Master List

aesthete

Someone who claims to only be concerned with matters of art and beauty is known as an aesthete

dogmatic

Someone who is dogmatic has arrogant attitudes based on unproved theories. If you dogmatically assert that the moon is made of green cheese, you'll just get laughed at.

harangue

a long pompous speech; a tirade It is a verbal attack and it is very unpleasant

amalgam

a mixture of multiple things An amalgam is simply a combination of two or more unlike things into one. If your school puts together a drug prevention task force of police, doctors, teachers, social workers, and students, the task force is an amalgam of local resources.

predilection

a strong liking for If you're a night owl, you probably have a predilection for cities, while morning people tend to prefer the country. I have a predilection for video games, novels and movies.

platitude

a trite or obvious remark Be warned: if you throw too many platitudes into your conversations, people are eventually going to get tired of listening to you.

glut

an excessive supply of something A glut is too much of something. A glut of onions in the market will certainly lower the onion price.

aesthetic

appreciation of beauty or art If something has "aesthetic value," it has value as a work of art. A velvet painting of dogs playing poker might have minimal aesthetic appeal.

audacious

being bold, daring or unconventional; taking risks It often gets applied in situations where someone does something pretty unusual, like becoming an astronaut and going to the moon. It can also mean challenging conventions and doing things that most people don't do, such as when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the United States to become a doctor

impertinent

being disrespectful; improperly forward or bold The teacher was impertinent while upbraiding him.

acrimony

bitterness or ill will

laconic

brief; to the point; consisting of very few words The laconic reply was,"No." While lodging a complaint one should be laconic and unequivocal.

dictatorial

characteristic of an absolute ruler; expecting unquestionable obedience

meticulous

characterized by extreme care in details You would want your surgeon or accountant to be meticulous.

decorous

characterized by good manners and conduct

derive

come from something else; establish through deduction

involved

complicated and difficult to comprehend(understand)

ambiguous

confusing; open to more than one interpretation Newspaper headlines can be unintentionally funny when they're ambiguous. In "Squad helps dog bite victim," is the squad helping a victim of a dog bite or helping a dog bite a victim?

gainsay

contradict Gainsay, a verb, means "contradict" or "speak out against." When you challenge authority, you gainsay, as in teachers don't like it when unruly students gainsay them.

lambaste

criticize severely or angrily People lambaste those who have angered or disappointed them. Parents lambaste disobedient kids.

aberration

deviation from the norm An aberration is a noun that means something that is not normal or is very typical at all. Today, you'd say it was an aberration to send little children to work in coal mines and factories and not to school, which was common in the nineteenth century.

recondite

difficult to penetrate It means basically hard for the average mind to understand.

cryptic

difficult to understand; mysterious or having secret meaning

artful

doing something in a cunning (deceptive) way; not straightforward To be artful is to do something skillfully, especially in a cunning way. A con man must be artful. A chess player is artful in escaping an opponent's attack. In movies, villains are often artful, as they tell lies or hatch schemes. Often, artful is the opposite of straightforward.

amenable

easily persuaded, willing If a person or thing is amenable to something, they are ready, willing, or responsive. They are usually amenable to our wishes. "Her heart condition is not amenable to treatment. An amenable personality is open to influence or control and is willing to agree

didactic

excessively instructive (this word is used in negative context) If you heard that a movie is overly didactic, that's probably not good. Most people want to see a story and be entertained when going to the movies, and if it feels like the movie is just telling you what to think, that's didactic in a bad way.

parsimonious

extremely frugal; miserly A parsimonious person is unwilling to spend a lot of money. You know those people who count up every penny when it's time to split a restaurant bill? You can call them parsimonious

auspicious

favorable situation If you start a marathon by falling flat on your face, that's not an auspicious start. If something seems likely to bring success — either because it creates favorable conditions or you just consider it a lucky sign — label it auspicious.

entrenched

fixed firmly When you're entrenched, you're dug in, usually it means you just won't budge from a position or belief.

engender

give rise to When students come to class prepared, meaning they've read their assignment, this engenders better class discussions, just as mutual trust and the desire to help each other engenders a meaningful friendship.

querulous

habitual complaining I am tired of my querulous partner.

innocuous

harmless not causing injury An innocuous question is innocently curious, rather than aimed to hurt someone's feelings

inexorable

impossible to stop; stubborn This is a word for people and things that will not change direction. An inexorable person is hard-headed and cannot be convinced to change their mind, no matter what. You can also say that a process, like the progress of a deadly illness, is inexorable because it can't be stopped.

impudent

improperly forward or bold; shameless An impudent person is bold and shameless.Impudent comes from the Latin combination of im, meaning without, and pudens, meaning shame. We often call someone impudent if they're disrespectful. If you know someone has just lost all their money on the stock market, don't be impudent and ask them how they're going to afford gas money for their yacht.

