| Word |
Definition |
| Adulation | flattery; high praise |
| Adulterate | to corrupt or make impure |
| Advent | arrival |
| Adventitious | accidental; casual |
| Adversary | an opponent; an enemy |
| Adverse | unfavorable; hostile |
| Adversity | poverty; misfortune |
| Advert | to refer: to remark or comment |
| Advocacy | act of supporting, pleading, or recommending |
| Advocate | to urge; to speak in favor of |
| Aegis | shield; defense |
| Aerie | nook or bird nest built high in the air |
| Aesthetic | artistic; pertaining to beauty or art |
| Affable | approachable; friendly |
| Affected | artificial; pretentious |
| Affidavit | written statement made under oath |
| Affiliation | act of joining; state of being associated |
| Affinity | fondness; liking; similarity (kinship) |
| Affirmation | positive assertion; confirmation; solemn pledge by one who refuses to take an oath |
| Affix | to attach or add on; to fasten |
| Affliction | state of distress; cause of suffering |
| Affluence | abundance; wealth |
| Affront | to insult; to cause offense to |
| Agape | open-mouthed |
| Agenda | items of business at a meeting |
| Agglomeration | process of collecting; a heap or cluster |
| Aggrandize | to make larger or greater in power |
| Aggregate | to gather; to accumulate |
| Aggressor | an attacker |
| Aghast | horrified |
| Agility | moving quickly and easily: nimbleness; ability to think and draw conclusions quickly: intellectual acuity |
| Agitate | to shake; to disturb |
| Agnostic | one who is skeptical of the existence of a god |
| Agog | eager; keen; full of excitement or interest |
| Agrarian | pertaining to land or its cultivation |
| Alacrity | cheerful promptness; eagerness |
| Alchemy | medieval chemistry |
| Alcove | nook; recess |
| Alias | an assumed name; moniker |
| Alienate | to separate; to make hostile |
| Alimentary | providing nourishment |
| Alimony | payments made to an ex-spouse after divorce |
| Allay | to calm; to ease; to pacify |
| Allege | to state without proof |
| Allegiance | loyalty |
| Allegory | story in which characters are used as symbols; fable; symbolic representation |
| Alleviate | to relieve |
| Alliteration | repetition of the beginning sounds of words |
| Allocate | to assign |
| Alloy | (N) a mixture of metals |
| Alloy | (V) to mix; to make less pure; to lessen or to moderate |
| Allude | to refer indirectly |
| Allure | to entice by charm; to attract |
| Allusion | an indirect reference |
| Alluvial | pertaining to soil deposits left by running water |
| Aloof | distant; apart; reserved |
| Aloft | (adv) upward; (prep) on top of: above <The sailor climbed aloft into the rigging.> |
| Altercation | a heated dispute |
| Altruistic | generous; concerned for others |
| Amalgamate | to combine; to unite in one body |
| Amass | to collect |
| Amazon | female warrior |
| Ambidextrous | capable of using both hands equally well |
| Ambience or Ambiance | environment; atmosphere |
| Ambiguous | unclear or doubtful in meaning |
| Ambivalence | the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotions; uncertainty |
| Amble | to walk about in a leisurely manner: saunter |
| Ambrosia | food of the gods |
| Ambulatory | able to walk about (not bedridden); itinerant: traveling from place to place <an itinerant soldier> |
| Ameliorate | to improve <Many social workers have attempted to ameliorate the conditions of people living in the slums.> |
| Amenable | agreeable, cooperative |
| Amend | to correct; to change, generally for the better |
