| Word |
Definition |
| Imperious | Commanding |
| Improvidence | shortsightedness; a failure to provide for future needs or events: "I weep bitter tears for my unpardonable xxx"; "the childlike xxx of this age and people." |
| Inchoate | In an initial or early stage; incomplete; disorganized |
| Ingenuous | unsophisticated; artless; straightforward; candid |
| Insipid | lacking zest or excitement; dull |
| Intransigent | Stubborn; immovable; unwilling to change |
| laconic | using few words; terse |
| noisome | Offensive to the point of arousing disgust, harmful: "a xxx odor.""xxx fumes." |
| aberrant | deviating from the norm; not following the normal or correct way; deviating from the usual or natural type; atypical; abnormal or deviant |
| abscond | to depart clandestinely; to steal away and hide; go away suddenly and secretly esp. in order to avoid arrest; to depart secretly and hide oneself; to go away suddenly ( to avoid arrest) |
| adulterate | to reduce purity by combining with inferior ingredients; make poorer in quality by adding another substance; to corrupt, debase, or mak impure by the addition of a foreign or inferior substance or element stickler |
| amenable | agreeable; responsive to suggestion; readily managed; willing to be led; (of people) willing to be influenced or controlled (by something) |
| approbation | an expression of approval or praise; approval; consent; commendation, praise |
| arduous | strenuous, taxing, requiring significant effort; needing much effort or energy; laborious; hard to accomplish or achieve; difficult; steep, difficult ascent; laborious |
| chicanery | deception by trickery |
| bombastic | pompous, gradiloquent; pompous and empty |
| bucolic | rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants; of country life or the countryside; rustic |
| cacophony | harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance; loud unpleasant mixture of discordant sounds |
| canon | an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature; a regulation or dogma decreed by a church council |
| canonical | following or in agreement with orthodox requirements; appearing in a biblical canon; of or relating to or required by canon law |
| castigation | severe criticism or punishment |
| censure | to criticize severely; to officially rebuke; to find fault with and criticize as blameworthy |
| chary | wary; cautious; careful; wary shy; timid |
| cogent | appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing; convincing; strong |
| contentious | argumentative, quarrelsome, causing controversy, or disagreement; strife; quarrelsome |
| contrite | Feeling regret and sorrow for one's sins or offenses: (>zerknirscht<):"a xxx heart" |
| culpable | deserving blame |
| demur | to question or oppose |
| discordant | conflicting, dissonant; nor in agreement: "views discordant with present-day ideas";"seemingly discordant facts" |
| disparage | to slight or belittle; suggest; to depreciate by an indirect means; speak slightingly about |
| disparate | fundamentally distinct or dissimilar: "such xxx attractions as grand opera and game fishing"; "xxx ideas" |
| dissemble | to disguise or conceal to mislead; hide or disguise ("I xxx my hatred of the Fox") |
| divulge | to disclose something secret; to make known (as a confidence or secret) |
| dogmatic | Characterized by an authoritative, arrogant assertion of unproved or unprovable principles.("xxx writings" "I protest strongly against the entirely dogmatic assertion") |
| ebullience | the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings; high spirits; exhilaration; exuberance |
| effrontery | extreme boldness; presumptuousness; rudeness without shame; impertinence; impudence; arrogance |
| enervate | to weaken; to reduce in vitality; cause to lose strength or energy |
| enigmatic | mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand; of relating to, or resembling an enigma; mysterious |
| ennui | dissatisfaction and restlessness resulting from boredom or apathy; a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom |
| equivocate | speak in an ambiguous way to hide the truth or mislead people |
| evanescent | tending to disappear like vapor; vanishing; quickly fading; soon disappearing from memory; tending to vanish like vapor |
