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Words
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| conventional | based on accepted practice; traditional; customary;normal; ordinary; orthodox (convention,unconventional) |
| undermine | to hurt, weaken, or destroy, often in an underhanded or sneaky way |
| dismissive | rejecting another's thoughts or ideas, usually as not worthy of consideration; condescending (dismiss) |
| aesthetic | relating to what is beautiful; beautiful; pleasing (aesthetics, aesthete, unaesthetic) |
| objective | based on facts rather than personal feelings; unbiased; not personal; not subjective; true (objectivity) |
| reconcile | to adjust the differences between things; to reach an agreement, especially after an argument; to make up; to overcome discord; to try to be inclusive (reconciliation, conciliatory, irreconcilable) |
| speculative | taking a chance; risky; uncertain; cannot be confirmed (speculate, speculation) |
| accessible | being able to enter or approach a place; approachable; friendly; genial; gregarious (access, inaccessible) |
| decorum | proper; correct behavior or etiquette; good manners; refinement (decorous, indecorous) |
| impulsive | tending to act on impulse and without thought; rash; impetuous; unrestrained; capricious (impulses) |
| deride | to ridicule something; to laugh at something as ridiculous; to mock; to satirize (derision, derisory, risible) |
| suppress | to stop something from rising or coming out by holding it down; to repress (suppression) |
| complacent | overly pleased with an accomplishment; overconfident; self-satisfied; so unwary as to be foolish (complacency) |
| reverent | deeply honoring or respectful—and so not joking around; venerating (revere, reverence, reverential, irreverent) |
| disparage | to insult or put down; to offend |
| relevant | relating to the subject at hand; important or significant; pertinent (relevance, irrelevant) |
| prudent | careful; cautious, especially about money; having good judgment; circumspect; wary (prudence, imprudent) |
| refute | to prove wrong or false (refutation, irrefutable) |
| inevitable | certain to happen; unavoidable (inevitability) |
| innocuous | harmless; not dangerous at all; not likely to provoke a strong reaction; inconsequential |
| convey | to make something known; to reveal; to communicate; to depict |
| profound | wise; deep; beneath the surface (profundity) |
| ironic | a statement or situation that conveys a second meaning at odds with the apparent meaning; humorous (irony) |
| ambivalent | undecided; feeling positively and negatively towards something (ambivalence) |
| pragmatic | getting things done in an effective way; practical; emphasizing the practical; expedient (pragmatism, pragmatist) |
| innovative | new; revolutionary (innovation) |
| rational | based on reason rather than emotions; logical; sensible (irrational, rationale, rationalize) |
| abstract | based on general ideas; not solid or concrete; vague; hypothetical (abstraction) |
| distinct | clearly separate from others; not identical; different; clear; conspicuous; lucid (distinction, distinctive, indistinct) |
| felicitous | well-chosen; especially appropriate; pleasing (felicity, infelicity) |
| resolute | determined to succeed; not easily discouraged; persistent; tenacious (resolution, irresolute, resolve, unresolved) |
| diverse | varying; something composed of distinct or unlike elements or qualities (diversity, diversify) |
| trivial | unimportant; insignificant; negligible; inconsequential (trivialize, triviality) |
| discern | to notice; to see clearly; to distinguish; to discriminate (discerning, discernment, indiscernible) |
| enhance | to strengthen; to improve (enhancement) |
| redundant | extra, so not needed; extraneous (redundancy) |
| tempered | mild; not severe or extreme; controlled; moderate; restrained (temperate, temperance, intemperate) |
| dubious | doubtful, and probably untrue; implausible |
| depict | to represent in words or pictures; to describe a scene or situation; to show; to convey (depiction) |
| compelling | to arouse a feeling irresistibly; forceful; incisive; provocative; engaging (compel, compulsion, compulsory) |
| indifferent | not caring about something—such as an outcome— one way or the other; apathetic (indifference) |
| embellish | to decorate; to make beautiful or aesthetic; to make additions to, especially as in adding fictitious details to a story (embellishment) |
| supplant | to replace as better |
| fabricate | to make or devise something; to make up an elaborate story, as in to lie (fabrication, fabricator) |
| plausible | believable; probably; likely (implausible) |
| parallel | something equivalent; a comparison; an analogy (unparalleled) |
| eradicate | to wipe out; to eliminate; to destroy (ineradicable) |
| dominant | having great or complete power or influence over someone or something; primary (dominate, domination, predominant) |
| deleterious | harmful |
| discord | disagreement; disharmony, especially among people; tension or unease between people, and often the resulting confusion (discordant, concord, accord) |
| futile | completely useless or ineffective; so hopeless that effort to change a situation is wasted (futility) |
| indulgent | giving in to another's wishes; permissive; lenient; tolerant; condoning (indulge, overindulge, selfindulgent) |
| indignant | annoyed or insulted, especially about one's dignity; angered (indignity) |
| eclectic | selecting the best from different sources; selective; varied |
| vindicate | to prove someone right in the end; to free him or her from blame; to exonerate (vindication) |
| exemplary | showing by being great example; outstanding (exemplar, exemplify) |
| inhibit | to block; to hold back; to impede or suppress (inhibition) |
| discredit | to harm someone's reputation; to show something should not be trusted or believed (credit) |
| contemporary | occurring at the present time; occurring at the same time in history; modern (contemporaries, contemporaneous) |
| provoke | to arouse strong feelings in someone; to anger (provocative, provocation) |
| solicitous | eager to help; asking if one can help; sympathetic (solicit, solicitude) |
| daunting | discouraging; intimidating; scary (undaunted) |
| skepticism | doubt (skeptical, skeptic) |
| coherent | sticking together in a unified whole; orderly; logically understandable; lucid (incoherent) |
| autonomy | independence; self-government (autonomous) |
