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list 6
Term | Definition |
---|---|
ablution | A washing or cleansing (esp. of the body) |
abrade | To wear down or rub away through friction |
adage | A traditional saying or proverb |
adumbrate | To give a sketchy outline of or foreshadow |
aggrandize | To make appear greater, larger, more powerful |
anachronism | The representation of someone or something as existing outside their proper time |
antebellum | Period before war |
aplomb | Self-confident assurance |
apoplectic | Extremely angry; furious |
apposition | The placement of something next to or side by side |
arabesque | An intricate pattern or design |
arbiter | One empowered or chosen to judge or decide a disputed issue |
arboreal | Of or pertaining to trees |
asperity | Harshness or roughness of manner |
attenuate | To make slender, small, fine or less dense; to weaken |
august | Inspiring awe or admiration; majestic |
aver | To affirm positively; to assert as fact |
baleful | Portending evil; ominous; harmful in intent |
balk | To refuse stubbornly and abruptly |
ballast | Something that gives balance or stability (esp. in character) |
blandishment | Flattery or wheedling intended to coax |
blithe | Carefree |
brusque | Abrupt and curt in manner or speech; discourteously blunt |
calumny | A false statement intended to injure another’s reputation; slander |
circumlocution | Evasion in words or speech; a roundabout expression |
circumspect | Heedful of circumstance and potential consequences; prudent |
cloy | To cause distaste by supplying too much of something which was originally pleasant (e.g. by being too sweet) |
coeval | Existing during the same period of time; a contemporary |
compendium | A short, complete summary |
compunction | A strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt |
corporeal | Of or relating to the body; of a physical nature; tangible |
cravat | A band of fabric worn around the neck as a tie |
deciduous | Falling off or shedding at a specific season; ephemeral |
decry | To condemn openly |
deign | To deem worthy of account |
desideratum | Something considered necessary or highly desirable |
discountenance | To look upon with disfavor |
disinter | To remover from a grave or tomb; exhume |
donnybrook | An uproar or free-for-all |
dulcet | Pleasant to the ear |
dynamo | A machine that generates energy; an extremely energetic and forceful person |
eave | The projecting overhang at the lower edge of a roof |
ebullient | Zestfully enthusiastic; boiling or bubbling |
effulgence | Splendor |
elegy | A poem or song lamenting the dead |
entreat | To ask for or request earnestly |
epicurean | Devoted to the pursuit of pleasure |
epistle | A letter |
epithet | A term used to characterize a person or thing; an insult |
equipoise | Equality in distribution of weight |
espy | To catch sight of |
exculpate | To relieve of blame |
expectorate | To spit or cough up |
expedient | Appropriate to a purpose; self-serving |
expiate | To make amends for; to atone |
expropriate | To deprive of possession; to transfer (another’s property) to oneself |
exscind | To cut out |
extant | Still in existence; not extinct |
extempore | In an impromptu manner; done without preparation or forethought |
extenuate | To lessen the seriousness or importance of |
extradite | To hand someone over to the legal jurisdiction of another authority |
facile | Easy |
finical | Finicky |
fledge | To take care of a young bird until it can fly; to cover with feathers |
florid | Ruddy; flowery |
garrulous | Tiresomely talkative |
gibe | To make jaunting, heckling, or jeering remarks |
gossamer | A soft, sheer gauzy fabric; light, delicate or tenuous |
grandstand | To perform ostentatiously so as to impress |
hallow | To make or set apart as holy; to revere |
hermetic | Completely sealed; impervious to outside influence |
hew | To cut down (with an ax) |
hibernal | Of or relating to winter |
hirsute | Hairy |
hubris | Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance |
idyll | A short poem or prose piece which romanticizes pastoral life |
imbroglio | A difficult situation or entanglement; a confused disagreement |
imperious | Arrogantly dominating or overbearing; fearless |
improvident | Not providing for the future; thriftless; rash |
impugn | To attack as false or questionable (esp. in argument) |
indefatigable | Tireless or seemingly tireless |
indigence | Poverty; neediness |
inimitable | Defying imitation; matchless |
inveterate | Deep-rooted; habitual |
jibe | To be in accord |
lackadaisical | Lacking spirit, interest or liveliness; languid |
libation | The pouring of a liquid offering as a religious ritual; an intoxicating beverage |
libertine | One who acts without moral restraint; one who defies religious precepts |
