for future needs or events: "Their improvidence resulted in the loss of their home." |
| impudent | rash indiscreet |
| impugned | challenged; to be doubted |
| impunity | exemption from punishment, harm or loss |
| impute | to attribute; to a cause or source; ascribe |
| inadvertent | not paying proper attention |
| inane | silly senseless |
| inasmuch | since; because |
| incandescent | white, glowing or luminous with intense heat |
| incarcerate | to put in prison; to confine |
| incense | make angry |
| incessant | often repeated; continual |
| inchoate | not yet fully formed; rudimentary; elementary |
| inchoate | in an initial or early stage; incomplete; disorganized: "The act of writing forces one to clarify incohate thoughts." |
| incipient | beginning |
| incise | engrave; make a cut in |
| incite | stir up; rouse |
| incongruous | out of place; not in harmony or agreement |
| incorrigibility | cannot be cured or corrected |
| incorrigible | not capable of being corrected: "The school board finally decided the James was incorrigible and expelled him from school." |
| incredulous | skeptical; unwilling to believe |
| inculcate | fix firmly by repetition |
| incumbents | official duties |
| incursion | a raid; a sudden attack |
| indefatigability | not easily exhaustible; tirelessness |
| indelible | that cannot be rubbed out |
| indelible | permanent; unerasable; strong: "The Queen made an indelible impression on her subjects." |
| indigence | poverty |
| indigenous | native |
| indistinct | not easily heard, seen |
| indolence | laziness |
| indomitable | not easily discouraged or subdued |
| indubitable | too evident to be doubted |
| indulge | gratify; give way to; satisfy; allow oneself |
| indulgent | inclined to indulge |
| ineffable | too great to be described in words |
| ineffable | undescribable; inexpressible in words; unspeakable |
| ineluctable | certain; inevitable |
| inept | unskillful; said or done at the wrong time |
| ineptitude | quality of being unskillful |
| infer | to deduce: "New genetic evidence led some zoologists to infer that the red wolf is actually a hybrid of the coyote and the gray wolf." |
| inferno | hell |
| infuriate | fill with fury or rage |
| infuse | put; pour; fill |
| ingenious | clever: "She developed an ingenious method for testing her hypothesis."(n: ingenuity) |
| ingenuous | naïve; young; artless; frank |
| ingenuous | unsophisticated; artless; straightforward; candid: "Wilson's ingenuous response to the controversial calmed the suspicious listeners." |
| ingest | take in by swallowing |
| ingress | the act of entering; entrance |
| inhibit | to hold back, prohibit, forbid, or restrain (n: inhibition, adj: inhibited) |
| inimical | harmful or friendly |
| inimitable | defying imitation; unmatchable |
| innocuous | causing no harm |
| innocuous | harmless; having no adverse affect; not likely to provoke strong emotion |
| inordinate | exceeding reasonable limits |
| inscrutable | incapable of being discovered or understood |
| insensible | unconscious; unresponsive; unaffected |
| insensible | numb; unconscious: "Wayne was rendered insensible by a blow to the head." unfeeling; insensitive: "They were insensibile to the suffering of others.: |
| insinuate | suggest unpleasantly; make a way for smth gently |
| insipid | without taste or flavor |
| insipid | lacking zest or excitement; dull |
| insolvent | unable to pay debts; impoverished |
| insouciant | unconcerned; carefree |
| insular | of or pertaining to an island, thus, excessively exclusive: "Newcomers found it difficult to make friends in the insular community." |
| insularity | narrow-mindedness; isolated |
| insuperable | incapable of being surmounted or solved |
| insurrection | rising of people to open resistance to |
| inter | to entomb or bury |
| interdict | prohibit; forbid |
| interim | as an installment |
| interloper | to encroach; to intrude |
| interpose | to come between |
| interregnum | lapse in a continuous series |
| intersperse | place here and there |
| intimate | to announce; to suggest or hint |
| intractable | not easily managed or controlled; unruly |
| intransigence | unwillingness to compromise; stubbornness; intractability |
| intransigent | uncompromising |
| intransigent | stubborn; immovable; unwilling to change: "She was so intransigent we finally gave up trying to convince her." (n: intransigence) |
| intrepid | fearless; brave; undaunted |
| introspection | examining one's own thoughts and feelings |
| inundate | flood; cover by overflowing |
| inured | accustomed to adapted |
| invective | abusive language; curses |
| inveigh | to attack verbally; denounce; deprecate |
| inveterate | deep-rooted; long-established |
| invidious | of an unpleasant or objectionable nature |
| invincible | too strong to be defeated |
| involute | complex |
| irascible | irritable; easily angered |
| irascible | prone to outbursts of temper, easily angered |
| irate | angry |
| ire | anger |
| irksome | tiresome |