| exculpate | exonerate; to clear of blame; to clear from alleged fault or gulit; free somebody from blame
|
| exigent | urgent, pressing, requiring immediate action or attention |
| extemporaneous | improvised; done without preparation; spoken or done without preparation; extempore |
| facetious | playful; humorous; intended to be amusing, often inappropriately; joking or jesting often inappropriately; waggish |
| fallacy | an invalid or incorrect notion; a mistaken belief |
| filibuster | intentional obstruction, especially using prolonged speech making to delay legislative action |
| flout | to demonstrate contempt for, as in a rule or convention; to treat with disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff at; mock |
| fortuitous | happening by fortunate accident or chance; happening by chance or coincidence |
| fulminate | to loudly attach or denounce; protest strongly and loudly; to send forth censures or invectives |
| glib | marked by ease or informality; nonchalant; lacking in depth; superficial; ready and smooth but not sincere; marked by ease and fluency in speaking or writing often to the point of being insincere or deceitful |
| grandiloquence | pompous speech or expression |
| halcyon | peaceful; Prosperous;"a xxx atmosphere""the xxx days of the clipper trade" |
| harangue | to deliver a pompous speech or tirade; to address in a ranting way |
| heretical | violating accepted dogma or convention; unorthodox |
| iconoclast | one who attacks or undermines traditional conventions or institutions |
| idolatrous | given to intense or excessive devotion to something; worshiping idols |
| imperturbable | marked by extreme calm, impassivity and steadiness; not easily troubled or worried; calm; marked by extreme calm, impassivity, and steadiness; serene |
| impetuous | hastily or rashly energetic; impulsive and vehement; acting or done quickly and with little thought or care; rash or impulsive |
| impunity | immunity from punishment or penalty; with impunity with freedom from punishment or injury |
| incipient | beginning to come into being or to become apparent; in its early stages; beginning to happen |
| infelicitous | unfortunate; inappropriate; not appropriate in application or expression |
| inimical | damaging; harmful; malevolent |
| intractable | not easily managed or directed; stubborn; obstinate; uruly; refractory; stubborn |
| inured | accustomed to accepting something undesirable; adapted
|
| inveigle | To win over by coaxing, flattery, or artful talk: "xxx a free pass to museum.","We will xxx ladies fair, and wed them in our secret cavern." |
| irascible | easily angered; prone to temperamental outbursts; marked by hot temper and easily provoked by anger |
| maverick | an independent individual who does not go along with a group o party; unbranded calf; unorthodox person; rebel; nonconformist |
| mendacity | the condition of being untruthful; disnhonesty |
| mollify | to calm or soothe; to reduce in emotional intensity; lessen the anger of somebody; make calmer; soothe |
| neophyte | a recenet convert; a beginner; novice |
| obdurate | unyielding; hardhearted; intractable; impossible to change; stubborn; resistant to persuasion or softening influences |
| obfuscate | to deliberately obscure; to make confusing; to make obscure or unclear; deliberately make something confused or difficult to understand |
| obtuse | lacking sharpness of intellect; not clear or precise in thought or expression; slow to understand; stupid |
| obviate | to anticipate and make unnecessary; remove something; get rid of; to anticipate and prevent (as a situation) or make unnecessary (as an action) |
| occlude | to obstruct or block; to close up or block off; obstruct |
| onerous | troubling; burdensome; needing effort; burdensome |
| opprobrium | disgrace, contempt; scorn |
| ostentatious | characterized by or given to pretentiousness; characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress others |
| penurious | penny pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous; very poor; stingy |
| penury | poverty; destitution; extreme poverty |
| perfidy | intentional breach of faith; treachy; the quality or state of being faithless or disloyal; treachery; breaking of faith |
| pernicious | 1. deadly;2. extremely harmful,(a xxx virusxxx rumor) |