torpor

inactivity due to lack of energy After a huge Thanksgiving meal, my family members fall into a torpor; no one can even pick up the TV remote.

vociferous

intentionally and offensively loud Vociferous isn't just loud, but annoying, too, like when the vociferous fans of the opposing team chant insults in unison. Try yanking a cookie out of a little kid's hand if you want to hear a vociferous reaction.

vindicate

justify,prove or reinforce an idea; to clear of accusation,guilt,suspicion or doubt with supporting evidence or argument If your family thinks you ate the last piece of pie on Thanksgiving, you'll be vindicated when your younger brother confesses.

wanting

lacking

apathetic

lacking interest or enthusiasm Apathetic is an adjective that describes the feeling of being bored with what's going on around you. If you don't care one way or another, you're apathetic.

frivolous

lacking seriousness; unnecessary A frivolous lawsuit has no value and will be a waste of the court's time, like someone suing McDonald's for making the coffee too hot. If someone is frivolous, that person shouldn't be taken seriously. Frivolous is pretty much the opposite of essential.

mitigate

lessen the seriousness or extent of something When you buy car insurance, you are trying to mitigate the risks involved with driving.You can mitigate your parents' anger by telling them you were late to dinner because you were helping your elderly neighbor.

mercurial

liable to sudden unpredictable change Mercurial describes someone whose mood or behavior is changeable and unpredictable. With a mercurial teacher, you never know where you stand.

calumny

making a false statement in order to injure a person's reputation

ambivalent

mixed or conflicting emotions about something If you can't decide how you feel about something, declare yourself ambivalent about it.

superfluous

more than is needed or required, unnecessary The word comes from Latin and literally means "overflowing": super, "over" + fluere, "to flow." When something is so unnecessary that it could easily be done away with, like a fifth wheel on a car or a fifth person on a double date, call it superfluous.

parochial

narrowly restricted in scope or outlook If an issue or a matter is parochial, it is trivial or only concerns a local area. Likewise, a person with a parochial mentality is narrow-minded, or not open to new ideas.

anomalous

not normal; different; deviation from norm(what is expected) The recent discovery of ice, and therefore water, on the moon was anomalous to all previous ideas that the moon was lifeless. .

frugal

not spending much money; not wasting A frugal farmer.

fortuitous

occurring by happy chance If you and your best friend's families happen to go on vacation to the same place at the same time, that's a fortuitous coincidence!

equivocal

open to two or more interpretation; confusing Example: equivocal response to an embarrassing question.

mawkish

overly sentimental to the point that it is disgusting Which is how you'd describe two lovebirds gushing over each other.

profligate

recklessly wasteful It means being recklessly wasteful in spending your money. Profligate behavior is a lot of fun, but you'll regret it later — when you get your bill.

prodigal

recklessly wasteful(in terms of money) Use the adjective prodigal to describe someone who spends too much money, or something very wasteful. Your prodigal spending on fancy coffee drinks might leave you with no money to buy lunch. In the Bible, the Prodigal Son leaves home and wastes all his money. You could also use this word to describe something that is very abundant or generous in quantity, such as "a prodigal praise."

bucolic

relating to the pleasant aspects of a country Bucolic refers to an ideal country life If your parents wanted to raise you in a bucolic environment, you may find yourself living 45 minutes away from the nearest movie theater. Bucolic is derived from cow

germane

relevant and appropriate

reticent

reluctant to draw attention to oneself; disinclined to talk If you're reticent about your feelings, you like to keep them to yourself, and you're probably quiet in rowdy groups where everyone is talking over each other.

banal

repeated too often; over familiar due to overuse. Ever notice how some TV shows, songs, and even phrases are boring and unoriginal? It's like you've seen or heard the same thing a million times. Anything that's unoriginal and dull is banal

culpability

responsibility or a state of guilt A lot of lawsuits are about who has culpability for something that went wrong.

amorphous

shapeless

diffident

shy and lacking self confidence If you are shy and have a diffident manner, you should probably not choose one of these professions: teacher, stand-up comic. Diffident can describe someone who is reserved and restrained.

iconoclast

someone who attacks cherished ideas or institutions Are you always challenging the establishment? Or provoking popular thought by attacking traditions and institutions? Then you're definitely an iconoclast.

gall

something irritating and rude; deep feeling of ill-will If someone has gall, they're irritating. In fact, as a verb, gall means "to irritate" like new tight jeans that gall your thighs.

gossamer

something super fine and delicate (like a spider web) A dress can be gossamer-like, if its fabric is so sheer as to be see-through, or almost. Your chances of going to a good college are "gossamer thin" if you've never cracked a book in high school.

incisive

something that is sharp and direct; ability to draw fine distinction A comment that cuts right to the bone can be just as incisive as an actual knife.