| irresolute | hesitating; undecided |
| irrevocable | final and unalterable |
| itinerate | to travel from place to place; to peregrinate |
| jabber | talk excitedly; utter rapidly |
| jejune | lacking nutritive value; dull; juvenile |
| jettison | to get rid of as superfluous or encumbering |
| jibe | gibe; make fun of |
| jocular | meant as a joke |
| judicious | sound in judgment; wise |
| knit | draw together; unite firmly |
| labyrinthine | to entangle; the state of affairs |
| lachrymose | causing tears; tearful |
| lackluster | (of eyes) dull |
| laconic | using few words; terse: "a laconic reply." |
| lament | show, feel great sorrow |
| lassitude | weariness; tiredness |
| latent | present but not yet active, developed or visible |
| latent | present or potential but not evident or active (n: latency) |
| laudable | praiseworthy; commendable (v. laud) |
| laudatory | expressing or giving praise |
| lavish | giving or producing freely, liberally or generously |
| legacy | smth handed down from ancestors |
| levee | formal reception; embankment |
| leviathan | giant whale, therefore, something very large |
| levity | lack of seriousness |
| libel | statement that damages reputation |
| liberality | free giving; generosity |
| libertine | immoral person |
| licentious | lacking legal or moral restraints |
| lien | legal claim until a debt on it is repaid |
| limn | paint; portray |
| limp | lacking strength; walking unevenly |
| limpid | transparent; absolutely serene and untroubled |
| lionize | treat as a famous person |
| listless | characterized by lack of interest, energy or spirit |
| lithe | bending twisting |
| loll | rest to sit or stand in a lazy way; hang (dog's tongue) |
| lope | move along with long strides |
| loquacious | talkative; garrulous |
| loquacious | talkative |
| lucid | clear; translucent: "He made a lucid argument to support his theory." |
| lucubrate | write in scholarly fashion |
| luculent | easily understood; lucid; clear |
| lugubrious | mournful excessively; sad |
| lugubrious | weighty, mournful, or gloomy, especially to an excessive degree: "Jake's lugubrious monologues depressed his friends." |
| lull | become quiet or less active |
| lumber | move in a clumsy, noisy way |
| luminary | star; light-giving body |
| lurk | be out of view ready to attack |
| lustrous | being bright, polished |
| macabre | gruesome; suggesting death |
| macerate | make or become soft by soaking in water |
| machination | plot, scheme (esp. evil) |
| maelstrom | powerful; violent whirlpool |
| magnanimity | generosity and nobility. (adj: magnanimous) |
| maladroit | tactless; clumsy |
| malapropism | misuse of a word (for one that resembles it) |
| malediction | curse; execration |
| malefaction | evil deed; crime |
| maleficent | baleful |
| malevolence | wishing to do evil |
| malevolent | malicious; evil; having or showing ill will: "Some early American colonists saw the wilderness as malevolent and sought to control it." |
| malign | injurious; speak ill of smb; tell lie |
| malinger | to fake illness or injury in order to shirk a duty |
| malleable | yielding easily; moldable; adapting |
| manacle | chains for the hands or feet |
| massacre | cruel killing of a large number of people |
| matriculation | be admitted enter a university as a student |
| maudlin | sentimental in a silly or tearful way |
| maul | hurt by rough handling |
| maverick | rebel; nonconformist |
| mawkish | sickly or puerilely sentimental |
| mellifluous | sweetly flowing |
| mendacity | dishonesty |
| mendicant | a beggar |
| mercurial | quick, changeable in character; fleeting |
| meretricious | attractive on the surface but of little value |
| mesmerize | hypnotize |
| meticulous | giving great attention to details |
| mettle | quality of endurance or courage |
| mettlesome | courageous; high-spirited |
| miasma | vaporous exhalation causing disease |
| middling | fairly good but not very good |
| minatory | menacing; threatening |
| mince | pronounce or speak affectedly; euphemize |
| misanthrope | person who hates mankind |
| misanthrope | one who hates people: "He was a true misanthrope and hated even himself." |
| mischievous | harmful; causing mischief |
| miscreant | heretical; villainous |
| miser | person who loves wealth and spends little |
| misnomer | incorrect name or word for something |
| misogynist | one who hates women, females |
| misogynist | one who hates women |
| missive | letter |
| mitigate | to make less forceful; to become more moderate; to make less harsh or undesirable: "He was trying to mitigate the damage he had done." (n: mitigation) |
| moderation | quality of being limited; not extreme |
| mollify | make calmer or quieter |
| molt | moult; lose hair, feathers before new growing |
| monomania | excessive concentration on a single object or idea |
| morbid | diseased unhealthy (e.g., about ideas) |
| mordant | biting and caustic; incisive |
| morose | ill-tempered unsocial |
| mottle | surface having colored spots or blotches |