| comprehensive | all-inclusive; thorough; complete; encompassing a great deal |
| ambiguous | unclear; capable of being interpreted in more than one way; uncertain; doubtful; dubious; not definitive (ambiguity, unambiguous) |
| pretentious | believing oneself to better than others; boastful; affected; not modest or reserved (pretense, pretension) |
| rhetoric | impressive sounding, though sometimes empty, words; a formal speech (rhetorical) |
| ephemeral | short-lived; present so fleetingly as barely to exist; transient; evanescent |
| spurious | not genuine; fake; false; inauthentic |
| valid | well-grounded; sound; logical; effective; legal; legitimate (validity, invalid) |
| contempt | looking down on others or feeling superior to them; to feel that someone or something deserves great disrespect; condescension (contemptuous) |
| restrained | calm and collected; controlled; not impulsive; reserved (self-restraint) |
| mundane | relating to everyday life; uninspired; banal; prosaic |
| impetuous | rash; impulsive; capricious; not retrained (impetuosity) |
| repudiate | to reject a person or an idea completely; to have nothing to do with any longer (repudiation) |
| definitive | settling a disputed matter finally; no longer tentative; conclusive; authoritative; decisive (defining, indefinite) |
| debunk | to prove wrong or false; to invalidate |
| divergent | to separate; to split away from; to move apart; to travel in different directions (diverge, converge) |
| digress | to wander away from a topic; to change the subject of a discussion momentarily (digression, digressive) |
| sustain | to hold up; to support; to keep something going (sustenance) |
| incongruous | not fitting or matching; seeming out of place (incongruity, congruent) |
| diffident | lacking confidence; shy; reserved; apprehensive; wary (diffidence) |
| subtle | so slight as to be hard to notice; hard to distinguish or discern (subtlety) |
| transient | passing through a place quickly; not lasting; shortlived; transitory; ephemeral; evanescent (transience) |
| serene | not disturbed; peaceful; quiet; tranquil (serenity) |
| inconsequential | not worth noticing; unimportant; so insignificant as to have no consequences; negligible; trivial; trite (consequence) |
| scrutinize | to examine something closely and completely, especially with an aim to finding faults (scrutiny, inscrutable) |
| assert | to state a belief positively; to claim, often without proof (assertion, assertive) |
| foster | to promote; to encourage; to contribute to something's growth |
| perplex | to confuse; to mystify (perplexing, perplexity) |
| narrative | an account, story, or history about something (narrate, narrator, narration) |
| prosaic | ordinary; matter-of-fact; lacking imagination; uninspired; hackneyed; mundane; banal (prose) |
| substantiate | to offer supporting evidence; to help prove; to corroborate (unsubstantiated, substantive, substantial; insubstantial) |
| optimistic | hopeful; looking on the bright side; expecting the best; sanguine (optimism, optimist) |
| tranquil | calm; peaceful; quiet; relaxing; serene (tranquility) |
| denounce | to put someone down, often publicly; to blame someone; to accuse (denunciation) |
| condescend | to talk down to; to act superior to; to dismiss; to treat with contempt (condescending, condescension) |
| partisan | supporting one side in a dispute, especially over political matters; biased; not detached or objective (bipartisan, nonpartisan) |
| prosperity | success, especially financial (prosper, prosperous) |
| lucid | clear; easily understood; transparent; coherent (elucidate, pellucid) |
| advocate | someone who supports a cause; a supporter; a champion; a proponent (advocacy) |
| distinguish | to notice; to pick something out, as a person in a crowd; to see something as different; to discriminate; to discern (distinguished, indistinguishable) |
| superficial | only on the surface; shallow; unimportant |
| illusory | seemingly real but not; deceptive; false; inauthentic (disillusion, illusive) |
| apprehensive | having great doubts; nervous; fearful; diffident (apprehension, apprehend) |
| nostalgia | fondness for and missing the past, especially one's own; missing the good old days (nostalgic) |
| benevolent | kind; generous; tending to help others; solicitous (benevolence) |
| sympathy | sharing feelings; showing concern for another; harmonious; solicitude (sympathetic, sympathies, unsympathetic) |
| polemical | arguing a position, especially a radical one (polemics, polemicist) |
| belie | to contradict; to fail to confirm (belied, belying) |
| mock | to ridicule; to make fun of, often as something fake; to satirize (mockery) |
| compromised | to make insecure or to place in danger; to come to an agreement by settling differences; agreeing to something partially (uncompromising) |
| disdain | considering someone or something beneath oneself; to have contempt for; to despise; condescension |
| presumption | a bold assumption; being overly bold with someone to the point of disrespect (presume, presuming, presumptuous) |
| caustic | burning; sarcastic |
| deferential | respectful; reverent; venerating (defer, deferred, deferral) |
| subjective | open to interpretation; reflecting someone's perspective; biased; not objective |
| capricious | unpredictable; whimsical; to act with complete spontaneity; impulsive; impetuous; acting without restraint (caprice) |
| animated | lively; vigorous (animation) |
| endorse | to support; to approve; to champion; to authorize; to advocate; to commend (endorsement) |
| auspicious | promising; favorable (inauspicious) |
| exacerbate | to make a bad situation worse; to worsen |
| obscure | not easily noticed; dark or shadowy; unclear; vague (obscurity) |
| dogmatic | stubbornly opinionated; arrogantly inflexible; closeminded; intractable (dogma, dogmatism) |
| extravagant | fancy; luxurious; immoderate (extravagance) |
| venerate | to honor above others; to revere (venerable) |
| gregarious | friendly; outgoing; genial |
| attain | to achieve, especially a goal; to get |
| elude | to avoid being found or caught, usually by being clever (elusive) |
| tenacious | persistent, especially in the face of continuing challenges; stubborn; resolute; rarely if ever resigned (tenacity, pertinacious) |
| mediate | to try to help two arguing sides reach an agreement; to reconcile to parties (mediator, mediation) |
| meticulous | careful; thorough; painstaking; scrupulous; exacting |
