Terms Abase Abstruse Acumen Adroit Affable Arcane Archaic Aural Austere Averse Belie Belligerent Benign Bolster

Bombastic Brevity Burgeon Cajole Callous Candid

Definitions To lower in rank, prestige, or esteem Difficult to understand Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight Dexterous; deft Easygoing; friendly Known or understood by only a few Characteristic of an earlier period; old-fashioned Of, relating to, or perceived by the ear Without decoration; strict Strongly disinclined To picture falsely; misrepresent Inclined or eager to fight; hostile or aggressive Kind and gentle To buoy up or hearten; to support or prop up Given to pompous speech or writing The quality or state of being brief in duration To grow and flourish; to put forth new buds, leaves, or greenery; sprout To urge with gentle and repeated appeals, teasing, or flattery Emotionally hardened; unfeeling Characterized by openness and sincerity or expression; unreserved straightforward

Castigate Cathartic Censure Chicanery Circumspect Clandestine Complement Conciliatory

To inflict severe punishment on Causing relaxation after an emotional outburst To criticize severely; blame A trick; deception by trickery Heedful of circumstances and potential consequences; prudent Done secretively, especially to deceive; surreptitious Something that completes, makes up a whole, or brings to perfection Appeasing; soothing; pleasant

Conjecture Contentious Contiguous

Inference or judgment based on inconclusive or incomplete evidence; guesswork Quarrelsome Sharing an edge or boundary; touching

Cosmopolitan

So sophisticated as to be at home in all parts of the world or conversant with many spheres of interest; pertinent or common to the whole world

Dearth Debacle Debilitate Debunk Deleterious Demure Deride Derogatory

A scarce supply; a lack A sudden disastrous collapse, downfall, or defeat; a rout To sap the strength or energy of; enervate To expose or ridicule falseness, shams, or exaggerated claims Having a harmful effect Modest and reserved in manner or behavior To speak of or treat with contemptuous mirth Tending or intending to belittle

Diffidence Timidity or shyness Dilatory Habitually late Diligent Marked by painstaking effort; hard-working Dirge A funeral hymn or lament Disaffected Having lost faith or loyalty; discontent Disparage To speak of in a slighting way or negatively; to belittle Disseminate To scatter widely, as in sowing seed Distend To swell out or expand from or as if from internal pressure Docile Ready and willing to be taught; teachable Dogmatic Stubbornly adhering to insufficiently proved beliefs ------------------Duplicitous Given to or marked by deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech Ebullience Intense enthusiasm Eclectic Made up of a variety of sources or styles Effrontery Brazen boldness; presumptuousness Effusive Showing excessive emotion Embellish To make beautiful be ornamenting; to decorate Identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and Empathetic motives Ephemeral Epitome Equivocal Eradicate Erratic Esoteric Euphemism Exacerbate Lasting for only a brief time A representative or example of a class or type Open to two or more interpretations and ofter intended to mislead; ambiguous To get rid of as if by tearing it up by the roots; abolish Having no fixed or regular course; wandering Intended for or understood by only a particular group The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive To increase the severity, violence, or bitterness of; aggravate

Exceeding all bounds, as of custom or fairness Appropriate to a purpose; speedy To praise highly Irrelevant To infer or estimate by extending or projecting known information Full of unrestrained enthusiasm or joy Possessing careful attention to detail; difficult to please Admirably suited; apt To decline in vigor or strength; to hang limply; droop Marked by disrespectful levity or casualness; pert A clumsy social error; a faux pas Characterized by greatness of scope or intent; grand Given freely; unearned; unwarranted Great personal dishonor or humiliation Characterized by sudden and forceful energy or emotion; impulsive and Impetuous passionate Impetus An impelling force; an impulse Impugn To attack as false or questionable Incongruous Lacking in harmony; incompatible Incontrovertible Indisputable; not open to question Indict To accuse of wrongdoing; charge Ingenuous Lacking in cunning, guile, or worldliness; artless (antonym: disingenuous) Innocuous Having no adverse effect; harmless Inscrutable Difficult to fathom or understand; impenetrable Insinuate To introduce or otherwise convey gradually and insidiously Insipid Uninteresting; unchallenging Insolent Insulting in manner or speech Insular Suggestive of the isolated life on an island; narrow or provincial Refusing to moderate a position, especially an extreme position; Intransigence uncompromising Inundate To overwhelm as if with a flood; to swamp To call on (a higher power) for assistance, support, or inspiration Invocation -----------------------Jaded Worn out; wearied Jocular Characterized by or given to joking Juxtapose to place side by side, especially or comparison or contrast Laudatory Giving praise Lavish Characterized by or produced with extravagance ond abundance Litigious Tending to engage in lawsuits Loquacious Very talkative Lucid Easily understood; clear Lugubrious Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree Magnanimous Courageously noble in mind and heart Mar To inflict damage, especially disfiguring damage, on Maverick One who is independent and resists adherence to a group Mendacious Lying; untruthful