| muffler | cloth worn round the neck; silencer |
| mulish | unreasonably and inflexibly obstinate |
| multifarious | varied; motley; greatly diversified |
| mundane | worldly as opposed to spiritual; commonplace; everyday |
| munificent | characterized by great liberality or generosity |
| myriad | very great number |
| nadir | lowest, weakest point |
| nascent | coming into existence; emerging |
| nebulous | cloud-like; hazy; vague |
| nefarious | wicked, evil: "a nefarious plot." |
| negligent | taking too little care |
| neophyte | person who has been converted to a belief |
| nervy | bold or brash; nervous |
| nexus | a connection, tie or link |
| nibble | show some inclination to accept (an offer) |
| noisome | offensive disgusting (smell) |
| noisome | harmful, offensive, destructive: "The noisome odor of the dump carried for miles." |
| nonchalant | not having interest |
| nonplused | greatly surprised |
| nostrum | a quack, remedy; an untested cure |
| novitiate | period of being a novice; house where novices are trained |
| noxious | harmful |
| nugatory | trifling; worthless |
| obdurate | hardened and unrepenting; stubborn; inflexible |
| obdurate | hardened against influence or feeling; intractable. |
| obfuscate | to darken; make obscure; muddle |
| oblivious | unaware; having no memory |
| obloquy | abusively detractive language; sharp criticism |
| obnoxious | odiously or disgustingly objectionable |
| obsequious | too eager to obey or serve |
| obstreperous | noisy; loud |
| obtain | to be established; accepted or customary |
| obtrusive | projecting; prominent; undesirably noticeable |
| obtuse | blunt; stupid |
| obviate | to make unnecessary; get rid of |
| obviate | to prevent by anticipatory measures; to make unnecessary: |
| occlude | to close or shut off; to obstruct (n: occlusion) |
| occluded | blocked up |
| odious | repulsive; hateful |
| odium | contempt; dislike; aversion |
| odor | smell; favor; reputation |
| offal | waste or by-product of a process; rubbish |
| officious | too eager or ready to help; offer advice |
| ominous | threatening |
| onerous | needing effort; burdensome |
| opaque | not transparent or transluscent; dense; difficult to comprehend, as inopaque reasoning |
| opaqueness | dullness; not allowing light to pass through |
| opprobrious | showing scorn or reproach |
| orotund | sonorous; bombastic |
| ossified | turned to bone; hardened like bone; Inflexible: "The ossified culture failed to adapt to new economic conditions and died out." |
| ossify | to turn to bone; to settle rigidly into an idea |
| ostensible | seeming; appearing as such; professed |
| ostentation | display to obtain admiration or envy |
| ostracism | shut out from society; refuse to meet, talk |
| overhaul | examine thoroughly; to learn about the condition |
| overweening | presumptuously arrogant; being a jerk |
| paean | song of praise or triumph |
| palate | roof of the mouth; sense of taste |
| palatial | magnificent |
| palliate | lessen the severity of |
| palpability | can be felt, touched, understood |
| palpitate | tremble; beat rapidly and irregularly |
| panegyric | formal praise; eulogy |
| panegyric | a writing or speech in praise of a person or thing |
| panoply | smth forming a protective covering; impressive array |
| paradigm | a model; example or pattern |
| parasol | umbrella used as a sunshade, especially by women |
| pariah | an outcast; a rejected and despised person |
| parsimonious | too economical; miserly |
| partisan | one-sided; committed to a party; biased or prejudiced |
| pathos | emotion of sympathetic pity |
| patron | regular customer; person who gives support |
| paucity | scarcity a lacking of |
| peccadillo | small sin; small weakness in one's character |
| peccadillo | a small sin or fault |
| pedantic | bookish; showing off learning |
| pedantic | showing a narrow concern for rules or formal book learning; making an excessive display of one's own learning: "We quickly tired of his pedantic conversation." (n: pedant, pedantry). |
| pedestrian | commonplace; trite; unremarkable |
| peevish | bad-tempered; irritable |
| pellucid | transparent; easy to understand |
| penchant | strong inclination; a liking |
| penitent | feeling or showing regret |
| penurious | poor; stingy |
| penury | extreme poverty |
| perambulate | to travel over or through (esp. on foot) |
| percipient | capable of perception; discerning |
| peregrination | traveling about; wandering |
| peremptory | urgent; imperative |
| perfidious | treacherous; faithless |
| perfidious | deliberately treacherous; dishonest (n: perfidy) |
| perfunctory | done as a duty, without care |
| perilous | dangerous |
| peripatetic | wandering |
| perish | be destroyed decay |
| permeate | spread into every part of |
| pernicious | harmful; injurious |
| perpetrate | be guilty; commit (a crime) |
| perquisite | gratuity or tip |
| personable | pleasing in appearance; attractive |
| perspicacity | quick judging and understanding |