| negligible | extremely small; so unimportant that it can be ignored; inconsequential; trivial |
| equanimity | calm; composure, especially under difficult circumstances |
| mitigate | to lessen the severity or force of something, especially of something bad or harmful; to moderate; to alleviate (mitigating, unmitigated) |
| transitory | of short duration; brief; ephemeral; transient; mutable |
| immutable | unchanging; not able to change; everlasting (mutable) |
| evoke | to inspire; to arouse; to bring forth (evocative) |
| cursory | hurried and superficial; quick; perfunctory; not meticulous |
| rancor | extremely bad feelings about something; bitterness (rancorous) |
| authentic | genuine; true; real; valid (authenticity, inauthentic) |
| reserved | generally quiet and reserved in behavior; modest (reservation, unreserved) |
| intuitive | knowing by instinct as opposed to rational thought; what you would expect without having to give much thought to the matter (intuit, intuition, counterintuitive) |
| satirize | to imitate so as to make fun of; to mock, especially in writing (satire, satiric) |
| devoid | lacking; free from; empty (void) |
| concise | expressing a lot using few words; short and clear; to the point; terse (concision, conciseness) |
| erroneous | wrong; mistaken; incorrect (err) |
| collaborate | to work together with someone as equals on a project, as with a colleague (collaboration, collaborator) |
| thwart | to block or impede, often for a long time or permanently |
| spontaneous | happening without being planned; making decisions suddenly and without thought; happening naturally, or without human effort; impulsive (spontaneity) |
| implement | to put into practice; to begin to use something (implements, implementation) |
| underscore | to emphasize, as if by drawing a line under; to highlight |
| explicate | to explain or analyze logically; to clear up any misunderstanding; to make explicit; to elucidate (explication, inexplicable) |
| exasperate | to annoy someone to the point of frustration (exasperation) |
| momentous | extremely important; major; unprecedented |
| pertinent | important; relevant (impertinent) |
| conspicuous | obvious; easily seen; in plain sight; extremely noticeable; easily distinguished or discerned; prominent (inconspicuous) |
| amiable | friendly; nice; genial; gregarious; amicable (amiable) |
| widespread | widely spread out or shared; commonly held; pervasive; abundant |
| pervasive | appearing or being everywhere; widespread; abundant; prevalent (pervade) |
| prophetic | foretelling events; predicting or anticipating the future (prophet, prophesy) |
| cynical | looking at the bad side of people's actions; lacking faith in humanity; lacking any optimism (cynic, cynicism) |
| tenuous | thin; insubstantial; unable to support anything else (attenuate) |
| innate | inborn; inherited; naturally belonging; inherent |
| explicit | clearly stated; in plain view; clear; lucid; unambiguous; conspicuous (implicit) |
| distort | to twist sth out of shape; to misrepresent; to give a false or misleading impression |
| challenge | to question or dispute the truth or validity of something |
| acclaim | high praise; fame; renown (acclamation) |
| moderate | not extreme; reasonable; tempered |
| legitimate | justified by some rule or law; legal; real; true (illegitimate, legitimacy) |
| patronize | to be a customer; to treat rudely, condescendingly, or contemptuously (patron, patronage) |
| exacting | demanding; insisting on; meticulous |
| contentious | to fight; to deal with difficulty; to argue a point (contention, contend, contender) |
| conscientious | careful; diligent; prudent; scrupulous; meticulous |
| diligent | always careful and hardworking; thorough; persistent; assiduous (diligence) |
| deter | to prevent; to discourage; to impede; to daunt (deterrent, undeterred) |
| initiate | to begin; to start; to introduce (initiative, initiation) |
| champion | to support; to fight for; to endorse; to advocate; to commend |
| mediocre | second-rate; average-to-poor quality (mediocrity) |
| domestic | relating to the home; relating to one's country; fitting in at home; indigenous (domesticate, domesticity) |
| pedantic | overly academic about minor matters; being a stickler for academic correctness (pedant, pedantry) |
| wary | cautious; careful; prudent; circumspect; apprehensive; diffident |
| vulnerable | able to be hurt; weak (vulnerability, invulnerable) |
| opportunist | someone who takes advantage of opportunities, often exploiting them selfishly (opportunistic, opportune) |
| discriminating | selective; making a clear distinction between things; to treat differently; discerning; distinguishing (indiscriminate, indiscriminant, discrimination) |
| adept | skillful (inept) |
| anachronistic | out of date; extremely old-fashioned way of doing something; dated and no longer needed; obsolete; no longer contemporary (anachronism) |
| provincial | relating to a region or province; narrow-minded; parochial |
| obstinate | stubborn; intractable (obstinacy) |
| heresy | a statement, action, or belief that goes a dominant religion or system of beliefs; more generally, any belief that goes sharply against the accepted viewpoint on a subject; a radically unconventional idea or action (heretical, heretic) |
| articulate | able to express ideas clearly; coherent; lucid (inarticulate) |
| formal | standard; following rules; proper; ceremonial; conventional; relating to superficial conventions (formality, informal) |
| detached | unemotional; unbiased; objective almost to the point of being indifferent; neutral (detachment) |
| conformist | someone who follows rules or conventions (conform; conformity; nonconformist) |
| complement | to fit well with; to complete something (complementary) |
| intrepid | brave; fearless; undaunted (trepidation) |
| feasible | possible; workable; likely to happen (feasibility) |
| proponent | a supporter; a champion; one who endorses; an advocate |
| reprehensible | deserving great blame; wicked; evil |
| extol | to praise highly; to commend |
| compatible | able to exist with something else; well-matched; harmonious (incompatible) |
| radical | not moderate; extremely unconventional, and almost heretical |
| erratic | moving in an unpredictable way; unpredictable; inconsistent |
| inherent | inborn; essential; innate |
| resilient | quickly bouncing back; flexible under pressure; resolute (resilience) |
| tractable | obedient; easily controlled; amenable (intractable) |