licentious | Lacking moral discipline or self restraint (esp. sexually); wanton |
lode | A rich source or supply of something |
loll | To stand, move or recline in an indolent or relaxed manner |
lucre | Money or profits |
matriculate | To admit or be admitted into a group (esp. a college or university) |
maudlin | Effusively or tearfully sentimental |
mollycoddle | To be overprotective and indulgent towards |
monomania | A pathological obsession with one idea or subject |
moribund | About to die |
obdurate | Stubbornly impenitent; hardhearted or intractable |
obeisance | A gesture or movement that expresses homage or deference |
oblique | Slanting; indirect or evasive |
ossify | To turn into bone |
ostentation | Pretentious display meant to impress others |
ostracize | To exclude from a group |
oxymoron | A rhetorical device in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined (e.g. deafening silence) |
palpitate | To tremble, shake or quiver |
panoply | A splendid or striking array; the entire armory of a warrior |
patois | A regional dialect, esp. one without a written tradition |
pathos | Sympathy, sadness or tenderness aroused by experience or art |
pecuniary | Of or relating to money |
penurious | Pettily unwilling to spend money |
peremptory | Putting an end to all debate or action |
perjury | The deliberate giving of false or misleading information under oath |
perturbation | The act of being greatly disturbed; agitation |
philistine | A smug or ignorant person hostile or indifferent to arts and culture |
pleat | A fold made in cloth by doubling the material upon itself and then pressing or stitching it into place; a to press or arrange in pleats |
presage | To foretell or portend; an omen or portent |
prescience | Knowledge of events before they take place |
preternatural | Out of or beyond the course of what is natural; extraordinary or supernatural |
prim | Stiffly proper |
profundity | Great depth of intellect, feeling or meaning |
propitious | Presenting favorable circumstances; auspicious |
proscribe | To denounce or condemn; to prohibit or forbid |
proxy | A person authorized to act for another; an agent or substitute |
punctilious | Strictly attentive to minute details of form in action or conduct |
purloin | To steal |
quail | To shrink back in fear; to cower |
quorum | The minimum number of people to be present for a meeting or transaction to be valid |
quotidian | Everyday or common; occurring daily |
ramify | To divide or subdivide into branches or subdivisions |
recapitulate | To repeat in concise form; to summarize |
redress | To set right or rectify |
regicide | The killing of a king |
rotund | Rounded in figure; plump |
sagacious | Having or showing keen judgment and discernment; wise |
salacious | Appealing to or stimulating sexual desires |
sardonic | Scornfully or cynically mocking |
sepulcher | A burial vault |
shellac | A thin varnish used to finish wood; to batter or beat severely |
shunt | To turn or move aside to an alternate course; an object, act or process which |
moves | something to an alternate course |
somniferous | Inducing sleep; soporific |
somnolent | Sleepy or drowsy |
sonorous | Having or producing sound |
stanch | To check or stop the flow of |
stave | To break or smash inward; stave off ‘to repel’ |
striated | Striped, grooved or ridged |
subsume | To include in a more comprehensive category |
sundry | Various; miscellaneous |
supplicate | To beg |
surreptitious | Obtained or done by clandestine or stealthy means |
teetotal | Pertaining to complete abstinence from alcohol; total |
temperance | Moderation; abstinence from or restraint in the use of alcohol |
tendentious | Marked by a strong implicit point of view; partisan |
tertiary | Third |
timorous | Lacking courage |
toady | A person who flatters or defers to for self-serving reasons; a sycophant |
torrid | Excessively hot |
tout | To solicit customers or votes brazenly; to promote or praise enthusiastically |
transmogrify | To change in shape or form |
trite | Made commonplace from overuse or repetition; hackneyed |
turpitude | Depravity or baseness |
turgid | Swollen or bloated; bloated or overly ornate language |
upbraid | To reproach or reprove sharply |
usury | The act of lending money at an exorbitant or illegally high rate |
vacuity | A total absence or lack of |
veracious | Honest or truthful; precise or accurate |
verdant | Green with vegetation |
veritable | Real, true or genuine |
wheedle | To obtain through flattery; to cajole |
whelp | The young offspring of a mammal |
winsome | Attractive |
woo | To court a woman romantically |
wrangle | To bicker or quarrel; to obtain through argument; to herd |
wreak | To bring about, cause or inflict (usu. something destructive) |
yeoman | An assistant or other subordinate; workmanlike |