| pertain | belong as a part; have reference |
| pertinacious | stubbornly unyielding or tenacious |
| pest | destructive thing or a person who is nuisance |
| petrified | taken away power (to think, feel, act) |
| petrify | to make hard, rocklike |
| petrous | like a rock, hard, stony |
| petulant | unreasonably impatient |
| petulant | easily or frequently annoyed, especially over trivial matters; childishly irritable |
| philanthropy | tendency or action for the benefit of others, as in donating money or property to a charitible organization |
| philistine | a smug ignorant person; one who lacks knowledge |
| phlegmatic | calm sluggish temperament; unemotional |
| phlegmatic | not easily excited; cool; sluggish |
| picaresque | involving clever rogues or adventurers |
| pied | of mixed colors |
| pinch | be too tight; take between the thumb and finger |
| pine | waste away through sorrow or illness |
| pious | dutiful to parents; devoted to religion |
| piquant | agreeably pungent; stimulating |
| pique | hurt the pride or self-respect; stir (curiosity) |
| pitfall | covered hole as a trap; unsuspected danger |
| pith | essential part; soft liquid substance |
| pivotal | of great importance (others depend on it) |
| placate | soothe; pacify; calm |
| placate | to calm or reduce anger by making concessions: "The professor tried to placate his students by postponing the exam." |
| placid | serenely free of interruption or disturbance |
| plaintive | mournful melancholy; sorrowful |
| plaque | flat metal on a wall as a memorial |
| plastic | related to being shaped or molded; capable of being molded. (n: plasticity n: plastic) |
| platitude | a trite or banal statement; unoriginality |
| plea | request |
| plead | address a court of law as an advocate |
| plethora | glut |
| plethora | excessively large quantity; overabundance: "We received a p lethora of applications for the position." |
| pliant | pliable; easily bent, shaped or twisted |
| plod | continue doing smth without resting |
| pluck | pull the feathers off; pick (e.g., flowers) |
| plumb | get to the root of |
| plummet | fall; plunge steeply |
| plunge | move quickly, suddenly and with force |
| poignant | deeply moving; keen |
| polemic | aggressive attack on opinions of another; disputant |
| poncho | large piece of cloth |
| ponderous | heavy; bulky; dull |
| ponderous | heavy; massive; awkward; dull: "A ponderous book is better than a sleeping pill." |
| portent | omen; marvelous; threatening |
| posit | to postulate; to suggest |
| postulate | to claim; to assume as true, existent or necessary |
| potentate | ruler; one who wields great power or sway |
| pragmatic | concerned with facts; practical, as opposed to highly principled or traditional: "His pragmatic approach often offended idealists." (n: pragmatism) |
| prate | to talk long and idly |
| prattle | to prate; to utter or make meaningless sounds |
| precarious | uncertain; risky; dangerous |
| precepts | rules establishing standards of conduct |
| precipice | cliff with a vertical or nearly vertical face; a dangerous place from which one is likely to fall; metaphorically, a very risky circumstance |
| precipitate | to fall; to fall downward suddenly and dramatically; to bring about or hasten the occurrence of something: "Old World diseases precipitated a massive decline in the American Indian population." |
| precipitous | steep |
| precis | concise summary |
| preclude | prevent; make impossible |
| precursor | something (or someone) that precedes another: "The assasination of the Archduke was a precursor to the war." |
| precursory | preliminary; anticipating |
| predilection | special liking; mental preference |
| predominate | have more power than others |
| preen | tidy; show self-satisfaction |
| premature | doing or happening smth before the right time |
| preponderance | greatness in number, strength, weight |
| presage | warning sign |
| presumption | arrogance |
| preternatural | not normal or usual |
| prevalent | common |
| prevaricate | to equivocate; to stray from the truth |
| prevaricate | to stray away from or evade the truth: "When we asked him what his intentions were, he prevaricated."(n: prevarication; prevaricator) |
| prim | neat formal |
| primp | to dress or arrange in a careful or finicky manner |
| pristine | primitive; unspoiled; pure as in earlier times |
| probity | uprightness; incorruptibility |
| proclivity | inclination |
| procrastination | keeping on putting off |
| prodigal | wasteful; reckless with money |
| prodigal | rashly wasteful: "Americans' prodigal devotion to the automobile is unique." |
| prodigious | enormous; wonderful |
| prodigy | portentous event; omen |
| profane | worldly; having contempt for God |
| profligacy | shameless immorality |
| profligate | wasteful; prodigal; extravagant |
| profundity | depth |
| profuse | abundant; lavish |
| progeny/progenitor | descendants; children |
| prognosticate | to foretell from signs or symptoms; presage |
