eager to gain possessions or ideas | acquisitive |
to take or claim without right | arrogate |
lacking originality and freshness | banal |
explain or discuss more than necessary | belabor |
complaining; fault finding | carping |
meaningful, logical | coherent |
harden, thicken | congeal |
to imitate, with hopes to equal or to outdo | emulate |
expression of praise | encomium |
avoid | eschew |
relevant | germane |
impossible to satisfy | insatiable |
stubborn | intransigent |
hateful | invidious |
generous gift or donation | largesse |
inspection of an area, mostly to gather military information | reconnaissance |
support with evidence | substantiate |
not talkative | taciturn |
delay, stall | temporize |
able to be defended | tenable |
to approach and speak to someone with a demand or a request | accost |
harsh criticism | animadversion |
enthusiastic | avid |
slightly salty water; unpleasant to drink; mixture of sea water and fresh water | brackish |
speed | celerity |
misleading, tricky; not honest | devious |
an opening move or remark where one gives up something small with the hopes of gaining an upper hand | gambit |
calm and peaceful | halcyon |
excessively dramatic or emotional | histrionic |
causing fires or conflict | incendiary |
1. large and violent whirlpool; 2. any violent or disorderly situation; chaos | maelstrom |
shortsighted | myopic |
not secret | overt |
insulting | pejorative |
correct or appropriate behavior | propriety |
disrespectful treatment of something regarded as sacred | sacrilege |
immediately | summarily |
beggar | supplicant |
any object thought to have magical or protective powers | talisman |
make something move in a wavelike motion | undulate |
speak clearly | articulate |
move about carelessly and playfully | cavort |
believability; belief | credence |
to speak out against | decry |
to disguise or hide the truth | dissemble |
extremely sad or worried | distraught |
a speech to honor a dead person | eulogy |
to show clearly | evince |
remove from a grave | exhume |
useless; weak | feckless |
dark, gloomy; foggy | murky |
extremely evil; wicked | nefarious |
pleasantly spicy; attractive | piquant |
having existed from the beginning; original; earliest | primordial |
nearness, similarity | propinquity |
unusual | unwonted |
impossible wish for things to be perfect | utopian |
wordiness | verbiage |
green; fresh | verdant |
thick and sticky | viscous |
wasting away (especially of a body part) | atrophy |
place that provides safety and protection | bastion |
agreement; harmony | concord |
complete | consummate |
disorder; confusion | disarray |
urgency; emergency | exigency |
1. floating debris; 2. useless or unimportant items | flotsam |
wildly excited or active | frenetic |
to learn or discover little by little | glean |
complain | grouse |
put into jail | incarcerate |
1. required; 2. official who holds an office | incumbent |
humorous, joking | jocular |
ridiculous; idiotic; absurd | ludicrous |
sarcastic; biting; bitterly harsh | mordant |
1. stinging plant; 2. irritate | nettle |
relating to money | pecuniary |
cowardly | pusillanimous |
reclining | recumbent |
trick or plan for deceiving | stratagem |
sharpness, clearness (esp. of mind or vision) | acuity |
to describe or outline | delineate |
wicked; morally corrupt | depraved |
weaken | enervate |
understood only by a chosen few | esoteric |
extremely productive; fertile | fecund |
command; order | fiat |
something made up; fictitious | figment |
to get; gather; collect | garner |
to make holy; to bless | hallow |
unique behavior or characteristic | idiosyncrasy |
great shame, disgrace, humiliation | ignominy |
ordinary, commonplace, banal | mundane |
barely noticeable difference; shade; hard-to-grasp detail | nuance |
overconfident; arrogant | overweening |
strong liking; taste | penchant |
widely believed; reported | reputed |
reasoning that seems believable but is actually misleading | sophistry |
expensive; magnficent | sumptuous |
existing everywhere | ubiquitous |