| A | B |
|---|
| accolade | an award or praise |
| ameliorate | to make an unpleasant situation better; to improve |
| baleful | harmful; menacing |
| diatribe | a bitterly critical speech |
| euphemism | word or phrase that's used to make an unpleasant idea sound better |
| fervor | strong passion |
| hiatus | gap; interruption; break in continuity of a process; pause |
| hierarchy | group of people in authority, ranked in order of power |
| ingenuous | naive; unsophisticated; inexperienced |
| myriad | large number; many |
| neophyte | beginner |
| obsequious | behaving like a meek, spineless servant; subservient |
| parsimony | stinginess; excessive frugality |
| primordial | formed long ago; primitive |
| querulous | constantly complaining |
| recluse | person who prefers to be alone all the time; withdrawn from society |
| seeditious | trying to stir up a revolt against an authority figure |
| sporadic | occurring infrequently and without perdictability; occasional |
| stymie | block; get in the way of; hamper |
| tantamount | equal; comparable |
| acrimony | words or behavior filled with harshness, anger, or bitterness |
| banal | boring; trite; insipid |
| benign | gentle; kind-hearted; mild |
| circumscribe | draw a line around; define limits; confine; restrict |
| conundrum | riddle; mystery |
| dissent | to disagree, especially with the majority or with an authority |
| eclectic | choosing from many different sources; carefully selective |
| ephemeral | temporary; short-lived |
| fastidious | difficult to please |
| flagrant | openly and obviously evil; glaring; conspicuous |
| germane | relevant; fitting |
| hackneyed | unoriginal; trite |
| hyperbole | extreme exaggeration |
| impetuous | making quick decisions and taking sudden action; hasty; impulsive |
| insipid | dull; flat; without sparkle or flavor |
| mollify | lessen anger; soothe; placate |
| obtuse | dull; blunt; unintelligent; lacking sharpness |
| redolent | strongly scented; fragrant |
| sanguine | optimistic; cheerful |
| vilify | defame; attack someone's reputation |
| avarice | greed |
| acquiescent | reluctantly agreeable; compliant |
| belie | to give an impression that is the opposite of the ay things really are; misrepresent |
| bumptious | pushy; obnoxiously self-assertive |
| cajole | to fool with flattery or false promies; coax; deceive |
| capitulate | surrender; yield |
| daunted | dismayed; disheartened; discouraged |
| deride | to make fun of; ridicule |
| emulate | imitate |
| esoteric | known to, or understood by, a limited group of people |
| gregarious | sociable; extroverted; enjoying companionship |
| harangue | a long, lecturing speech |
| idolatry | the worship of objects or people as gods |
| imbue | to fill, as with a strong dye or a strong feeling |
| innocuous | harmless; inoffensive |
| morose | depressed |
| nuance | slight degree; shade of difference |
| relegate | reduce or deomte to an inferior place or position; banish |
| truculent | aggressive; savage; cruel |
| ubiquitous | existing everywhere at the same time |
| adamant | refusing to change; stubborn, unyielding |
| adroit | skillful in tthe use of the hands, or in handling difficult situations |
| amorphous | without form or shape |
| belligerent | having a strong tendency to argue and fight |
| bolster | to support; to reinforce |
| cacophony | a collection of sounds or voices that don't blend well; harshness of sound |
| circumspect | cautious |
| concur | agree |
| decadence | moral decline or decay |
| deprecate | disapprove; belittle |
| dogmatic | sticking to widely-accepted beliefs, even when faced ith contrary evidence; closed-minded |
| effervescence | the quality of being bubbly or full of life |
| impede | get in the way; hinder |
| jargon | specialized language used by a particular group |
| lethargic | tired; sluggish; drowsy |
| lugubrious | mournful |
| pithy | to the point; concise |
| repudiate | disown; reject |
| sardonic | humorous, but humor tinged with sarcasm or disdain; cynical |
| undulate | to move in a wavy manner |
| advocate | support; plead for; speak on behalf of |
| asperity | roughness; harshness; irritability |
| bequeath | to leave behind or hand down through a will; transmit |
| capacious | large; roomy; spacious |
| complacent | self-satisfied; unconcerned |
| eradicate | remove completely and permanently; exterminate |
| flippancy | treating a serious situation with arrogat humor or disrespect |
| garrulous | very talkative; loquacious |
| glutton | perosn who consumes huge quantities of food or drink; someone with great endurance |
| homogeneous | the same throughout; consistent; uniform |
| impasse | a situation from which you cannot escape; stalemate |
| incessant | continuous; endless |
| irascible | easily angered |
| jettison | to throw overboard; to discard |
| judicious | wise; making good decisions |
| ludicrous | absurd; ridiculous |
| mitigate | make less severe; mollify |
| nefarious | extremely evil |
| phlegmatic | calm; unemotional |
| sententious | short and to the point; terse |