| proliferate | grow, reproduce by rapid multification |
| prolix | tiring because too long |
| prone | prostrate; inclined to (undesirable things) |
| propagation | increasing the number; spreading; extending |
| propinquity | nearness in time or place; affinity of nature |
| propitiate | to conciliate; to appease: "They made sacrifices to propitiate angry gods." |
| propitiatory | conciliatory; appeasing; mitigating |
| propitious | auspicious; presenting favorable circumstances |
| prosaic | everyday; mundane; commonplace |
| proscribe | denounce as dangerous |
| protean | displaying great diversity or variety; versatile |
| protracted | prolonged |
| provident | frugal; looking to the future |
| provisional | of the present time only |
| provoke | make angry |
| prudence | careful; forethought |
| prudish | easily shocked; excessively modest |
| prune | dried plum; silly person |
| pry | inquire too curiously |
| pucker | wrinkle |
| pugnacious | fond of, in the habit of fighting |
| puissance | strength |
| pulchritude | physical beauty |
| Pulchritudinous | beautiful (n: pulchritude) |
| pummel | to pound or beat |
| punctilious | precise; paying attention to trivialities |
| pundit | pedant; authority on a subject |
| pungency | sharpness; stinging quality |
| pungent | marked by a sharp incisive quality; caustic |
| punitive | inflicting, involving or aiming at punishment |
| purvey | provide supply |
| pusillanimous | cowardly; craven |
| pusillanimous | cowardly, timid, or irreselute; petty: "The pusillanimous leader soon lost the respect of his people." |
| putative | commonly accepted or supposed |
| putrefaction | becoming rotten |
| pyre | large pile of wood for burning |
| quack | person dishonestly claiming |
| quaff | drink deeply |
| quail | lose courage; turn frightened |
| qualm | feeling of doubt; temporary feeling of sickness |
| quandary | state of doubt or perplexity |
| quell | suppress; subdue |
| querulous | habitually complaining |
| quibble | try to avoid by sophistication |
| quiescence | state of being passive, motionless |
| quiescence | inactivity; stillness; dormancy (adj: quiescent) |
| quiescent | at rest; dormant; torpid |
| quirk | habit or action peculiar to smb or smth |
| quixotic | generous; unselfish |
| quotidian | banal; everyday |
| rabble | mob; crowd; the lower classes of populace |
| raconteur | person who tells anecdotes |
| racy | full of zest or vigor; piquant |
| raffish | low; vulgar |
| ragamuffin | ragged; often disreputable person |
| rake | dissolute person; libertine |
| ramble | to move aimlessly from place to place |
| ramify | to be divided or subdivided; to branch out |
| rancorous | feeling bitterness; spitefulness |
| rant | use extravagant language |
| rapacious | greedy (esp. for money) |
| rarefy | to make thin, less dense; to purify or refine |
| rarefy | to make or become thin; to purify or refine (n: rarefaction, adj: rarefied) |
| ratify | to approve and sanction formally |
| rave | act with excessive enthusiasm |
| reactionary | opposing progress |
| rebuff | snub |
| recalcitrant | disobedient |
| recant | take back as being false; give up |
| recast | cast or fashion anew |
| recidivism | relapse into antisocial or criminal behavior |
| reciprocity | granting of privileges in return for similar |
| recitals | a number of performance of music |
| recluse | person who lives alone and avoids people |
| recompense | make payment to reward punish |
| reconcile | settle a quarrel; restore peace |
| recondite | little known; abstruse |
| recourse | turning to someone or something for help |
| recreancy | cowardice; cowardly giving up |
| recreant | coward; apostate or deserter |
| rectitude | the quality of being straight; righteousness |
| recuperate | become strong after illness, loss, exhaustion |
| redeem | get back by payment; compensate |
| redoubtable | formidable; causing fear |
| refine | make or become pure, cultural |
| refractory | stubborn; unmanageable; untractable |
| refulgent | shining; brilliant |
| regale | to delight or entertain; to feast |
| regicide | crime of killing a king |
| reiterate | say or do again several times |
| rejuvenation | becoming young in nature or appearance |
| relapse | fall back again |
| remonstrate | to protest, object |
| renaissance | rebirth or revival |
| renascent | rising again into being or vigor |
| render | deliver; provide; represent |
| renegade | deserter; unconventional or unlawful person |
| renege | to deny; to renounce; to go back on a promise |
| renovate | restore smth to better condition |
| renowned | celebrated; famous |
| repast | meal |
| repel | refuse to accept; cause dislike |
| reprisal | recurrence, renewal or resumption of an action |
| reproach | scold; upbraid |
| reprobate | person hardened in sin; one devoid of decency |
| reproof | the act of censuring, scolding, or rebuking. (v. reprove). |
| repudiate | disown; refuse to accept or pay |
| repulsive | causing a feeling of disgust |
