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) Icon to get a pronunciation of the word.) Icon to get a pronunciation of the word.| acquisitive | eager to gain possessions or ideas |
| arrogate | to take or claim without right |
| banal | lacking originality and freshness |
| belabor | explain or discuss more than necessary |
| carping | complaining; fault finding |
| coherent | meaningful, logical |
| congeal | harden, thicken |
| emulate | to imitate, with hopes to equal or to outdo |
| encomium | expression of praise |
| eschew | avoid |
| germane | relevant |
| insatiable | impossible to satisfy |
| intransigent | stubborn |
| invidious | hateful |
| largesse | generous gift or donation |
| reconnaissance | inspection of an area, mostly to gather military information |
| substantiate | support with evidence |
| taciturn | not talkative |
| temporize | delay, stall |
| tenable | able to be defended |
| accost | to approach and speak to someone with a demand or a request |
| animadversion | harsh criticism |
| avid | enthusiastic |
| brackish | slightly salty water; unpleasant to drink; mixture of sea water and fresh water |
| celerity | speed |
| devious | misleading, tricky; not honest |
| gambit | an opening move or remark where one gives up something small with the hopes of gaining an upper hand |
| halcyon | calm and peaceful |
| histrionic | excessively dramatic or emotional |
| incendiary | causing fires or conflict |
| maelstrom | 1. large and violent whirlpool; 2. any violent or disorderly situation; chaos |
| myopic | shortsighted |
| overt | not secret |
| pejorative | insulting |
| propriety | correct or appropriate behavior |
| sacrilege | disrespectful treatment of something regarded as sacred |
| summarily | immediately |
| supplicant | beggar |
| talisman | any object thought to have magical or protective powers |
| undulate | make something move in a wavelike motion |
| articulate | speak clearly |
| cavort | move about carelessly and playfully |
| credence | believability; belief |
| decry | to speak out against |
| dissemble | to disguise or hide the truth |
| distraught | extremely sad or worried |
| eulogy | a speech to honor a dead person |
| evince | to show clearly |
| exhume | remove from a grave |
| feckless | useless; weak |
| murky | dark, gloomy; foggy |
| nefarious | extremely evil; wicked |
| piquant | pleasantly spicy; attractive |
| primordial | having existed from the beginning; original; earliest |
| propinquity | nearness, similarity |
| unwonted | unusual |
| utopian | impossible wish for things to be perfect |
| verbiage | wordiness |
| verdant | green; fresh |
| viscous | thick and sticky |
| atrophy | wasting away (especially of a body part) |
| bastion | place that provides safety and protection |
| concord | agreement; harmony |
| consummate | complete |
| disarray | disorder; confusion |
| exigency | urgency; emergency |
| flotsam | 1. floating debris; 2. useless or unimportant items |
| frenetic | wildly excited or active |
| glean | to learn or discover little by little |
| grouse | complain |
| incarcerate | put into jail |
| incumbent | 1. required; 2. official who holds an office |
| jocular | humorous, joking |
| ludicrous | ridiculous; idiotic; absurd |
| mordant | sarcastic; biting; bitterly harsh |
| nettle | 1. stinging plant; 2. irritate |
| pecuniary | relating to money |
| pusillanimous | cowardly |
| recumbent | reclining |
| stratagem | trick or plan for deceiving |
| acuity | sharpness, clearness (esp. of mind or vision) |
| delineate | to describe or outline |
| depraved | wicked; morally corrupt |
| enervate | weaken |
| esoteric | understood only by a chosen few |
| fecund | extremely productive; fertile |
| fiat | command; order |
| figment | something made up; fictitious |
| garner | to get; gather; collect |
| hallow | to make holy; to bless |
| idiosyncrasy | unique behavior or characteristic |
| ignominy | great shame, disgrace, humiliation |
| mundane | ordinary, commonplace, banal |
| nuance | barely noticeable difference; shade; hard-to-grasp detail |
| overweening | overconfident; arrogant |
| penchant | strong liking; taste |
| reputed | widely believed; reported |
| sophistry | reasoning that seems believable but is actually misleading |
| sumptuous | expensive; magnficent |
| ubiquitous | existing everywhere |
| abject | miserable and hopeless |
| agnostic | doubter, especially about the existence of a god |
| complicity | involvement in wrongdoing |
| derelict | deserted, neglected |
| diatribe | a long, abusive verbal attack |
| effigy | image or representation of a person |
| equity | 1. money value of a property; 2. fairness |
| inane | senseless, silly |
| indictment | accusing or charging with a crime |
| indubitable | unquestionable; cannot be doubted |
| intermittent | stopping and starting again; periodic |
| moot | having no real importance; pointless to continue to discuss |
| motif | repeated central idea or theme |
| neophyte | beginner |
| perspicacity | ability to understand clearly; insight |
| plenary | full; complete |
| surveillance | close observation of a person or group, especially one under suspicion |
| sylvan | characteristics of woods; forest-like |
| testy | easily annoyed |
| travesty | false or exaggerated representation of something; mockery |
| allay | relieve, calm |
| bestial | beastlike, brutal |
| convivial | sociable, festive |
| coterie | exclusive circle of people with a common purpose |
| counterpart | one that closely resembles another |
| demur | object; oppose |
| effrontery | shameless boldness; nerve |
| embellish | add details to, exaggerate |
| ephemeral | lasting a very short time, short-lived |
| felicitous | having happiness or good luck; appropriate |
| furtive | secretive, sneaky, done to escape notice |
| garish | tastelessly showy; so colorful as to be in bad taste |
| illusory | misleading; deceptive; causing illusion |
| indigent | extremely poor |
| inordinate | excessive; too much |
| jettison | get rid of something unwanted; throw away |
| misanthrope | people-hater |
| pertinacious | unwilling to give up; stubborn |
| picayune | of small value or importance; trivial |
| raiment | clothing |
| allege | claim without proof |
| arrant | complete, utter, downright |
| badinage | playful conversation; discussion with a lot of jokes |
| conciliate | make calm; win over |
| countermand | command to cancel a previous order or command |
| echelon | level or rank |
| exacerbate | to make worse |
| fatuous | very stupid; unreal |
| irrefutable | impossible to deny or prove wrong |
| juggernaut | large, unstoppable force or power that crushes whatever is in its way |
| lackadaisical | showing no interest or enthusiasm |
| litany | long list of things that someone talks about |
| macabre | gruesome or frightening, usually involving death |
| paucity | lack; few in number |
| portend | predict or foreshadow; give warning of |
| raze | demolish; destroy to the ground |
| recant | take back a statement made earlier |
| saturate | soak, fill, or load to capacity |
| slough | to shed, get rid of (esp. skin) |
| saturnine | gloomy, bitter, and overly serious |