Vocabulary

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1. aberrant unusual; abnormal
2. abridge to make shorter
3. acclaim praise or applause
4. adamant unyielding
5. adulation extreme praise
6. adversary opponent or enemy
7. advocate to speak in favor of
8. aesthetic related to beauty
9. affable friendly; likable
10. alacrity eager willingness and efficiency
11. aloof distant or indifferent
12. altercation an argument
13. ambiguous having more than one meaning
14. ambivalent undecided
15. ameliorate to make better
16. amiable nice; friendly
17. amorphous without shape
18. animosity dislike; anger
19. apathy lack of emotion
20. appease to make happy
21. apprehensive fearful
22. arable able to be farmed or cultivated
23. arbitrary based on impulse
24. articulate well-spoken
25. ascetic severe; without luxury or frills
26. aspire to strive for a goal
27. assiduous diligent; careful
28. assimilate to become similar
29. assuage to soothe
30. astute observant; wise
31. atrophy to waste away from lack of use
32. audacity bold courage (oftentimes negative)
33. augment to increase or add to
34. auspicious meaningful in a good way
35. austere without frills
36. authoritarian having total control
37. banal common; boring
38. bane cause of ruin or harm
39. belittle to put down
40. belligerent warllike; prone to fighting
41. benevolent kind or charitable
42. biased prejudiced; favoring one side
43. blasphemous against the church or god
44. blithe cheerful
45. bourgeois smug or related to the upper-middle class; commonplace
46. brevity briefness
47. cacophony an unpleasant sound
48. cajole to coax with flattery
49. calumny slander
50. candid honest or straightforward
51. cantankerous bad-tempered; mean
52. capricious erratic; easily affected by whim
53. catalyst something that causes an event or change
54. censor to remove objectionable material
55. censure critique; punishment
56. cerebral brainy; highly mental
57. charlatan someone who claims to have knowledge but doesn't
58. clairvoyant able to perceive things hidden from view
59. coerce to bring about through the use of force
60. complacent self-satisfied; smug
61. concede to acknowledge or give in
62. concise brief, to the point
63. condescend to act superior to another; to look down upon
64. condone to accept
65. conflagration a big-ass fire
66. conflate to confuse
67. conspicuous easy to notice; obvious
68. consternation amazed confusion
69. contemporary living during to the same time
70. contrite humbled by guilt
71. conundrum a difficult problem or puzzle
72. conventional customary; normal
73. debunk to disprove
74. defamation slander
75. deference respect
76. deleterious harmful
77. denounce to criticize or speak out against
78. deplete to reduce
79. depraved morally corrupt
80. deride to criticize
81. detached emotionally distant
82. deter to discourage or prevent from happening
83. didactic intended to teach
84. digress to wander off topic
85. diligence hard work
86. discerning mentally sharp; insightful
87. discord conflict; lack of harmony
88. discourse conversation
89. disdain extreme hatred
90. disingenuous deceitful; not honest
91. disparage to speak badly about
92. disparity difference
93. dispassionate calm; impartial
94. disperse to distribute
95. disseminate to spread
96. dissent to disagree
97. dissipate to lessen or fade
98. dissonance a clashing sound
99. diverse varied; different
100. dogmatic stubbornly opinionated
101. dubious doubtful
102. eccentric unusual or odd
103. eclectic drawn from many sources, diverse
104. effervesence bubbliness; enthusiasm
105. efficacious effective
106. egregious particularly bad
107. elaboration addition of details
108. eloquent well-spoken
109. elusive difficult to capture or understand
110. emulate to copy or imitate
111. endorse to approve
112. enfranchise to endow with the rights (spec. the right to vote)
113. engender to cause to happen
114. enhance to improve
115. enigma a mystery or riddle
116. erratic unpredictable
117. erroneous false; filled with errors
118. esoteric known only a few people
119. eulogy a speech meant to praise
120. euphony a pleasant sound
121. evanescent fleeting; short-lived; constantly moving
122. exacerbate to make worse
123. excuplate to free from blame
124. exemplary worthy of praise
125. expedite to speed up
126. explicit clear or obvious
127. extol to praise
128. extraneous extra; unnecessary
129. extricate to free from a negative situation
130. facade a false appearance; the front of a building
131. facilitate to make happen easier
132. fallacy a lie or falsehood
133. fanatic someone who is overly enthusiastic
134. fastidious picky
135. fathom to measure the depth of something; to understand
136. fervor intense emotion
137. fetter to restrain or bind
138. fickle emotionally changeable
139. frivolous trivial; insignificant
140. fundamental basic; necessary
141. furtive hidden or stealthy
142. futile pointless
143. glutton someone who eats too much
144. grandiose pompous and flashy
145. gravity seriousness
146. gregarious outgoing; social
147. guile craftiness; treacherous cunning
148. gullible easily deceived
149. hackneyed overused; cliched
150. haphazard based on chance
151. hedonistic concerned only with the attainment of pleasure
152. heed to pay attention to
153. heresy an act against church law
154. hindrance an obstruction
155. imminent inevitable; bound to happen soon
156. immutable unable to change
157. impetuous impulsive
158. implicit implied but not stated directly
159. inadvertant unintenional
160. incessant without end
161. incidental accidental
162. inclined favoring one direction