| clandestine | secret; surreptitious |
| commend | to praise; to extol (commendable) |
| adversity | a difficult, harmful, or dangerous situation (adverse) |
| convoluted | complicated; twisted; incoherent |
| empathy | ability to see and feel things from another person's point of view; sympathetic (empathetic) |
| inundate | to flood; to overwhelm with overabundance |
| genial | friendly; good-natured; kind; sympathetic; gregarious; amiable; amicable (congenial) |
| insolvent | unable to pay; out of money (solvent, solvency, soluble, insoluble) |
| impede | to block; to hinder; to delay; to inhibit (impediment) |
| equivocal | intentionally unclear or ambiguous; duplicitous; obscuring one's meaning, often in response to a question (unequivocal, equivocate) |
| decisive | quick to decide; definite or definitive; determined; resolute |
| transcend | to move beyond and often to overcome; to surpass (transcendental) |
| prohibitive | tending to prevent or impede; precluding |
| dilatory | delaying; not prompt |
| divisive | tending to divide parties; creating or stirring up disagreement |
| tolerant | accepting of differences with others; able to deal with; amicable (tolerance, tolerable, tolerate) |
| cerebral | intellectual; relating to the brain |
| cantankerous | bad-tempered; irritable |
| consensus | general agreement; concord (consensual) |
| notion | an idea or concept, usually unproven; a hypothesis |
| compound | to combine; to increase (compounded) |
| circumscribe | to draw a line around; to restrict; to define (circumscription) |
| tentative | not final; dependent; unsure; not definitive or decisive |
| enigmatic | puzzling; mysterious; obscure (enigma) |
| colleague | a coworker, especially in a particular business or profession; a collaborator (collegial) |
| regenerate | to grow back; to regain health (degenerate) |
| hackneyed | unoriginal; overused; banal; prosaic; mundane; vapid |
| preclude | to prevent; to make impossible; to prohibit |
| attribute | to claim something as a cause, a characteristic, or an aspect of something (attribution) |
| naïve | unsophisticated; innocent; childlike; ingenuous (naiveté) |
| abundant | plentiful; not scarce (overabundant) |
| chronological | in order of time (chronology) |
| exorbitant | excessive; unreasonable |
| didactic | intended to instruct; instructive |
| idiosyncratic | a quirky or highly individualistic way of doing something or behaving; relating to an odd personal habit or characteristic; oddly or extremely unconventional (idiosyncrasy) |
| banal | ordinary; commonplace; unoriginal; uninspired; trite; mundane; prosaic; hackneyed (banality) |
| static | not moving; remaining in the same state of being (stasis) |
| extraneous | unnecessary; irrelevant; not pertinent; not inherent |
| notorious | widely known or famous, usually in a bad way (notoriety) |
| salutary | beneficial |
| ardent | extremely eager and enthusiastic (ardor) |
| impenetrable | unable to be penetrated or understood; obscure; enigmatic (penetrating) |
| amicable | friendly, especially after a dispute; amiable; genial; tractable; gregarious; conciliatory; amenable |
| trite | not original; done many times already; boring; banal; hackneyed; trivial; inconsequential |
| toxic | extremely harmful; poisonous; deleterious (toxin, toxicity) |
| disparity | inequality (disparate) |
| incisive | sharp; clear; clever; keen; perceptive; discriminating; astute |
| allude | to hint at; to refer to indirectly (allusion) |
| verbose | wordy (verbosity) |
| account | a report, description, or explanation; a narrative (accountable, unaccountable) |
| anecdote | a brief personal story, account, or illustration, often humorous (anecdotal) |
| affectation | a pretentious or inauthentic way of behaving; pretending to be something; not typical behavior (affected, unaffected) |
| resignation | reluctantly accepting a less than ideal situation; reconciling oneself to a bad but apparently inevitable situation; giving in (resigned) |
| composure | extreme calm and confidence; equanimity (composed, composition) |
| florid | overly decorated; flowery |
| amenable | cooperative; willing; tractable; amicable |
| condone | to allow to happen; to forgive or overlook something wrong; to indulge |
| tedious | boring; monotonous; so dull and repetitive as to be tiring (tedium) |
| officious | bossy; overly asserting one's authority; using one's position or authority to force others; authoritarian |
| exploit | to use to advantage; to take advantage of (exploits, exploitative, exploitation, unexploited) |
| assiduous | hard-working; dedicated; persistent; diligent |
| neutral | not taking sides, especially in a dispute; detached; objective (neutralize, neutrality) |
| scrupulous | principled; highly moral; conscientious; assiduous, especially when dealing fairly with others (scruple, scruples, unscrupulous) |
| laconic | habitually using few words; tight-lipped |
| authoritarian | demanding absolute obedience; domineering; peremptory; officious (authoritative) |
| refinement | elegance; improving something, often by making it more pure; urbanity; decorum (refine, unrefined) |
| incorporate | to include as a part within a larger whole; to encompass; to comprehend |
| predator | a hunter, especially an animal hunting other animals (predatory) |
| incredulous | disbelieving; highly if not completely skeptical (credulous, incredulity) |
| hypothesis | something supposed to be true, but not yet proven; a tentative theory; an educated guess; a likely explanation (hypothetical, hypotheses) |
| duplicity | deceitfulness; double-dealing; equivocation (duplicitous) |
| languid | lazy; lacking energy; apathetic (languish, languor) |
| orthodox | traditional; conservative; commonly accepted; conventional (orthodoxy, unorthodox) |
| ominous | threatening, as an omen; dangerous; inauspicious (omen) |
| tacit | understood without needing to be said; implied; implicit |
| astute | insightful; clever; wise; discerning; discriminating |
| aspect | the look or appearance of something, especially from a particular viewpoint; an attribute |
| peremptory | bossy; tending to cut others off; dismissive; officious (peremptorily, preempt) |
| vignette | a brief description of a scene |
| intrusive | butting in; joining in without being wanted; tactless (intrusion; intruder) |
| prevalent | common; existing everywhere; widespread; abundant; pervasive (prevail, prevailing) |
