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list 8
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| abstruse | Difficult to understand; obscure |
| aleatory | Dependent on chance or luck; characterized by gambling |
| antediluvian | Extremely old; of the era before the Flood in the Bible |
| aphorism | A terse statement of truth or opinion; an adage |
| apocryphal | Of doubtful authority or authenticity; erroneous, fictitious |
| apotheosis | Deification |
| apposite | Strikingly appropriate or relevant |
| argot | A specialized vocabulary peculiar to a particular group |
| arrant | Completely or thoroughly |
| asseverate | To declare seriously or positively; to affirm |
| atrabilious | Inclined to melancholy; peevish or surly |
| bosky | Having many bushes, shrubs or trees |
| bromide | A commonplace remark or platitude; a platitude |
| brumal | Of, relating to, or occurring in winter |
| callipygian | Having a beautiful or curvaceous ass |
| captious | Disposed to find and point out trivial faults |
| cataract | A downpour or deluge; opacity of the lens of the eye |
| cloture | A parliamentary procedure in which debate is ended and an immediate vote is taken |
| commodious | Spacious or room |
| condign | Deserved; adequate |
| contemn | To scorn or despise |
| contumacious | Rebellious |
| corona | A faintly colored luminous ring which hazily appears to surround a celestial body |
| cynosure | An object that serves as the focal point of attention or admiration |
| daedal | Intricate in design or function |
| dais | A raised platform for speakers |
| denouement | The final resolution of a dramatic or narrative plot; the outcome |
| deracinate | To pull out by the roots; to displace from a native location |
| descant | A discussion on a theme |
| desuetude | A state of disuse or inactivity |
| doggerel | Clumsy verse, often having irregular form and monotonous rhymes |
| edacious | Characterized by voracity |
| effluvium | A (usu.) invisible emanation or exhalation; waste |
| encomium | Warm, glowing praise |
| eremite | A recluse or hermit (esp. a religious recluse) |
| euphonious | Pleasing to the ear |
| expurgate | To remove erroneous or offensive material from a book |
| extirpate | To pull up by the roots; to destroy totally |
| factotum | An assistant or employee who serves in a wide range of capacities |
| fatidic | Of or relate to fate; prophetic |
| febrile | Feverish |
| feculent | Full of foul or impure matter; fecal |
| fey | Having or displaying an otherworldly or fairylike aspect; clairvoyant; touched in the head (as if under a spell) |
| fugacious | Fleeting |
| fulsome | Offensively flattering or insincere; offensive to one’s sensibilities |
| homiletics | The art of preaching |
| inchoate | In an initial or early stage; incipient |
| insouciant | Marked by blithe unconcern; nonchalant |
| jejune | Lacking in nutritive value; childish; boring |
| limn | To describe; to depict by painting or drawing |
| lucubrate | To write in a scholarly fashion |
| luculent | Easily understood; clear or lucid |
| lugubrious | Indicating sorrow, often ridiculously |
| macerate | To make or become soft by steeping in a liquid; to emaciate |
| masticate | To chew |
| mawkish | Excessively sentimental; sickening or insipid in taste |
| meretricious | Attracting attention in a vulgar manner; plausible but false or insincere; of or relating to prostitutes or prostitution |
| mien | The external appearance or manner of a person |
| minatory | Threatening or menacing |
| monoglot | A person who knows only one language |
| mordant | Bitingly sarcastic or painful; incisive or trenchant |
| morganatic | Pertaining to a marriage between a person of noble birth and a partner of lower rank |
| nave | The hub of a wheel; the central part of a church |
| noisome | Bad smelling |
| nostrum | A medicine whose effectiveness is unproved; a quack remedy |
| nugatory | Of little or no importance; trifling |
| obloquy | Abusive language; calumny |
| obstreperous | Noisily and stubbornly defiant; aggressively boisterous |
| paratactic | Juxtaposed side-by-side |
| paroxysm | A sudden outburst of emotion or action; a sudden attack or fit |
| parvenu | A person who has suddenly risen to a higher social and economic class but has not yet been gained social acceptance in that class |
| penumbra | A partial shadow; an area in which something exists to a lesser degree |
| peripeteia | A sudden change of events or reversal of circumstances |
| persiflage | Light, good-natured talk; banter |
| philately | The study or collecting of stamps |
| physiognomy | The art of judging human character from facial features only; facial features (esp. when revealing character) |
| picaresque | Of or involving clever rogues |
| piebald | Spotted or patchy (esp. in black and white) |
| pied | Patchy in color or splotchy |
| protean | Exhibiting many shapes or varieties |
| puerile | Childish |
| puerperal | Related to, connected with or occurring during childbirth |
| puissance | Power |
| pusillanimous | Lacking courage; cowardly |
| pyretic | Relating to, producing or affected by fever |
| quaternary | Consisting of four |
| quean | A disreputable young woman; a prostitute |
| quiddity | The real nature of a thing; the essence |
| recondite | Not easily understood; abstruse |
| recrudesce | To break out anew or come into renewed activity |
| repine | To be disconnected or in low spirits; to complain, fret or yearn for |
| repugn | To oppose or contend against |
| salubrious | Conducive or favorable to health or well-being |
| salutary | Beneficial or remedial to health |
| saturnine | Melancholy or sullen |
| scintilla | A minute amount; an iota |
| sclerotic | Hardened |
| seraph | A celestial being having three pairs of wings (pl. seraphim) |
| sequacious | Persisting in a continuous intellectual or stylistic direction; disposed to follow others |
| shibboleth | A custom or practice that betrays one as an outsider; a commonplace saying or idea |
| simper | To smile in a self-conscious and often coy manner; such a smile |
| sinecure | A position or office with no duties or work that pays a salary |
| splenetic | Ill-humored or irritable |
| steatopygia | The condition of having a enormously large or fat ass |
| stentorian | Extremely loud |
| stipple | To draw, paint or engrave in dots or strokes; the act of doing so |
| stochastic | Conjectural |
| stygian | Gloomy, dark or hellish; infernal |
| suzerain | A nation that controls another but allows it domestic sovereignty |
| sybarite | A person devoted to luxury or pleasure; a voluptuary |
| synod | A council or assembly (usu. ecclesiastical) |
| synesthete | One who experiences one sense as another (i.e. smells a sound) |
| tetchy | Peevish or testy |
| tortuous | Winding or twisting |
| treacle | Cloyingly sweet speech or sentimentality |
| ursine | Have bear-like qualities or characteristics |
| uxorious | Excessively submissive or devoted to one’s wife |
| virago | A woman regarded as noisy, scolding or domineering; a large, strong, courageous woman |
| xero- | Prefix indicating dry or arid (e.g. xeroderma ‘dry-skin’) |
| xylo- | Prefix indicating wood (e.g. xylography ‘wood-engraving’) |
| yaw | To swerve off course temporarily |
Created by:
msbabione
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