| perspicacious | acutely perceptive; having keen discernment; having or showing great insight or judgement; discerning; keen |
| peruse | to examine with great care; to examine or consider with attention and in detail; study; read something, especially carefully and thorougly |
| pith | the eessential or central part; soft spongy substance that fills the stems of certain plants, essentail part, force, soft liquid substance |
| pithy | precise and brief; concise and full of meaning; terse, having substance and point; tersely cogent |
| polemical | controversial; argumentative; argued |
| prattle | to babble meaninglessly; to talk in an empty and idle manner |
| preen | to dress up; primp |
| prescience | foreknowledge of events; knowing of events prior to their occuring |
| presumptuous | too bold or self confident; overstepping due bounds (as of propriety or courtesy taking liverties) |
| prevaricate | to deliberately avoid the truth; to mislead |
| probity | adherence to highest principles uprightness; quality of being honest and trustworthy; integrity |
| prodigal | recklessly wasteful; extravagant profuse; lavish |
| prodigious | abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary |
| profilgate | excessively wasteful; recklessly extravagant; prodigal |
| prosaic | dull; unimaginative; uninspired |
| putrefy | to rot; decay; give off foul odor |
| quaff | to drink deeply |
| qualm | misgiving; reservation; causign of hestiancy; temporary feeling of sickness |
| querulous | prone to complaining or grumbling; quarrelsome |
| quiescence | the state or quality of being in repose or at rest“the volcano erupted after centuries of xxx”“leaned her head against the wall in fatigued xxx” |
| quixotic | foolishly impractical; marked by lofty romantic ideals; noble, unselfish or gallant in an extravagant or impractical way; generous |
| rancorous | characterized by bitter, long lasting resentment; bitterness; spitefulness |
| recalcitrant | obstinately defiant of authority; difficult to manage; resisting authoring or discipline; disobedient |
| recast | to cast again or anew; to form, fashion, or arrange again, cast or fashion anew; put something into a new form |
| receptive | able or quick to receive new ideas, suggestions, etc. |
| recidivism | a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior; especially: relapse into criminal behavior; relapse into antisocial or criminal behavior |
| waver | to hesitate or to tremble |
| wretched | extremely pitiful or unfortunate |
| aberrant | deviating from normal or correct. |
| abscond | to leave secretly and hide, often to avoid the law. |
| advocate | to speak, plead, or argue for a cause, or in another’s behalf. |
| aggrandize | to make greater, to increase, thus, to exaggerate. |
| amalgamate | to unite or mix. |
| ambiguous | vague; subject to more than one interpretation |
| ambrosial | extremely pleasing to the senses, divine (as related to the gods) or delicious |
| anachronism | a person or artifact appearing after its own time or out of chronological order |
| attenuate | weaken |
| aver | declare |
| barefaced | unconcealed, shameless, or brazen |
| blandishment | speech or action intended to coax someone into doing something |
| bombast | pompous speech |
| breach | a lapse, gap or break, as in a fortress wall. To break or break through. |
| burgeon | to grow or flourish; a bud or new growth |
| buttress | to support. a support |
| cadge | to get something by taking advantage of someone ("schnorren"): "xxx money for liquor" |
| complaisant | willingly compliant or accepting of the status quo |
| conflagration | a great fire |
| corporeal | of or having to do with material, as opposed to spiritual; tangible. |
| corporal | of the body: a non-commissioned officer ranked between a sergeant and a private. |
| craven | cowardly; a coward |
| culpable | deserving of blame |
| deference | submission or courteous yielding: |
| deprecation | belittlement:"He xxx her contribution" |
| depredation | plundering; destructive action:"the normal xxxs of time" |
| descry | to discover by looking carefully:"I xxx a message of hope in her words" |
| desiccate | to dry out thoroughly |
| diffident | lacking self-confidence, modest |
| disabuse | to free a person from falsehood or error: |
