| Question |
Answer |
| advocate |
speak in favor of; support (an idea or plan); urge; plead for |
| aegis |
shield; protection; defense |
| aerie(aery,eyrie,eyry) |
nest of a large bird of prey |
| aesthetic |
artistic; dealing with or capable of appreciating the beautiful (of a person or building); CF. aesthete; CF. aesthetics |
| affable |
easily approachable; easy to talk to; warmly friendly |
| affected |
artificial; pretended |
| affidavit |
written statement made under oath (for use as proof in a court of law) |
| affiliation |
joining; associating with |
| affinity |
feeling of kinship; similarity; Ex. strong affinity for her; Ex. many affinities between two languages |
| affirmation |
positive assertion; confirmation; solemn pledge by one who refuses to take an oath; V. affirm; ADJ. affirmative; CF. affirmative action: positive discrimination |
| affliction |
state of distress; trial; cause of distress or suffering; V. afflict: inflict grievous suffering on |
| affluence |
abundance; wealth |
| affront |
insult; offense; intentional act of disrespect; V: insult or hurt the feelings of intentionally |
| afterlife |
life after death; later part of one's life |
| agape |
openmouthed |
| agenda |
items of business at a meeting |
| agglomeration |
collection; heap; V. agglomerate: gather into a rounded mass; N. aggolmeate: jumbled mass; heap |
| aggrandize |
make greater; increase in power, wealth, rank, or honor; N. aggrandizement |
| aggregate |
sum; total; ADJ. V: gather into a mass or whole; accumulate; add up to; Ex. aggregate 100 dollars |
| aghast |
filled with great surprise or fear; horrified |
| agility |
nimbleness; ability to move quickly |
| agitate |
stir up; disturb |
| agnostic |
one who is skeptical of the existence or knowability of a god or any ultimate reality |
| agog |
highly excited; intensely curious |
| agrarian |
pertaining to land or its cultivation; Ex. agrarian reform |
| airy |
of air; high in the air; lofty; immaterial; unreal |
| alacrity |
cheerful promptness without reluctance |
| alchemy |
medieval chemistry |
| alcove |
nook; recess |
| alias |
an assumed name esp. by a criminal (usually to mislead people); ADV. alias |
| alienate |
make unfriendly or hostile; estrange; separate; change the ownership of |
| alimentary |
supplying nourishment |
| alimony |
payments made regularly to an ex-spouse after divorce |
| allay |
calm; pacify |
| allege |
state without proof |
| allegiance |
loyalty |
| allegory |
story, play, or picture in which characters are used as symbols; fable |
| alleviate |
relieve (pain) |
| alliteration |
repetition of beginning sound in poetry |
| allocate |
assign; set apart for a particular purpose |
| alloy |
mixture as of metals; something added that lowers in value or purity; V: mix; make less pure; lower in value or quality; spoil; CF. unalloyed: not in mixture with other maetals; pure; complete; unqualified; Ex. unalloyed happiness |
| allude |
refer indirectly; N. allusion: indirect reference |
| allure |
entice; attract; tempt |
| alluvial |
pertaining to soil deposits left by running water |
| alms |
money or goods given to the poor |
| aloft |
upward; high up in the air |
| aloof |
apart; not open in one's relationship with other people; reserved; ADV. |
| altercation |
noisy quarrel |
| altruistic |
unselfishly generous; concerned for others; N. altiruism: unselfish concern for the welfare of others; unselfishness; OP. egoism |
| amalgam |
combination of different things; mixture of metals (containing mercury) used for filling holes in teeth |
| amalgamate |
(of societies or groups) combine; unite in one body |
| amass |
collect (gradually, in a very large amount) |
| amazon |
female warrior |
| ambidextrous |
capable of using either hand with equal ease |
| ambience |
environment; atmosphere; Ex. restraurant with a pleasant ambience; ADJ. ambient: completely surrounding; Ex. ambient temperature |
| ambiguous |
unclear or doubtful in meaning; having more than one possible interpretation |
| ambivalence |
the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes or opinions |
| amble |
walking at an easy unhurried pace; V: walk slowly and aimlessly |
| ambrosia |
food of the gods |
| ambulatory |
able to walk |
| ambush |
act of lying in wait to attack by surprise; sudden attack made from a concealed position; Ex. lie in ambush; V. |
| ameliorate |
improve |
| amenable |
obedient; compliant; readily managed; responsive; willing to be led; answerable or accountable legally; responsible; able to be tested by; Ex. amenable to sensible suggestions; Ex. He is very amenable; Ex. amenable to the usual tests |
| amend |
correct; change ; generally for the better |
| amenities |
convenient features that helps to make life pleasant; social courtesies |
| amiable |
agreeable; lovable; warmly friendly |
| amicable |
peaceful; politely friendly; not quarrelsome; Ex. amicable settlement |
| amiss |
wrong; faulty; Ex. something amiss; ADV. |
| amity |
friendship; peaceful relationship as between nations |
| amnesia |
loss of memory |
| amnesty |
pardon (allowed by government to political criminals) |
| amok(amuck) |
in a state of rage; Ex. run amok |
| amoral |
nonmoral; having no understanding of right and wrong |
| amorous |
moved by sexual love; loving; of sexual love; Ex. amorous advances |
| amorphous |
formless; lacking shape or definition |
| amphibian |
able to live both on land and in water; N. |
| amphitheater |
oval building with tiers of seats; CF. arena |
| ample |
enough; abundant; spacious; large in size; Ex. ample opportunity/garden; N. amplitude: quality of being ample; abundance; largeness of space |
| amplify |
increase in size or effect; expand; broaden or clarify by expanding; intensify; make stronger; Ex. amplify one's remarks with a graph |
| amputate |
cut off part of body; prune (a limb) |
| amulet |
charm; talisman; an object worn believed to protect against evil, bad luck |
| anachronism |
an error involving time in a story; something or someone misplaced in time; ADJ. anachronistic |
| analgesia |
condition of being unable to feel pain |
| analgesic |
causing insensitivity to pain; N. |
| analogous |
comparable; similar |
| analogy |
similarity; parallelism; comparing two similar things |
| anarchist |
person who seeks to overturn the established government; advocate of abolishing authority |
| anarchy |
absence of governing body; state of disorder |
| anathema |
solemn curse; someone or something regarded as a curse; V. anathematize |
| ancestry |
family descent; ADJ. ancestral |
| anchor |
secure or fasten firmly; be fixed in place; N. anchorage |
| ancillary |
serving as an aid or accessory; auxiliary; N. |
| anecdote |
short story of an amusing or interesting event |
| anemia |
condition in which blood lacks red corpuscles; ADJ. anemic |
| anesthetic |
substance that removes sensation with or without loss of consciousness; N. anesthesia |
| anguish |
acute pain; extreme suffering |
| angular |
sharp-cornered; having an angle; not rounded (body); bony; lean; gaunt; stiff in manner |
| animadversion |
critical remark; V. animadvert: comment critically with disapproval |
| animated |
lively; spirited |
| animosity |
active enmity |
Science Vocab 147928