| requiem | mass for the dead; solemn chant for the dead |
| requite | repay; give in return |
| rescind | repeal; annul; cancel |
| rescind | to repeal or annul |
| resigned | unresisting; submissive |
| resilience | quality of quickly recovering the original shape |
| resort | to frequently visit |
| restive | refusing to move; reluctant to be controlled |
| resuscitation | coming back to consciousness |
| retard | check; hinder |
| reticent | reserved; untalkative |
| retrograde | tending toward a worse or previous state |
| revere | have deep respect for |
| reverent | feeling or showing deep respect |
| ribald | crude; characterized by coarse indecent humor |
| riddle | puzzling person or thing |
| rift | split; crack; dissension |
| rivet | fix; take up; secure metal pin |
| roll | call; calling of names |
| rotund | rich and deep; plump and round |
| ruffian | violent cruel man |
| rumple | make rough |
| sacrosanct | most sacred or holy; immune from criticism or violation |
| sagacious | having sound judgment perceptive wise like a sage |
| sagacious | having a sharp or powerful intellect or discernment. (n: sagacity). |
| salacious | obscene |
| sallow | of a grayish greenish yellow color |
| salubrious | healthful |
| salutary | remedial; causing improvement |
| sanctimony | self-righteousness; hypocritical |
| sanction | approval (by authority); penalty |
| sanguinary | bloody |
| sanguine | cheerful; confident; optimistic |
| sanguine | cheerful; confident: "Her sanguine attitude put everyone at ease."(Sangfroid (noun) is a related French word meaning unflappibility. Literally, it means cold blood) |
| sanity | health of mind; soundness of judgement |
| sardonic | disdainfully or skeptically humorous; sarcastic |
| sash | long strip worn round the waist |
| sate | to satisfy fully or to excess |
| satiate | satisfy fully |
| saturnine | gloomy; dark; morose |
| saturnine | having a gloomy or morose temperament |
| savant | person of great learning |
| savant | a very knowledgable person; a genious |
| savor | taste flavor smth |
| sawdust | tiny bits of wood |
| scabbard | sheath for the blade |
| scent | smell (esp. pleasant) |
| scorch | become discolored; dry up; go at high speed |
| scribble | write hastily |
| scruple | minute part or quantity; qualm |
| scrupulous | having moral integrity; punctiliously exact |
| scurrilous | given to coarse language |
| scurvy | mean; contemptible |
| secede/secession | to withdraw from an organization |
| secular | material (not spiritual); living outside monasteries |
| sedulous | diligent; persevering; persistent: "Her sedulous devotion to overcoming her background impressed many." (n: sedulity; sedulousness; adv. sedulously) |
| seminal | like a seed; constituting a source; originative |
| sententious | short and pithy; full of maxims, proverbs |
| sequence | succession; connected line of |
| sere | make hard and without feeling |
| serendipity | phenomenon of finding valuable things not sought for |
| sermon | reproving a person for his faults |
| serrated | having a toothed edge |
| servile | like a slave; lacking independence |
| sever | break off |
| severance | severing |
| shallow | little depth; not earnest |
| shard | piece of broken earthenware |
| sheath | cover for the blade of a weapon or a tool |
| shiftless | lacking in resourcefulness; lacking in ambition |
| shrew | ill-tempered, scolding woman |
| shrewd | astute; showing sound judgement |
| shrill | sharp; piercing |
| shun | keep away from; avoid |
| shunt | send from one track to another; lay aside |
| sidestep | step to one side |
| simper | (give a) silly, self-conscious smile |
| sinew | power; chief supporting force |
| sinuous | winding, undulating, serpentine |
| skiff | small boat |
| skit | short piece of humorous writing |
| slack | sluggish, dull, not tight |
| slake | to assuage |
| slate | king of blue-grey stone; propose; criticize |
| sluggard | lazy slow-moving person |
| slur | join sounds, words (indistinct) |
| smolder | burn slowly without flame |
| snare | trap |
| snub | treat with contempt |
| soar | rise; fly high |
| sober | self-controlled |
| sobriety | quality or condition of being sober |
| sodden | soaked; saturated |
| soggy | heavy with water |
| solvent | of the power of forming a solution |
| somatic | of the body |
| somnolent | likely to induce sleep; inclined to sleep |
| soot | black powder in smoke |
| sophisticated | complex; subtle; refined |
| sophistry | fallacious reasoning; faulty logic |
| sophomoric | self-assured though immature |
| soporific | producing sleep |
| sordid | wretched; comfortless |
| specious | illogical of questionable truth or merit |
| specious | seemingly true but really false; deceptively convincing or attractive: "Her argument, though specious, was readily accepted by many." |
| sphinx | enigmatic or mysterious person |
| spleen | feelings of anger or ill will; often suppressed |
| splenetic | bad-tempered; irritable |
| splice | join (two ends) |