| indisputable | certain; absolute; beyond doubt dispute (disputatious, disputant) |
| merit | praiseworthy excellence (merited, meritorious, demerit) |
| lament | to regret deeply, sometimes to the point of grief (lamentable, lamentation) |
| exonerate | to free from blame; to vindicate |
| terse | brief and often abruptly to the point; concise |
| sensibility | preferences; awareness; tastes; delicacy or refinement of tastes; discernment |
| evanescent | fleeting; lasting only a very short while; transient; ephemeral; transitory |
| renowned | famous in a good way; distinguished; prominent; acclaimed |
| indigenous | native; belonging to a particular region and not usually found elsewhere; domestic |
| repressed | held down or held back; inhibited; suppressed (repressive, repression, irrepressible) |
| ingenuous | naïve; childlike; naive (disingenuous) |
| adulation | deep and perhaps excessive admiration (adulatory) |
| expedient | practical; useful; helpful; simple and efficient; pragmatic (expedite, inexpedient) |
| vapid | bland and uninteresting; unexciting; dull; uninspired; prosaic; banal; trite; hackneyed |
| encompass | to include; to encircle; to incorporate |
| exclusive | shutting out; limited, sometimes to a select few; elitist (inclusive) |
| scarce | rare, and often less than required; not abundant (scarcity) |
| engaging | interesting almost to the point of exciting; tending to attract and occupy someone's attention; compelling (engaging, disengaged) |
| urbane | sophisticated; having highly refined manners; decorus (urbanity) |
| sanguine | hopeful; buoyant; optimistic |
| sarcasm | biting and often ironic and caustic remarks or attitude; contemptuous or condescending humor (sarcastic) |
| adversary | an opponent (adversarial) |
| surreptitious | not out in the open; sneaky; clandestine |
| vicarious | living through the experience of another; secondhand |
| parochial | narrow-minded; having a limited outlook; provincial |
| revival | returning to life or to use; reawakening (revive) |
| improvise | to deal with things as they come, without planning (improvisational) |
| apathetic | not caring about something or an outcome, one way or the other; indifferent (apathy) |
| corroborate | to support or back up; to confirm; to provide evidence for; to substantiate (corroboration, corroborative) |
| unprecedented | without precedent; highly unusual; remarkable; never seen before; momentous (precedent) |
| alleviate | to lessen the pain or severity of something; to make something more bearable; to alleviate; to mitigate |
| prominent | standing out; well-known; renowned; acclaimed; conspicuous |
| circumspect | careful; cautious; prudent, wary (circumspection) |
| corrupt | to ruin sth, especially a person's morals; to make impure; to decay (corruption, incorruptible) |
| candid | completely honest, straightforward |
| conjecture | inference; guesswork |
| didactic | instructive |
| euphemism | a mild, indirect, or vague term substituting for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term |
| extrapolate | to infer or estimate by extending known information |
| incoherent | lacking cohesion or connection |
| insinuate | to imply or communicate stealtily |
| lucid | clear |
| rhetoric | the art of using language effectively and persuasively |
| acumen | quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight |
| adroit | dexterous; deft |
| ascertain | to find out through investigation or experimentation |
| astute | shrewd; clever |
| circumspect | careful; prudent; discreet |
| disseminate | to scatter widely, as in sowing seed |
| erudition | deep, extensive learning |
| husbandry | the application of scientific principles to agriculture, animal breeding |
| pedantic | excessively concerned with book learning and formal rules |
| perspicacious | shrewd; clear-sighted |
| pragmatic | practical |
| precocious | exhibiting unusually early intellectual aptitude or maturity |
| prospectus | formal proposal |
| rudimentary | basic; elementary; earliest stage of development |
| abstruse | difficult to understand |
| callous | emotionally hardened; unfeeling |
| convoluted | intricate; complex |
| enigma | a puzzle, mystery, or riddle |
| inscrutable | difficult to understand |
| reticent | inclined to keep silent; reserved |
| staid | unemotional; serious |
| arcane | known or understood by only a few |
| assimilate | to absorb or make similar |
| autonomy | independence; self-determination |
| cosmopolitan | worldly; widely sophisticated |
| derivative | something that comes from another source |
| entourage | a group of attendants or associates |
| esoteric | intended for or understood by only a small group |
| gaffe | a clumsy social error |
| idiosyncrasy | characteristic peculiar to an individual or group |
| insular | isolated; narrow or provincial |
| orthodox | adhering to the traditional and established |
| potentate | one who has the power and position to rule over others; monarch |
| castigate | to scold, rebuke, or harshly criticize |
| censure | to issue official blame |
| denounce | to condemn openly |
| reclusive | seeking or preferring isolation |
| relinquish | to retire from; give up |
| renounce | to give up (eg. a title) by formal announcement |
| vituperative | marked by harshly abusive condemnation |
| circumscribe | to draw a circle around; to restrict |
| contiguous | sharing an edge or boundary; touching |
| conciliatory | appeasing; smoothing; showing willingness to reconcile |
| credible | capable of being believed |
| exonerate | to free from blame |
| incontrovertible | indisputable; not open to question |
| indict | to officially charge with wrongdoing or a crime |
| litigious | prone to engage in lawsuits |
| partisan | devoted to of biased in support of a party, group, or cause |
| parity | equality |
| rectitude | moral uprightness; righteousness |
| remiss | negligent |
| repudiate | to reject the validity or authority of |
| sanctimonious | feigning piety or righteousness |
| scrupulous | principled, having a strong sense of right and wrong |
| solicitous | concerned |
| sophistry | plausible but misleading argument |
| substantiate | to support with proof or evidence; verify |
| veracity | adherence to the truth; truthfulness |
| vindicate | to free from blame |
| cajole | to urge with repeated appeals, teasing, or flattery |
| chicanery | trickery |
| obsequious | fawning and servile |
| sycophant | insincere |
| altruism | unselfish concern for the welfare of others |
| eminent | distinguished; prominent |
