A
Aberration - deviating from normal
Abjure - to reject/renounce
Abscond - leave; escape
Abstruse - hard to comprehend
Acrid - pungent
Acrimony - bitterness/discord
Acquiesce - to agree; give in
Adumbrate - suggest vaguely
Aerie/eyrie - large nest
Alacrity - eagerness
Alleviate - make [problem] less severe
Ambivalence - unclear; mixed feelings
Ambulatory - moving from place to place
Amorphously - without definite shape
Anathema - detested person
Anomalous - odd
Antiquated - outdated
Aplomb - calm self-confidence
Approbation - praise
Arcane - mysterious; known only to the initiated
Archetype - classic example of
Arrogate - take without justification
Aspersion - negative feeling; damaging remark
Assiduous - persistent; hard-working
Audacious - bold
Augment - to intensify
Avarice - greed
Aver - declare to be the case; affirm

B
Baroque - flamboyance
Bastion - fortress; stronghold
Beatific - blissful happiness; joy and calmness
Becloud - cause to become obscure
Belie - contradict
Belligerence - aggression; the quality of being warlike
Benevolent - friendly; helpful
Bigot - narrow-minded person
Bilious - bad-tempered; nauseous; sickly; ill-humored
Boorish - ill-mannered
Burgeon - grow, flourish
Burnish - polish by rubbing; shine

C
Calumny - false, damaging statement about someone
Cantankerous - disagreeable
Capricious - fickle
Carnal - pertaining to the flesh
Castigate - punish
Caucus - meeting of policy-making committee; group of people who share same concerns
Celerity - speed
Censure - criticize harshly
Cessation - stop
Choleric - easily angered
Circuitous - longer than most direct way; roundabout
Circumlocution - evasion in speech
Clemency - mercy
Cogent - persuasive
Colloquial - not formal
Complicity - involvement as an accomplice in crime
Confluence - joining
Consecrate - delicate
Contiguous - sharing a border; next in sequence
Convoluted - complicated
Contrite - sorry

D
Dearth - scarcity
Debonair - archaic
Decorous - good behavior
Deleterious - harmful
Demagogue - political leader who appeals to desires of public
Despotic - acting like a tyrant
Detritus - rubbish
Diaphanous - very thin and transparent
Dictum - often-used saying
Diorama - model of a scene
Disparaged - speak of as of little worth
Dotard - foolish old man
Duplicitous - not truthful
Duplicity – deceitfulness

E
Ebullient - enthusiastic
Eclectic - taking things from different sources
Effigy - model of a person
Egalitarian - equal
Egregious - obviously bad
Elucidate - make clear
Enervating - weakening; tiring
Ephemeral - momentary
Evanescent - short-lived
Epochal - period of history; significant or momentous
Equanimity - calmness even under stress
Equivocate - speak vaguely
Extenuating - excusing; mitigating [factors]
Eschew - avoid
Esoteric – arcane (able to be understood only be specialists)
Exponent - person who does things skillfully; one who advocates or speaks for
Extraneous - irrelevant

F
Febrile - over-active; showing symptoms of fever
Fecund - fertile
Filibuster - prolonged speaking which obstructs progress in law-making assembly; delay through speech making
Florid - flushed; gaudy; ornate
Fulsome - excessively flattering

G
Gauche - socially awkward; unsophisticated
Germane - relevant
Germinal - not developed; immature
Guileless - frank

H
Hackneyed - cliched; ordinary
Hegemony - dominance of one group over another
Heresy - against norms
Histrionics - excessively dramatic
Hubris - excessive pride/self confidence

I
Iconoclast - person who goes against accepted authority
Illusory - not real, but seems to be
Impassive - not feeling or showing emotion
Impecunious - having no money
Imperious - expecting to be obeyed without question
Implacable - unwilling to stop being hostile; unstoppable; impossible to please/satisfy
Importune - very persistent
Impute - to attribute an action to particular person/group
Incarnadine - flesh or blood colored
Inchoate - not fully formed; just begun
Indolent - lazy
Inebriation - intoxication
Ingenue - naive, unsophisticated person
Ingratiate - gain favor with flattery; seek good graces of another
Inimical - hostile
Insensate - unfeeling; unconscious; lacking awareness
Insidious - treacherous, seductive, subtle
Interregnum - period between regimes when normal government is suspended
Intransigent - refusing to change views, behavior; extreme; uncompromising
Intrepid - fearless; adventurous
Irascible - easily angered
Ire - anger
Itinerant - nomadic

J
Jaundiced - cynical; pessimistic

K
Kismet - fate

L
Lachrymose - tearful
Laconic - tending not to speak much
Licentious - sexually immoral
Lucid - clear

M
Macabre - disturbing
Magnanimity - forgiving towards enemy; generosity
Maladroit - clumsy
Malevolent - wishing evil to others
Marshal - to gather together
Mawkish - excessively sentimental
Mendacious - given to lying
Mendacity - untruthfulness
Milieu - person's social environment
Misnomer - wrong name
More - troublesome situation
Munificent - generous

N
Nebulous - vague
Nettle - annoy
Niggardly - stingy

O
Onus - responsibility; burden; blame
Opprobriously - highly critical; scornful; abusive
Opulent - wealthy
Ostentatious - showy

P
Paean - song of praise/triumph
Palpable - able to be touched; obvious
Paragon - model of excellence/perfection
Pare - reduce
Pariah - social outcast
Parity - equality
Paucity - shortage
Percipient - perceptive
Perfidy - deceitfulness
Perspicacious - insightful
Petulant - sulky; peevish
Phalanx - group of similar people/things
Philistine - uncultured person
Phlegmatic - calm
Placid - calm
Platitude - overused remark; cliche statement
Polyglot - mixture of languages
Portico - porch
Postulate - hypothesize
Potable - safe to drink
Potentate - monarch/ruler; one who exercises extensive power
Precipice - steep slope
Prosaic - ordinary; dull
Protean - changeable
Pseudonym - false name

Q
Quaff - drink down quickly
Quagmire - swamp or bog

R
Rancor - resentment
Recidivism - not discouraged by punishment; relapse into bad behaviors
Replete - abundantly supplied
Rostrum - platform person stands on to make speech

S
Salient - most important; prominent
Salubrious - health-giving
Sanctimonious - making a show of being morally better than others
Saturnine - serious, gloomy
Scintilla - trace (not a trace of doubt)
Scrupulous - careful
Servile - groveling
Sinecure - job where holder is paid but requires little or no work
Sophomoric - immature
Spartan - lacking in comfort, luxury
Specious - seemingly reasonable but actually wrong; misleading in appearance
Subliminal - below consciousness
Subterranean - underground
Succinct - concise
Supercilious - proud/haughty
Surreptitious - sneaky
Sybarite - fond of luxury and pleasure
Sycophant - flatterer

T
Temporal - limited by time in material world
Tenet - central principle; belief
Tenuous - slight or weak; very slender or fine; having little substance
Titular - holding formal position without real authority
Tractable - obedient, polite
Transient - short-lived; temporary
Truant - someone absent without permission; shirker
Truculent - cruel, deadly, harsh
Truculently - quick to argue/fight; bitterly opposed
Tutelage - instruction (tuition); authority over someone else

U
Unctuous - smug; oily
Unequivocal - clear, obvious

V
Vacuous - lacking content; stupid
Variegated - varied
Venal - corrupt
Vernacular - main language
Vilification - blackening someone's name
Vindicate - clear from blame/suspicion
Virulent - extremely harmful; disease; poison; bitterly hostile
Voluble - talkative

W
Whet - sharpen
Willful - stubborn

Y
Yen - yearning