| disparaging | belittling |
| dispassionate | calm; objective; unbiasedb |
| dissemble | to conceal one's real motive, to feign |
| dogged | stubborn or determined: |
| dogmatic | relying upon doctrine or dogma, as opposed to evidence |
| efficacy | effectiveness; capability to produce a desired effect |
| effluent | the quality of flowing out. something that flows out, such as a stream from a river |
| emollient | softening; something that softens |
| emulate | to strive to equal or excel |
| encomium | a formal eulogy or speech of praise |
| endemic | prevalent in or native to a certain region, locality, or people: |
| enervate | to weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of: |
| ephemeral | lasting for only a brief time, fleeting |
| equivocal | ambiguous; unclear; subject to more than one interpretation -- often intentionally so: |
| eulogy | a spoken or written tribute to the deceased |
| exacerbate | to increase the bitterness or violence of; to aggravate: |
| exculpate | to demonstrate or prove to be blameless: |
| explicit | fully and clearly expressed |
| extant | in existence, still existing: The only extant representative of that species." |
| fawn | to seek favor or attention; to act subserviantly |
| fervid | fervent highly emotional; hot: |
| floundering | struggling: |
| gossamer | fine cobweb on foliage; fine gauzy fabric; very fine: |
| guile | skillful deceit: (v. bequile; adj: beguiling. Note, however, that these two words have an additional meaning: to charm (v.) or charming (adj:), while the word guile does not generally have any such positive connotations) |
| guileless | honest; straightforward |
| hapless | unfortunate |
| headlong | headfirst; impulsive; hasty. impulsively; hastily; without forethought: |
| iconoclast | one who attacks traditional ideas or institutions or one who destroys sacred images |
| impecunious | penniless; poor |
| imperious | commanding |
| improvidence | an absence of foresight; a failure to provide for future needs or events: |
| inchoate | in an initial or early stage; incomplete; disorganized: |
| indelible | permanent; unerasable; strong: |
| ineffable | undescribable; inexpressible in words; unspeakable |
| ingenious | clever: |
| ingenuous | unsophisticated; artless; straightforward; candid: |
| inhibit | to hold back, prohibit, forbid, or restrain |
| insensible | numb; unconscious: unfeeling; insensitive: |
| insipid | lacking zest or excitement; dull |
| insular | of or pertaining to an island, thus, excessively exclusive: |
| intransigent | stubborn; immovable; unwilling to change: |
| irascible | prone to outbursts of temper, easily angered |
| laconic | using few words; terse: |
| leviathan | giant whale, therefore, something very large |
| misogynist | one who hates women |
| nefarious | wicked, evil: |
| noisome | harmful, offensive, destructive: |
| obdurate | hardened against influence or feeling; intractable. |
| obviate | to prevent by anticipatory measures; to make unnecessary: |
| occlude | to close or shut off; to obstruct |
| ossified | turned to bone; hardened like bone; Inflexible: |
| panegyric | =a writing or speech in praise of a person or thing |
| peccadillo | a small sin or fault |
| pedantic | showing a narrow concern for rules or formal book learning; making an excessive display of one's own learning: |
| perfidious | deliberately treacherous; dishonest |
| petulant | easily or frequently annoyed, especially over trivial matters; childishly irritable |
| ponderous | slow and laborious because of weight: "xxx prehistoric beasts"; "a xxx speech" |
| precipice | cliff with a vertical or nearly vertical face; a dangerous place from which one is likely to fall; metaphorically, a very risky circumstance |
| precipitate | to fall; to fall downward suddenly and dramatically; to bring about or hasten the occurrence of something: " |
| prevaricate | to stray away from or evade the truth: |
| prodigal | rashly wasteful: |
| propitiate | to conciliate; to appease: |
| Pulchritudinous | beautiful |
| pusillanimous | cowardly, timid, or irreselute; petty: |
| quiescence | inactivity; stillness; dormancy |
| rarefy | to make or become thin; to purify or refine |
| reproof | the act of censuring, scolding, or rebuking. |
| rescind | to repeal or annul |