| empathy | identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives |
| extol | to praise highly |
| laudatory | full of praise |
| magnanimous | courageously or generously noble in mind and heart |
| philanthropic | humanitarian; benevolent |
| reciprocate | to mutually take or give; to respond in kind |
| defunct | no longer existing or functioning |
| eradicate | to get rid of as if tearing it up by the roots; abolish |
| expurgate | to remove objectionable content before release |
| extirpate | to destroy |
| quell | suppress |
| raze | to level to the ground; demolish |
| squelch | to crush as if by trampling; squash |
| supplant | to usurp the place of, especially though intricate or underhanded tactics |
| stymie | to thwart or stump |
| abase | to lower in rank |
| deride | to mock contemptuously |
| derogatory | insulting or intended to insulte |
| disparage | to speak of negatively |
| effrontery | brazen boldness |
| ignominy | great personal dishonor or humiliation |
| impugn | to attack as false or questionable |
| mar | to damage |
| pejorative | disparaging, insulting |
| vex | to annoy or bother |
| vindictive | disposed to seek revenge |
| bombastic | given to pompous speech or writing |
| ebullience | intense enthusiasm |
| exorbitant | exceeding all bounds, as of custom or fairness |
| exuberant | full of unrestrained enthusiasm or joy |
| embellish | to ornament of decorate; to exaggerate |
| flagrant | extremely or deliberately shocking or noticeable |
| gratuitous | given freely; unearned; unnecessary |
| lavish | extravagant |
| lugubrious | mournful, dismal |
| opulent | displaying great wealth |
| ornate | elaborately decorated |
| penchant | a strong inclination or liking |
| redundant | needlessly repetitive |
| ubiquitous | being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time |
| vicarious | felt or undergone as if one were taking part in the experience or feelings of another |
| vignette | a short scene or story |
| amalgam | a combination of diverse elements; a mixture |
| inundate | to overwhelm as if with a flood; to swamp |
| multifarious | diverse; various |
| multiplicity | state of being various or manifold; a great number |
| alleviate | a ease a pain or burden |
| ameliorate | to make something better; improve |
| beneficial | helpful |
| curative | able to heal or cure |
| palliative | relieving or soothing the symptoms of a disease or disorder without effecting a cure |
| therapeutic | having or exhibiting healing powers |
| complement | something that completes, goes with, or brings to perfection |
| epitome | a representative or example of a type |
| felicitous | admirably suited |
| belie | to misrepresent or disguise |
| debunk | to expose untruths, shams, or exaggerated claims |
| dubious | doubtful; of unlikely authenticity |
| deplicitous | deliberately deceptive |
| fabricate | to make up in order to deceive |
| fallacy | a false motion |
| mendacious | lying; untruthful |
| specious | having the ring of truth but actually false |
| ambiguous | open to more than one interpretation |
| ambivalent | simultaneously feeling opposing feelings; uncertain |
| apathetic | feeling or showing little concern |
| capricious | impulsive and unpredictable |
| equivocal | open to two or more interpretations and often intended to mislead |
| erratic | markedly inconsistent |
| impetuous | suddenly and forcefully energetic or emotional |
| impetus | an impelling force or stimulus |
| sporadic | occurring at irregular intervals |
| vacillate | to sway from one side to the other |
| whimsical | unpredictable |
| flag (v) | to decline in vigor or strength; to tire |
| jaded | worn out |
| ingenuous | lacking in cunning |
| subterfuge | a deceptive stratagem or device |
| surreptitious | secretive; sneaky |
| dearth | scarce supply; lack |
| modicum | a small, moderate, or token amount |
| paucity | smallness in number; scarcity |
| squander | to spend wastefully |
| temperate | moderate; restrained |
| tenuous | having little substance or strength; shaky |
| diligent | hardworking |
| maverick | one who is independent and resists adherence to a group |
| mercenary | motivated solely by a desire for money or material gain |
| obstinate | stubbornly attached to an opinion or a course of action |
| proliferate | to grow or increase rapidly |
| tenacity | persistence |
| vigilant | watchful |
| extraneous | irrelevant |
| juxtapose | to place side by side, especially for comparison |
| superfluous | unnecessary |
| synergy | combined action or operation |
| tangential | merely touching or slightly connected |
| aesthetic | appreciation of beauty |
| aural | related to the ear or the sense of hearing |
| cacophony | discordant, unpleasant noise |
| dirge | a funeral hymn |
| eclectic | made up of a variety or sources or style |
| incongruous | lacking in harmony |
| sonorous | producing a deep or full sound |
| strident | loud, harsh, grating, or shrill |
| debacle | disastrous |
| tumultuous | noisy and disorderly |
| debilitate | weaken |
| anachronistic | the representation of something as existing in the wrong time period |
| archaic | old |
| dilatory | habitually late |
| ephemeral | lasting for only a brief time |
| redolent | fragrant |
| temporal | limited by time |
| onerous | burdensome |
| portent | omen |
| prescience | foresight |
| austere | strict |
| banal | predictable |
| hackneyed | worn out through overuse |
| insipid | uninteresting |
| prosaic | dull |
| soporific | tending to induce sleep |
| vapid | dull |
| brevity | briefness |
| expedient | convenient, speedy |
| transient | passing quickly in time or space |
| augment | to supplement |
| bolster | to hearten |
| burgeon | to grow and flourish |
| copious | plentiful |
| distend | to swell out or expand from internal pressure, as when overly full |
| grandiose | grand |
| prodigious | enormous |
| profundity | great depth of intellect, feeling, or meaning |
| redouble | to double |
| scintillating | brilliant |
| averse | strongly disinclined |
| conspicuous | obvious |
| demure | modest and reserved |
| diffidence | shyness |
| docile | submissive to instruction |
| innocuous | harmless |
| placid | calm or quiet |
| quiescent | inactive |
| concord | agreement |
| dogmatic | stubbornly attached to insufficiently proven beliefs |
| fastidious | carefully attentive to detail, difficult to please |
| intransigence | refusal to moderate a position or to compromise |