163. incoherent untelligible; unable to be understood
164. incorrigible unable to be reformed
165. incredulous doubtful
166. incumbent currently in office; as a duty
167. indifferent not caring
168. indolent lazy
169. ineffable unable to be expressed in words
170. inexorable permanent; unable to be done away with
171. infamous famous in a bad way
172. infer to figure out from evidence; to interpret
173. innate natural; intrinsic
174. innocuous harmless
175. insinuate to hint or suggest (usually bad)
176. insipid bland; tasteless
177. insolent boldly disrespectful
178. instigate to initiate or start
179. intangible unable to be touched or seen
180. intemperate without moderation or restraint
181. ironic resulting unexpectedly
182. irrational without reason
183. jaded callous (unaffected) due to overexposure
184. jeopardy danger or peril
185. kindle to inspire; to start a fire
186. languid tired; weak
187. laud to praise highly
188. lax not strict, negligent
189. lethargic tired; lacking energy
190. linger to hang around; to delay
191. lithe flexible
192. livid very angry
193. lucid very clear
194. machinations evil plots or schemes
195. malediction a curse
196. malign to slander
197. marred ruined; damaged
198. meander to wander without purpose
199. melancholy sadness, gloom
200. merger a union
201. meticulous very careful; precise
202. miffed upset; angry
203. miser someone who has money but is stingy
204. mitigate to make less severe
205. monotonous repetitive; boring
206. montage a group of pictures
207. morose sad, somber, or melancholy
208. naÔve unsophisticated
209. neutral without bias
210. nonchalant casual; in a relaxed manner
211. nostalgic longing for the past
212. novel new; innovative
213. nullify to cancel or void
214. obdurate stubborn
215. objective fair; unbiased
216. obscure to hide or make unclear
217. obsolete outdated; no longer in use
218. ominous threatening; menacing
219. optimist someone with a positive outlook
220. opulent flashy; showy, gaudy
221. orate to speak
222. ostentatious flashy
223. ostracize to exclude
224. pacifist someone opposed to force and in favor of peace
225. partisan a supporter of one side of an issue
226. pauper a poor person
227. pedant someone who knows a lot of useless facts
228. precocious mature at any early age
229. pernicious extremely harmful
230. pessimist someone with a negative outlook
231. phenomena observable facts
232. philanthropist someone who is charitable
233. pithy precisely meaningful
234. placate to appease or pacify
235. pragmatic practical
236. preclude to make impossible
237. predecessor one who comes before someone else
238. peripheral on the side
239. prodigal wasteful; extravagant
240. profound deeply meaningful
241. profusion a large amount, overabundance
242. prognosticate to speculate or predict
243. proliferate to spread
244. prolific creating in great abundance
245. promulgate to make known; to make widespread
246. propagate to reproduce or spread
247. prosaic common
248. proscribe to outlaw or prohibit
249. protagonist the main character
250. provincial limited; narrow minded
251. provocative stimulating; exciting
252. prudent wise; cautious
253. punitive meant to punish
254. querulous filled with complaint; meant to find fault
255. rancor extreme bitterness
256. ravenous very hungry
257. rebuff a refusal or snub
258. rectify to correct
259. refute to disprove
260. relegate to place in an inferior position
261. remorse regret; guilt
262. remuneration compensation; payback
263. repudiate to disprove
264. rescind to take back
265. resigned accepting without resistance
266. resolution determination
267. respite a short rest
268. resplendent dazzling or brilliant
269. reticent silent; shy
270. retroactive affecting situations in the past
271. reverent respectful
272. sacrosanct sacred
273. sagacious wise; sage-like
274. scanty insufficient, small
275. scrupulous having strong principles
276. serendipitous lucky; due to chance
277. servile submissive
278. solicit to appeal to someone; to lure
279. specious seeming to be good without being so
280. spurious false; not genuine
281. stanza a paragraph of poetry
282. steadfast loyal
283. stoic unaffected by emotions
284. subtle not immediately obvious
285. suffice to be sufficient
286. sully to dirty; to make impure
287. superficial on the surface
288. superfluous unnecessary
289. supplant to take the place of something else
290. surpass to exceed
291. surrepititious secretive or stealthy
292. sychophant an ass kisser
293. symmetry balance of appearance
294. taciturn habitually untalkative
295. temper to make less extreme; to tone down
296. terse concise
297. thwart to stop or fend off
298. tirade a long, violent speech
299. tranquil peaceful
300. transient fleeting; short-lived; constantly moving
301. trepidation fear
302. truculent fierce; cruel
303. truncate to make shorter
304. unobtrusive not easy to notice
305. unprecedented without previous occurrence
306. untenable unable to be defended or maintained (such as an idea)
307. usurp to take power (usually illegally)
308. vague unclear
309. venerate to respect or worship
310. verbose wordy
311. vestige a trace or mark of something that has passed
312. viable capable of living; possible
313. vicarious taking the place of someone else
314. vigor energy; strength
315. vilify to speak badly about
316. virulent harmful
317. vital necessary; important; living
318. vitiate to spoil or corrupt
319. vivacious lively
320. voracious incredibly hungry
321. waive to give up voluntarily
322. watershed a turning point
323. wither to waste away
324. zealot a fanatic