| sagacious | having a sharp or powerful intellect or discernment. |
| sanguine | cheerful; confident:"sanguine temper" |
| sate | to satisfy fully or to excess |
| saturnine | having a gloomy or morose temperament |
| sedulous | diligent; persevering; persistent: "they still treated me with the same xxx attention as before" |
| specious | seemingly true but really false; deceptively convincing or attractive: |
| temperate= | exercising moderation and self-denial; calm or mild |
| tirade (diatribe) | an angry speech: |
| tortuous | twisted; excessively complicated: Note: Don't confuse this with torturous. |
| tractable | ability to be easily managed or controlled: |
| turpitude | depravity; baseness: |
| tyro | beginner; person lacking experience in a specific endeavor |
| vacuous | empty; without contents; without ideas or intelligence: |
| venerate | great respect or reverence: |
| verbose | wordy |
| viscous | slow moving; highly resistant to flow |
| voracious | craving or devouring large quantities of food, drink, or other things. |
| waver | to hesitate or to tremble |
| wretched | extremely pitiful or unfortunate |
| recondite | obscure; little known: "xxx matters" |
| redoubtable | awe-inspiring; worthy of honor; “born of a xxx family”"The xx Ms. Robinson" |
| refulgent | radiant; shiny; brilliant; gloriously bright; shining |
| renege | to fail or honor a commitment; to go back on a promise; fail to keep a promise; one's word, etc. |
| repudiate | to refuse to have anything to do with; disown; to refuse to accept, especially; to reject as unauthorized or as having no binding force; disown |
| rescind | to invalidate; to repeal; to retract; cancel or repeal (a law, contract etc.) annul |
| retinue | group of attendants accompanying an important person; a group of retainers or attenddants |
| retrench | make economies or reduce expenses; to cut out; excise |
| reverent | marked by, feeling or expressing profound awe and respect; feeling or showing reverence |
| salubrious | promoting health or well-being; (esp of the climate) health-giving; favorable to or promoting health or well-being |
| vacillate | to waver indecisively between one course of action or opinion and another; keep changing one's mind; move backwards and forwards between two emotions |
| veracity | truthfulness; honesty; truth |
| vilify | to defame; to characterize harshly; salnder, say evil things |
| virulent | extremely harmful or poisonous; bitterly hostile or antagonistic; extremely harmful or deadly |
| viscous | thick, stick |
| vituperate | to use harsh, condemnatory language; curse, abuse in words |
| voracious | having an insatiable appetite for an actiivty or pursuit; ravenous |
| sedulous | diligent, persistent; hardworking |
| solicitious | concerned and attentive; eager; full of concerns or fears; apprehensive |
| specious | seeming true, but actually being fallacious, misleading attractive |
| spurious | lacking authenticity or validity; false; not genuine, authentic, or true |
| stupefy | to stun, baffle, or amazie |
| stymie | to block; thwart; to hinder, obstruct, or block |
| supplant | to take the place of; supersede |
| surfeit | excess; overindulgence; satiate |
| tenacity | firmness; persistency; adhesiveness |
| terse | brief and concise in wording; using few words; curt |
| tirade | a long and extremely critical speech; a harsh denunciation; long angry speech of criticism or accusation |
| torpid | lethargic; sluggish; dormant; sleeping |
| tortuous | winding; twisting; excessively complicated |
| trout | to publicly priase or promote; tr to get people to buy (one's good or services) esp in a annoyling insistent way |
| trenchant | sharply preceptive keen penetrating; strongly and effectively expressed |
| truculent | fierce and cruel; eager to fight |
| unfeigned | genuine |
| untenable | indefnesible; that cannot be defedned; not viable |
| urbane | sophisticated; refiend; elegant |
| foment | agitate, stir up ("you xxx class hatred") |
| expletive | swearword expressing emotion rather than meaning ("it was a mere xxx, but it came from his soul") |
| depreciate | To xxx is to assign a lower than customary value to someone or something: "Some musicologists depreciate Liszt's compositions." |
| desolate | unpopulated. "xxx patch of earth" |
Biology Lab Midterm