| jocular | characterized by or given to joking |
| meticulous | extremely careful and precise |
| affable | friendly |
| alacrity | cheerful readiness, eagerness |
| amiable | agreeable |
| benign | kind and gentle |
| sanguine | optimistic |
| belligerent | eager to fight |
| byzantine | extremely complicated or devious |
| cantankerous | ill-tempered and quarrelsome |
| contentious | quarrelsome |
| deleterious | having a harmful effect |
| exacerbate | aggravate |
| flippant | disrespectfully humorous or casual |
| insolent | insulting in manner or speech |
| nefarious | vicious |
| pernicious | deadly |
| rancorous | bitter, deep-seated ill-will |
| repugnant | arousing disgust; offensive |
| tawdry | gaudy and cheap |
| arboreal | relating to or resembling trees |
| invocation (n) | a call for assistance, support, or inspiration |
| stratify | to separate into layers |
| variegated | varicoloured |
| verdent | green with vegetation |
| abate | to reduce or lessen in intensity |
| aberration | a deviation that is not normal |
| abhor, abhorrence | to hate, hatred |
| abstruse | difficult to understand |
| acquiesce | to give in and comply |
| admonish | to reprimand or warn strongly |
| adroit | show great skills, deft |
| acclaim | to praise or extol |
| aesthetic | concerned with appreciation of beauty or good taste |
| allusion | a reference to a well-known person, place, event, work, or art |
| aloof | not friendly or forthcoming, distant and reserved |
| amalgam | a mixture; combination |
| ambiguous | having more than one possible meaning |
| ambivalent | having mixed and many feelings about a topic or situation |
| anachronism | something out of place in time |
| anecdote | short story of an amusing or interesting event |
| anguish | suffer great pains or distress |
| anomaly | atypical, unexpected outcome |
| antecedent | a preceding occurrence or cause or event |
| antipathy | animosity, strong dislike for |
| antithesis | the direct opposite |
| apathetic | marked by a lack of interest |
| apropos | appropriate |
| archaic | out of date |
| ascetic | practicing great self-denial |
| audacious | disposed to venture or take risks |
| auspicious | favorable |
| automation | a mindless follower |
| autonomous | self-governing; independent |
| bane | the cause of ruin, harm, distress, or death |
| belie | contradict; give a false impression |
| benefactor | one who makes gift or bequest to others |
| beneficiary | one who receives benefits |
| boon | a blessing or benefit; something that is helpful |
| boorish | a rude unmannerly person, or a clumsy |
| uncouth | vulgar crude rude behavior |
| bowdlerize | to remove offensive passages of a play, novel, etc. |
| bucolic | rustic charming countryside setting |
| bungler | someone who is clumsy or inept |
| cacophony | harsh jarring sounds or awful music |
| callous | insensitive, rude disregard for others |
| capricious | sudden and accountable change of mood or behavior, mercurial |
| caricature | an exaggerated portrayal of one's features |
| charlatan | a fake or fraud |
| chimerical | produced by a wildly fanciful imagination |
| circuitous | indirect, roundabout |
| circumscribe | limit; confine; draw a line around |
| circumvent | to go around or bypass |
| clairvoyant | a seer, foreseeing the future |
| clandestine | secret |
| confounded | confused |
| conjecture | a guess |
| convoluted | Intricate and complicated |
| covet | "to crave or desire, especially something belonging to someone else" |
| cryptic | mysterious and obscure, ambiguous |
| curtail | to reduce |
| dearth | A lack, scarcity, inadequate supply; a famine |
| debunk | to expose untruths, shams, or exaggerated claims |
| decry | express strong disapproval of, denounce" |
| deft | show great skill in dealing with people |
| demagogue | a leader who appeals to the fears, emotion and prejudices of the populace |
| demise | death |
| denounce | speak out against |
| deride | to ridicule, laugh at with contempt |
| despondent | sad, without hope, discouraged |
| devoid | empty and lacking |
| diatribe | tirade, a thunderous verbal attack |
| dilettante | a person with a superficial interest in art or a branch of knowledge |
| diminutive | very small |
| dirge | a funeral song |
| dismissive | showing indifferent, disregard |
| disparage | to be little someone or to speak in a disrespectful way |
| dispel | to cause to separate and go in different directions |
| dissembler | to conceal one's true motives or feelings, lie |
| divisive | creating disunity or conflict |
| draconian | strict law |
| eccentric | odd, out of center |
| elusive | out of reach, so hard to catch, define |
| enigmatic | inscrutable |
| enumerate | to count on, to list |
| ephemeral | lasting for a short time |
| epic | a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds |
| equanimity | calmness, composure |
| eulogy | a formal speech praising a person who has died |
| euphony | the pleasant, mellifluous presentation of sounds in a literary work. |
| Evocation | an imaginative recreation |
| Exasperate | irritate intensely; infuriate |
| Exemplary | outstanding, an example to others |
| exhort | to encourage, urge |
| exorbitant | out of orbit and unreasonably expensive |
| expunge | to erase or completely remove something unpleasant |
| excise | to remove surgically |
| expurgate | delete, remove |
| extol | praise, laud |
| extricate | get out of difficult situation |
| fiasco | a debacle or sudden and violent collapse |
| foreshadow | gives clues that suggest what might happen in the future |
| fortitude | strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity with courage |
| fortuitous | accidental but fortunate occurrence |
| futile | useless |
| galvanize | to stimulate or to excite as if by an electric shock |
| genial | gregarious |
| gerrymander | dividing a voting area so as to give your own party an unfair advantage |
| glib | fluent in speech but insincere and shallow |
| halcyon | peace, clam |
| hedonist | a person who believes pleasure of the chief goal of life |
| hyperbole | exaggeration |
| iconoclast | someone who tries to destroy traditional ideas or institutions |
| impasse | a deadlock or tie waiting for resolution |
| impeccable | flawless and in accordance with high standards |
| impecunious | without money; penniless |
| impetus | stimulus |
| implacable | unable to be appeased or pacified |
| incontrovertible | indisputable |
| indifferent | unconquered, no interest or sympathy |