Exorbitant Expedient Extol Extraneous Extrapolate Exuberant Fastidious Felicitous Flag (v.) Flippant Gaffe Grandiose Gratuitous Ignominy

Motivated solely by a desire for monetary or material gain (adjective); a professional soldier (noun) Meticulous Extremely careful and precise Modicum A small, moderate, or token amount Multifarious Having great variety; diverse Multiplicity The state of being various or manifold Nefarious Infamous by way of being extremely wicked Novel Fresh; original; new Obsequious Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning Obstinate Stubbornly adhering to an opinion or a course of action Onerous Troublesome or oppressive; burdensome Opulent Exhibiting a display of great wealth Ornate Elaborately decorated Adhering to the accepted or traditional and established faith, especially in Orthodox religion Relieving or soothing the symptoms of a disease or disorder without effecting a Palliative cure Parity Equality, as in amount, status, or value (antonym: disparity) Partisan Devoted to or biased in support of a party, group, or cause Paucity Smallness of number; fewness Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and Pedantic formal rules Pejorative Describing words or phrases that belittle or speak negatively of someone Penchant A definite liking; a strong inclination Pernicious Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly Perspicacious Having or showing penetrating mental discernment; clear-sighted Philanthropic Humanitarian; benevolent Placid Calm or quiet; undisturbed by tumult or disorder Portent An indication of something important of calamitous about to occur; an omen Potentate One who has the power and position or rule over others; a monarch Pragmatic Practical Manifesting or characterized by unusually early development or maturity, Precocious especially in mental aptitude Prescience Knowledge of actions or events before they occur; foresight Prodigious Enormous Profundity Great depth of intellect, feeling, or meaning Proliferate To grow or increase rapidly Prolific Very productive; producing great quantities Prosaic Unimaginative; dull Prospectus A formal summary of a proposed venture or project Quell To put down forcibly; suppress Quiescent Being quiet, still, or at rest; inactive Rancorous Hateful; marked by deep seated ill-will Raze To level to the ground; demolish Reciprocate To mutually take or give Reclusive Seeking or preferring seclusion or isolation Mercenary

Rectitude Redolent Redouble Redundant Relinquish Remiss Renounce Repudiate Repugnant Reticent Rhetoric

Moral uprightness; righteousness Having or emitting fragrance; aromatic; suggestive, reminiscent To become twice as great Needlessly wordy or repetitive in expression To retire from; give up or abandon Lax in attending to duty; negligent To give up (a title, for example), especially by formal announcement To reject the validity or authority of Arousing disgust or aversion; offensive or repulsive Inclined to keep one's thoughts, feelings, and personal affairs to oneself The art of using language effectively and persuasively Of or relating to basic facts or principles; elementary; being in the earliest Rudimentary stages of development Sanctimonious Feigning piety or righteousness Sanguine Or a healthy reddish color; ruddy; cheerfully confient; optimistic Scintillating Brilliant Principled, having a strong sense of right and wrong; conscientious and Scrupulous exacting Solicitous Anxious or concerned Sonorous Producing a deep or full sound Soporific Inducing or tending to induce sleep Specious Having the ring or truth or plausibility but actually not true Sporadic Occurring at irregular intervals; having no pattern or order in time Squander To spend wastefully or extravagantly; dissipate Squelch To crush by or as if by trampling; squash Staid Unemotional; serious Stratify To form, arrange, or deposit in layers Strident Loud, harsh, grating, or shrill; discordant Stymie To thwart; stump Substantiate To support with proof or evidence; verify Subterfuge A deceptive stratagem or device Supercilious Disdainful; haughty; arrogant Superfluous Extra; unnecessary Supplant To usurp the place of, especially through intrigue or underhanded tactics Surreptitious Done by secretive means Sycophant A servile self-seeker who attempts to win favor by flattering influential people The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is Synergy greater than the sum of their individual effects Tangential Merely touching or slightly connected; only superficially relevant Temperate Moderate in degree or quality; restrained (Antonym: intemperate) Temporal Of, relating to, or limited by time Tenacity Persistence Tenuous Having little substance or strength; shaky Therapeutic Having or exhibiting healing powers Transient Passing away with time; passing from one place to another Tumultuous Noisy and disorderly

Ubiquitous Vacillate Vapid Variegated Veracity Verdant Vex Vicarious Vigilant Vignette Vindicate Vindictive Vituperative Whimsical

Being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time; omnipresent To sway from one side to the other; oscillate Lacking liveliness, animation, or interest; dull Having streaks, marks, or patches of a different color or colors; varicolored Adherence to the truth; truthfulness Green with vegetation; covered with green growth To annoy or bother; to perplex Felt or undergone as if one were taking part in the experience or feelings of another On the alert; watchful A short scene or incident, as from a movie To free from blame Disposed to seek revenge; revengeful; spiteful Using, containing, or marked by harshly abusive censure Subject to erratic behavior; unpredictable