| A | B |
|---|
| alacrity | eager and enthusiastic willingness |
| approbation | an expression of approval or praise |
| astringent | having a tightening effect on living tissue; harsh; severe |
| aver | to state as a fact; to confirm or support |
| chary | wary; cautious |
| cogent | appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing |
| credulous | tending to believe too readily; gullible |
| demur | to question or oppose |
| disabuse | to undeceive; to set right |
| dissemble | to disguise or conceal; to mislead |
| elegy | a mournful poem, especially one lamenting the dead |
| emollient | soothing, especially to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying |
| endemic | characteristic of or often found in a particular locatily, region, or people |
| enervate | to weaken; to reduce in vitality |
| equivocate | to use ambiguous language with a deceptive intent |
| evanescent | tending to disappear like vapor; vanishing |
| exculpate | exonerate; to clear of blame |
| exigent | urgent; pressing; requiring immediate action or attention |
| flout | to demonstrate contempt for, as in a rule or convention |
| fulminate | to loudly attack or denounce |
| grandiloquence | pompous speech or expression |
| halcyon | calm and peaceful |
| iconoclast | one who attacks or undermines traditional conventions or institutions |
| implacable | not capable of being appeased or significantly changed |
| impunity | immunity from punishment or penalty |
| inchoate | in an initial stage; not fully formed |
| ingenuous | artless; frank and candid; lacking in sophistication |
| inimical | damaging; harmful; malevolent |
| intractable | not easily managed or directed; stubborn, obstinate |
| intransigent | refusing to compromise |
| inured | accustomed to accepting something undesirable |
| inveigle | to obtain by deception or flattery |
| laconic | using few words; terse |
| magnanimity | the quality of being generously noble in mind and heart, especially in forgiving |
| mendacity | the condition of being untruthful; dishonesty |
| mollify | to calm or soothe; to reduce in emotional intensity |
| neologism | a new word, expression, or usage; the creation or use of new words or senses |
| neophyte | a recent convert; a beginner; novice |
| obdurate | unyielding; hardhearted; intractable |
| obtuse | lacking sharpness of intellect; not clear or precise in thought or expression |
| obviate | to anticipate and make unnecessary |
| occlude | to obstruct or block |
| opprobrium | disgrace; contempt; scorn |
| paean | a song or hymn of praise and thanksgiving |
| penurious | penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous |
| perfidy | intentional breach of faith; treachery |
| perspicacious | acutely perceptive; having keen discernment |
| pith/pithy | the essential or central part; precise and brief |
| polemical | controversial; argumentative |
| precipitate | to cause or to happen before anticipated or required; acting with excessive haste or impulse |
| probity | adherence to highest principles; uprightness |
| prodigal | recklessly wasteful; extravagant; profuse; lavish |
| profligate | excessively wasteful; recklessly extravagant |
| prosaic | dull; unimaginative |
| quaff | to drink deeply |
| query | question; inquiry; doubt in the mind; reservation |
| quiescence | stillness; motionlessness; quality of being at rest |
| rancorous | characterized by bitter, long-lasting resentment |
| rarefy | to make or become thin, less dense; to refine |
| recalcitrant | obstinately defiant of authority; difficult to manage |
| recondite | hidden; concealed; difficult to understand; obscure |
| redoubtable | awe-inspiring; worthy of honor |
| refulgent | radiant; shiny; brilliant |
| rhetoric | the art or study of effective use of language for communication and persuasion |
| salubrious | promoting health or well-being |
| sedulous | diligent; persistent; hardworking |
| soporific | causing drowsiness; tending to induce sleep |
| surfeit | excess; overindulgence |
| torpid | lethargic; sluggish; dormant |
| torque | a force that causes rotation |
| truculent | fierce and cruel; eager to fight |
| untenable | indefensible; not viable; uninhabitable |
| variegated | multicolored; characterized by a variety of patches of different color |
| vituperate | to use harsh, condemnatory language; to abuse or censure severely or abusively; berate |