| indigenous | endemic, native to an area |
| indignant | angered at something that is perceived as unfair unjust or wrong |
| indulgent | excessive generous |
| inexorable | inevitable |
| innocuous | harmless |
| innuendo | a hint, indirect suggestion, or reference |
| insurgent | a person who against civil authority |
| insurmountable | not capable of being surmounted or overcome |
| intemperate | lacking restraint |
| intrepid | fearless, adventurous and bold |
| undaunted | fearless and not intimidated |
| irony | witty language used to convey insults or scorn |
| irreverence | lack of respect |
| jaded | bored and lacking enthusiasm after having to much of something |
| jovial | cheerful and friendly merry |
| juggernaut | an inescapable force that crushes whatever is in its path |
| laud | extol, paries, tout |
| martinet | a strict disciplinarian; a stickler for rules |
| maudlin | excessively sentimental or self-pity |
| maverick | someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action |
| mediator | a negotiator who attempt to find middle ground |
| memoir | historical autobiography, personal journal |
| mentor | tutor or trusted advisor |
| mercurial | person that has sudden unpredictable mood changes |
| metaphor | comparison without using like or as |
| meticulous | extremely careful and particular about details |
| morose | sad, sullen; melancholy |
| nadir | the lowest point |
| naïve | lacking experience, wisdom or judgement |
| nebulous | unclear or vague |
| neophyte | a beginner, novice or new at some activity, greenhorn |
| nonchalant | appearing overly casual calm and disinterested |
| nostalgia | longing for something past |
| obsolete | no longer in use and out of date |
| oracle | a person who considered to be a an infallible authority or expert |
| ostracize | exclude or banish from a group |
| painstaking | very careful; diligent; meticulous |
| panache | flamboyant confidence of style and manner; verve |
| pandemic | A disease that spreads over a wide area and affects much of the population |
| pandemonium | a wild uproar or commotion |
| paradox | an apparently contradictory statement that contains some truth |
| partisan | a person with strong and biased beliefs |
| paucity | having insufficient quantities, scarcity |
| penchant | to have a special liking for something or tendency to do something |
| philanthropist | a person who donate money, time to charity |
| picayune | worthless of little value or importance |
| placid | calm and quite |
| plausible | something believable and reasonable |
| poignant | a keen sense of sadness or regret |
| polarize | break off into opposing factions |
| pompous | pretentious, solemn |
| pragmatic | practical rather than idealistic |
| prattle | to babble or talk in an aimless, foolish way; to babble |
| prevaricate | to speak or act in an evasive way |
| prodigious | huge and great in size and degree |
| prodigy | a young genius |
| prognosticator | a person who makes predictions based upon data |
| proponent | an advocate, who argues in support for something |
| prototype | original work used as a model by others |
| provocative | serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate |
| prudent | cautious and careful and sensible |
| pundit | an authority who expresses his/her opinions (political) |
| quixotic | exceedingly idealistic but impractical |
| raconteur | a person skilled in telling anecdotes |
| reaffirm | to assert again; to confirm; state positively |
| rebuff | a rejection in an abrupt or ungracious manner |
| recalcitrant | stubbornly disobedient, resisting authority |
| recluse | a person who leads a solitary life, hermit |
| redundancy | repetition of an act needlessly |
| rejuvenate | make younger or more youthful |
| relinquish | too let go or give up |
| renegade | a person disloyal his religion, or political party |
| renovate | make brighter and prettier |
| reproach | a mild rebuke or criticism |
| repudiate | to refuse to be associated with something or a person |
| recant | to disavow or take back something |
| renounce | take back, reject, disavow |
| resilient | recovering readily from adversity, depression |
| resurgent | to rise again; surge back |
| rhetorician | an eloquent writer or speaker |
| saga | a long narrative story, a heroic tale |
| sarcastic | ironic; mocking; cynical |
| sardonic | disdainfully or ironically humorous |
| satire | writing that exposes follies or abuses by holding them up to ridicule |
| serendipity | accidental good fortune; |
| simile | comparison using "like" or "as" |
| skeptic | a person who doubts |
| sophistry | plausible but misleading or fallacious argument |
| Spartan | plain, austere |
| stoic | a person who is indifferent, emotionless |
| subtle | delicate, elusive, not obvious |
| superficial | lacking depths, concerned with surface appearances |
| surfeit | an excessive amount of something so as to not be interested any longer |
| surreptitious | kept secret because it would not be approved |
| sycophant | person who acts obsequiously or subservient toward someone for advantage (a kiss-ass) |
| synopsis | a summary |
| tenacious | showing great determination |
| tout | to praise, extol, acclaim |
| thwart | to stymie or stop, frustrate |
| trifle | unimportant; frivolous |
| trite | overused; ordinary; banal |
| truculent | aggressive bad-tempered behavior |
| ubiquitous | prevalent, omnipresent, existing everywhere |
| unconventional | not ordinary or typical |
| unorthodox | breaking with convention or tradition |
| urbane | elegant, sophisticated |
| usurp | seize power without authority |
| vacuous | mindless lack of thought |
| venerable | commanding respect or dignity because of age |
| viable | feasible and possible |
| voracious | ravenous or insatiable |
| wane | to reduce or get smaller |
| wayward | difficult to control or predict because of perverse behavior |
| wry | disdainfully or ironically humorous |
| zealot | a fanatic about something; an ardent follower |
| zenith | the highest point; the peak, apex |
| watershed | an event which defines a turning point or course of action. |
| voluptuous | sexually attractive women |
| villainous | relating to wicked or criminal behavior |
| vigilant | keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties |
| upbraid | to scold or find fault with someone |
| unscrupulous | having no moral principles, not honest |
Created by:
brandon96
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