egregious

standing out in a negative way; shockingly bad Something that is egregious stands out, but not in a good way — it means "really bad or offensive".An egregious error is hardly forgivable.

eschew

stay away from You eschew things that you find morally or aesthetically wrong, or that you have chosen to find wrong. A dieter might eschew a chocolate.

extant

still in existence Use this word to describe old things that are still around, like your extant diary from third grade.

venality

the condition of being susceptible to bribe or corruption A government worker's venality might lead him to exchange state secrets for cash.

prescience

the power to foresee future Do you already know what happens tomorrow? Next week? Next year? If you can see into the future, then you have prescience.

volubility

the quality of talking or writing easily to great lengths

concede

to accept or acknowledge; accept defeat If your mom is pointing out that you need sleep before the test, you should concede the truth of what she's saying. But another meaning of concede is to give away or grant something: The leaders are not ready to concede power

maintain

to assert

restive

to be in a tense state or to be impatient or on edge

belie

to be in contradiction with; misrepresent If you are 93 but look like you are 53, then your young looks belie your age.

commensurate

to be in proportion; appropriate The word commensurate has to do with things that are similar in size and therefore appropriate. Many people think the death penalty is a commensurate punishment for murder.

gregarious

to be likely to socialize If you know someone who's outgoing, sociable, and fond of the company of others, you might want to call her gregarious.

ingenuous

to be naive and innocent Someone who is ingenuous shows a childlike innocence, trust, and openness. One of the things kindergarten teachers value is the chance to work with kids while they're still relatively ingenuous

perfidy

to betray In order for perfidy to happen, there has to have first been a sense of faith in place, which was then broken or betrayed. If you shared your most embarrassing secrets with a friend who then told them to everyone he knows, his betrayal could be described as perfidy.

chortle

to chuckle If you have a toddler, you will recognize the sound of a delighted chortle.

castigate

to criticize harshly If you take a mean friend's book, even accidentally, you might worry that he's going to castigate you as soon as he finds out.

chastise

to criticize very harshly Chastise is a fancy word for telling someone that something they did was really bad. If you pick your nose, your mom's gonna yell at you. If you do it in front of the Queen of England, your mom will chastise you. You're chastising me for forgetting to feed the cat, but it's not like the cat died!

culminate

to end; to reach the highest point "I want my experiments combining strawberry jam with burnt toast to culminate in a Nobel Prize in Chemistry."

galvanize

to excite or inspire(someone) to action; to motivate

censure

to express criticism If you take your dad's car without telling him, you can expect him to censure you severely, and maybe even ground you as well.

preclude

to keep it from happening; to make it impossible Staying away from water precludes the possibility of drowning, though it also precludes any chance of having fun swimming.

qualify

to limit something or add a condition to it In another sense, though, qualify means to change something slightly, to limit it or add a condition to it. If you plan to get married, keep your vows simple: say "I do." Don't qualify them by saying something like "I do...except sometimes, when I don't."

betray

to make known unintentionally When you betray someone or something, you provide information whether you mean to do it or not. Like the loud growling of your stomach that betrays your hunger. You may betray your impatience, for example, if you sit at your desk tapping your fingers

exacerbate

to make worse If you're in trouble, complaining about it will only exacerbate the problem. A drought will exacerbate a country's food shortage.

demur

to object or show reluctance to If your mother asks you to clean your room and you refuse, you demur. And if your friend invites you to the Death Metal Forever concert but you hesitate, you demur. Whether you object, politely disagree, or hesitate, you demur.

deferential

to respect Bowing low to the Queen is a deferential act when visiting Buckingham Palace. On sports teams, rookies are usually deferential to the veterans and star players, while all players should be deferential to the coachBeing deferential shows respect, but also means "I know my place, and it's lower than yours."

venerate

to respect deeply To venerate is to worship, adore, be in awe of. You probably don't venerate your teacher or boss; however, you may act like you do!

upbraid

to scold

intimate

to suggest something subtly; being close A small restaurant is called intimate because you're sitting close to the other people, and your best friends are considered your intimate friends. And when you get intimate with someone, it can mean that you're sexually involved.

undermine

to weaken If you undermine your teachers speech by being loquacious; chances are that you had be getting a censured severely.

veracious

truthful Think of a veracious person as someone who is like a witness under oath in a court of law, someone who speaks "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Don't ask a question to a veracious friend unless you really want to know the answer.

disinterested

unbiased or neutral If you are confused between buying a shirt or a t-shirt you would most likely take input from a disinterested person

obscure

vague or not clearly understood; confined to only some people Be careful if you're driving in heavy rain — the painted lines can be obscure.

rustic

village like

enervate

weaken or wear down; to sap energy from A three hour long lecture about the achievements of your college will certainly enervate you

conspicuous

without concealment; obvious to the eye The conspicuous scar on her face was noticed immediately.