Question | Answer |
Abate (verb) | to lessen in intensity of degree |
Accolade (noun) | an expression of praise |
Adulation (noun) | excessive praise; intense adoration |
Aesthetic (adj) | dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art of the beautiful |
Ameliorate (verb) | to make better or more tolerable |
Ascetic (noun) | one who practices rigid self-denial, especially as an act of religious devotion |
Avarice (noun) | greed, especially for wealth (adj form: avaricious) |
Axiom (noun) | a universally recognized principle (adj form: axiomatic) |
Burgeon (verb) | to grow rapidly or flourish |
Bucolic (adj) | rustic and pastoral’ characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants |
Cacophony (noun) | harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance (adj form: cacophonous) |
Canon (noun) | an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature (adj form: canonical) |
Castigation (noun) | severe criticism or punishment (verb form: castigate) |
Catalyst (noun) | a substance that accelerated the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing; a person or thing that causes change |
Caustic (adj) | burning or stinging; causing corrosion |
Chary (adj) | wary; cautious; sparing |
Cogent (adj) | appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing |
Complaisance (noun) | the willingness to comply with the wishes of others (adj form: complaisant) |
Contrite (adj) | regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness (noun form: contrition) |
Culpable (adj) | deserving blame (noun form: culpability) |
Dearth (noun) | smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; a lack |
Demur (verb) | to question or oppose |
Didactic (adj) | intended to teach or instruct |
Discretion (noun) | cautious reserve in speech; ability to make responsible decisions (adj form: discrete) |
Disinterested (adj) | free of bias or self-interest; impartial |
Dogmatic (adj) | expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or improvable principles (noun form: dogma) |
Ebullience (noun) | the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings (adj form: ebullient) |
Eclectic (adj) | composed of elements drawn from various sources |
Elegy (noun) | a mournful poem, especially one lamenting the dead (adj form: elegiac) |
Emollient (adj)/(noun) | soothing, especially to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying; an agent that softens or smoothes the skin |
Empirical (adj) | based on observation or experiment |
Enigmatic (adj) | mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand (noun form: enigma) |
Ephemeral (adj) | brief; fleeting |
Esoteric (adj) | intended for or understood by a small, specific group |
Eulogy (noun) | a speech honoring the dead (verb form: eulogize) |
Exonerate (verb) | to remove blame |
Facetious (adj) | playful, humorous |
Fallacy (noun) | in invalid or incorrect notion; a mistaken belief (adj form: fallacious) |
Furtive (adj) | marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious |
Gregarious (adj) | sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people |
Harangue (verb)/(noun) | to deliver a pompous speech or tirade; a long, pompous speech |
Heretical (adj) | violating accepted dogma or convention (noun form: heresy) |
Hyperbole (noun) | an exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech (adj form: hyperbolic) |
Impecunious (adj) | lacking funds; without money |
Incipient (adj) | beginning to come into being or to become apparent |
Inert (adj) | unmoving; lethargic; sluggish |
Innocuous (adj) | harmless; causing no damage |
Intransigent (adj) | refusing to compromise (noun form: intransigence) |
Inveigle (verb) | to obtain by deception or flattery |
Morose (adj) | sad; sullen; melancholy |
Odious (adj) | evoking intense aversion or dislike |
Opaque (adj) | impenetrable by light; not reflecting light |
Oscillation (noun) | the act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm (verb form: oscillate) |
Penurious (adj) | penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous |
Pernicious (adj) | extremely harmful; potentially causing death |
Peruse (verb) | to examine with great care (noun form: perusal) |
Pious (adj) | extremely reverent or devout; showing strong religious devotion |
Precursor (noun) | one that precedes and indicated or announces another |
Preen (verb) | to dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care |
Prodigious (adj) | abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary |
Prolific (adj) | producing large volumes or amounts; productive |
Putrefy (verb) | to rot; to decay and give off a foul odor (adj form: putrid) |
Quaff (verb) | to drink deeply |
Quiescence (noun) | stillness; motionless; quality of being at rest (adj form: quiescent) |
Redoubtable (adj) | awe-inspiring; worthy of honor |
Sanction (noun)/(verb) | authoritative permission or approval’ a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority to |
Satire (noun) | a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision (adj form: satirical) |
Squalid (adj) | sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect (noun form: squalor) |
Stoic (adj) | indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast (noun form: stoicism) |
Supplant (verb) | to take the place of; to supersede |
Torpid (adj) | lethargic; sluggish; dormant (noun form; torpor) |
Ubiquitous (adj) | existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; widespread |
Urbane (adj) | sophisticated; refined; elegant (noun form: urbanity) |
Vilify (verb) | to defame; to characterize harshly |
Viscous (adj) | thick; sticky (noun form: viscosity) |