| sponge | porous rubber for washing; live at once expense |
| spurious | counterfeit |
| spurn | have nothing to do; reject or refuse |
| squalid | foul; filthy |
| squander | spend wastefully |
| squat | crouch; settle without permission |
| stanch | to stop the flow of a fluid |
| steeply | rising or falling sharply |
| stentorian | extremely loud and powerful |
| stickler | person who insists on importance of smth |
| stigma | mark of shame or disgrace |
| stigmatize | describe smb scornfully |
| sting | smth sharp |
| stingy | spending, using unwillingly |
| stint | to be thrifty; to set limits |
| stipple | paint with dots |
| stipulate | state or put forward as a necessary condition |
| stolid | showing no emotion; impassive |
| stray | wander; lose one's way |
| streak | long; thin; move very fast |
| striated | striped; grooved or banded |
| stricture | something that limits; adverse criticism |
| stride | walk with long steps |
| strident | characterized by harsh and discordant sound |
| strut | a supporting bar |
| stultify | to cause to appear or be foolish |
| stygian | dark, gloomy |
| stymie | to hinder, obstruct or block |
| subdue | overcome, bring under control |
| subjugate | to conquer; to subdue |
| sublime | extreme, astounding |
| submerge | put under water liquid; sink out of sight |
| suborn | induce by bribery; to commit perjury |
| subpoena | written order requiring a person to appear in a law court |
| substantiation | giving facts to support (statement) |
| subsume | include under a rule |
| subterfuge | deception |
| succor | assistance relief in time of distress |
| suffice | be enough |
| suffocate | cause or have difficulty in breathing |
| suffrage | short prayer usually in a series; right of voting |
| sullied | to be stained or discredited |
| summarily | briefly; without delay |
| summary | done without delay or formality |
| sumptuous | magnificent |
| sundry | various; miscellaneous; separate |
| superannuate | to become retired; to become obsolete |
| supercilious | disdainful; characterized by haughty scorn |
| superficial | only covering the surface: "A superficial treatment of the topic was all they wanted." |
| superfluous | more then is needed or wanted |
| superimpose | put smth on the top |
| supersede | take the place of |
| supine | lying on the back; slow to act; passive |
| suppliant | asking humbly; beseeching |
| supplicate | make a humble petition to |
| suppress | prevent from being known; put an end to |
| surcharge | additional load; charge |
| surfeit | satiate; feed to fulness or to excess |
| susceptibility | sensitiveness |
| swerve | change direction suddenly |
| sybarite | a person addicted to luxury and pleasures of the senses; voluptuary |
| sycophant | person who flatter to the rich and powerful |
| syncopated | abbreviated; stressing the weak beat |
| synopsis | summary or outline |
| tacit | unspoken: "Katie and carmella had a tacit agreement that they would not mention the dented fender to their parents." |
| taciturn | untalkative silent |
| taciturn | habitually untalkative or silent (n: taciturnity) |
| tactile | perceptible by touch |
| tadpole | form of a frog when it leaves the egg |
| talon | claw of a bird of prey |
| tamp | tap or drive down by repeated light blows |
| tamper | interfere with |
| tangential | suddenly changeable |
| tarnished | lost brightness |
| tassel | bunch of threads |
| taunt | contemptuous reproach; hurtful remark |
| taut | tightly stretched |
| tautology | a repetition, redundancy |
| tawdry | cheap; gaudy; showy; tacky |
| teetotal | oppose to alcohol |
| temerity | boldness; brashness; intrepidness |
| temperance | abstinence from alcohol; self-control; moderation |
| temperate | showing self-control |
| temperate | exercising moderation and self-denial; calm or mild (n: temperance) |
| tenacity | firmness; persistency |
| tendentious | biased |
| tenuous | insubstantial flimsy weak |
| tepid | lukewarm |
| termagant | shrew |
| terse | brief and to the point |
| testiness | witness; evidence |
| threadbare | exhausted of interest or freshness; trite |
| thrift | care; economy; thriving; prosperous |
| thwart | obstruct; frustrate |
| timid | shy; easily frightened |
| timorous | fearful; timid |
| tirade (diatribe) | an angry speech: "His tirade had gone on long enough." |
| toady | obsequious flatterer |
| tonic | smth giving strength or energy |
| topple | be unsteady and overturn |
| torment | severe pain or suffering |
| torpid | sleeping; sluggish; lethargic; dormant |
| torque | twisting force causing rotation |
| tortuous | devious; not straightforward |
| tortuous | twisted; excessively complicated: "Despite public complaints, tax laws and forms have become increasingly tortuous." Note: Don't confuse this with torturous. |
| tout | person who worries others to buy smth to use his service |
| tractable | easily controlled or guided |
| tractable | ability to be easily managed or controlled: "Her mother wished she were more tractable." (n: tractibility) |
| traduce | to malign; to violate |
| transgress | break; go beyond (a limit) |
| transient | temporary; fleeting |
| transitory | brief |
| travesty | parody; imitation |
| tremulous | characterized by trembling; affected with timidity |
| trenchant | forceful; effective; vigorous |
| trepidation | alarm; excited state of mind |
| trickle | flow in drops |
| trifling | unimportant |
| trite | not new |
| truce | (agreement) stop of fighting for a time |
| truckle | to act in a subservient manner |
| truculence | aggressiveness; ferocity |
| trudge | walk heavily |
| turbid | muddy; having the sediment stirred up |
| turbulence | being uncontrolled; violent |
| turgid | excessively ornate; swollen or bloated |
| turmoil | trouble; disturbance |
| turmoil | state of extreme confusion, agitation or commotion |
| turpitude | wickedness; shamefulness |
| turpitude | depravity; baseness: "Mr. Castor was fired for moral turpitude." |
| turquoise | greenish-blue precious stone |
| tyro | tiro; beginner |
| tyro | beginner; person lacking experience in a specific endeavor: "They easily took advantage of the tyro." |
| ubiquitous | present everywhere |
| ulterior | situated beyond |
| umbrage | offense; resentment |
| uncouth | rough; awkward |
| underbid | make a lower bid then smb else |
| undermine | weaken gradually at the base |
| undulate | to move in wavelike fashion; fluctuate |
| unearth | discover and bring to light |
| unencumbered | easy-going; trifle |
| unexceptionable | not open to objection or criticism |
| unfeigned | not pretended; sincere |
| unscathed | unharmed; unhurt |
| unseemly | inappropriate; indecorous |
| untoward | unfortunate; inconvenient |
| upbraid | scold; reproach |
| urbane | elegant; refined in manners |
| vacillation | being uncertain; hesitating |
| vacuous | empty; without contents; without ideas or intelligence:: "She flashed a vacuous smile." |
| vagary | strange act or idea |
| vain | without use, result; conceited |
| valedictory | of an act of bidding farewell |
| valiant | brave |
| valorous | brave |
| vanquish | conquer |
| vaunt | to boast |
| veer | change direction |
| venal | ready to do smth dishonest |
| veneer | surface appearance covering the true nature |
| venerate | great respect or reverence: "The Chinese traditionally venerated their ancestors; ancestor worship is merely a popular misnomer for this tradition." (n: veneration, adj: venerable) |
| veneration | regard with deep respect |
| venial | excusable |
| veracity | truth |
| verbose | wordy: "The instructor asked her verbose student make her paper more concise." (n: verbosity) |
| verdant | fresh and green |
| verisimilitude | appearing true or real |
| veritable | real; rightly named |
| verve | spirit; vigor; enthusiasm |
| vestige | trace or sign |
| vex | annoy; distress; trouble |
| vex | to annoy; to bother; to perplex; to puzzle; to debate at length: "Franklin vexed his brother with his controversial writings." |
| vigilance | watchfulness; self-appointed group who maintain order |
| vigilant | member of a vigilance committee |
| vigorous | strong; energetic |
| vilify | slander; say evil things |
| vindicate | to free from allegation or blame; to justify |
| vindictive | having a desire to revenge |
| viraginous | of a virago |
| virago | a loud domineering woman; a scold or nag |
| visceral | of the internal organs of the body |
| viscous | sticky; semi-fluid |
| viscous | slow moving; highly resistant to flow: "Heintz commercials imply that their catsup is more viscous than others'." (n: viscosity) |
| vitiate | lower the quality; weaken the strength |
| vituperate | curse; abuse in words |
| vivacious | lively; high-spirited |
| volatile | changeable; inconstant |
| volatile | explosive; fickle (n: volatility). |
| volition | power of choosing or determining |
| volubility | fluency; verbosity; easy use of spoken language |
| voluble | fluent |
| voluptuous | full of pleasure to the senses |
| voracious | craving or devouring large quantities of food, drink, or other things. She is a voracious reader. |
| vouchsafe | to grant (often in a gracious manner) |
| waffle | talk vaguely and without much result |
| waft | scent; waving movement; carry lightly through |
| wag | merry person |
| warmonger | person who stirs up war |
| warrant | authority; written order; guarantee |
| waver | to hesitate or to tremble |
| wean | to turn away (from a habit) |
| welter | turmoil; a bewildering jumble |
| wend | to go, proceed |
| wheedle | to influence or entice by soft words or flattery |
| whimsical | full of odd and fanciful ideas |
| wince | show bodily or mental pain |
| woo | try to win |
| WORD | DEFINITION |
| wrangle | to dispute angrily or peevishly |
| wretched | extremely pitiful or unfortunate (n: wretch) |
| writ | written order |
| yarn | tale, story, fibers for knitting |
| zeal | enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal (n: zealot; zealoutry. adj: zealous) |
