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VOCABULARY LISTS > USER LISTS

learn us! learn us! 109 words

May 14, 2009 By Bridget S. (New Orleans, LA)

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Definitions Notes & Examples Words Only
  1. vituperative
    marked by harshly abusive criticism
  2. animadversion
    harsh criticism or disapproval
  3. artifice
    a deceptive maneuver (especially to avoid capture)
  4. ebullient
    joyously unrestrained
  5. cantankerous
    stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate
  6. fractious
    easily irritated or annoyed
  7. obstreperous
    noisily and stubbornly defiant
  8. obtuse
    of an angle; between 90 and 180 degrees
  9. invidious
    containing or implying a slight or showing prejudice
  10. inveigh
    complain bitterly
  11. insolent
    marked by casual disrespect
  12. indigent
    poor enough to need help from others
  13. acolyte
    someone who assists a priest or minister in a liturgical service; a cleric ordained in the highest of the minor orders in the Roman Catholic Church but not in the Anglican Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches
  14. imprimatur
    formal and explicit approval
  15. ascribe
    attribute or credit to
  16. austere
    of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in aspect
  17. bumptious
    offensively self-assertive
  18. burgeon
    grow and flourish
  19. inveigle
    influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
  20. corpulence
    the property of excessive fatness
  21. conceit
    the trait of being unduly vain and conceited; false pride
  22. deign
    do something that one considers to be below one's dignity
  23. desultory
    marked by lack of definite plan or regularity or purpose; jumping from one thing to another
  24. deleterious
    harmful to living things
  25. pernicious
    exceedingly harmful
  26. ostensible
    appearing as such but not necessarily so
  27. capricious
    determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason
  28. diffidence
    lack of self-confidence
  29. dint
    interchangeable with `means' in the expression `by means of'
  30. discursive
    proceeding to a conclusion by reason or argument rather than intuition
  31. beguiled
    filled with wonder and delight
  32. elysian
    relating to the Elysian Fields
  33. emendation
    a correction by emending; a correction resulting from critical editing
  34. callow
    young and inexperienced
  35. amend
    make amendments to
  36. engender
    make children
  37. scourge
    something causing misery or death
  38. ennui
    the feeling of being bored by something tedious
  39. fastidious
    giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness
  40. eugenics
    the study of methods of improving genetic qualities by selective breeding (especially as applied to human mating)
  41. fodder
    coarse food (especially for livestock) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop
  42. provender
    food for domestic livestock
  43. fulmination
    the act of exploding with noise and violence
  44. ignominious
    (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame
  45. knavery
    lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing
  46. obdurate
    stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing
  47. contumacious
    wilfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient
  48. affable
    diffusing warmth and friendliness
  49. ineffable
    defying expression or description
  50. entranced
    filled with wonder and delight
  51. piety
    righteousness by virtue of being pious
  52. invective
    abusive or venomous language used to express blame or censure or bitter deep-seated ill will
  53. plaintive
    expressing sorrow
  54. elegiac
    resembling or characteristic of or appropriate to an elegy
  55. laconic
    brief and to the point; effectively cut short
  56. livid
    furiously angry
  57. probity
    complete and confirmed integrity; having strong moral principles
  58. lugubrious
    excessively mournful
  59. maverick
    someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action
  60. mordant
    harshly ironic or sinister
  61. nugatory
    of no real value
  62. odious
    unequivocally detestable
  63. obloquy
    a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions
  64. calumny
    a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions
  65. pastiche
    a work of art that imitates the style of some previous work
  66. pejorative
    expressing disapproval
  67. epithet
    descriptive word or phrase
  68. risible
    arousing or provoking laughter
  69. atonement
    the act of atoning for sin or wrongdoing (especially appeasing a deity)
  70. perfidy
    an act of deliberate betrayal
  71. perfunctory
    hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
  72. petulant
    easily irritated or annoyed
  73. plaintive
    expressing sorrow
  74. preclude
    make impossible, especially beforehand
  75. picaresque
    involving clever rogues or adventurers especially as in a type of fiction
  76. prize
    something given for victory or superiority in a contest or competition or for winning a lottery
  77. probity
    complete and confirmed integrity; having strong moral principles
  78. proclivity
    a natural inclination
  79. prodigal
    recklessly wasteful
  80. profligate
    unrestrained by convention or morality
  81. capricious
    determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason
  82. propriety
    correct or appropriate behavior
  83. pugnacious
    tough and callous by virtue of experience
  84. punctilious
    marked by precise accordance with details
  85. qualify
    describe or portray the character or the qualities or peculiarities of
  86. quixotic
    not sensible about practical matters; idealistic and unrealistic
  87. raconteur
    a person skilled in telling anecdotes
  88. rebus
    a puzzle where you decode a message consisting of pictures representing syllables and words
  89. recalcitrant
    stubbornly resistant to authority or control
  90. recondite
    difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge
  91. recrudescent
    the revival of an unfortunate situation after a period of abatement
  92. recumbent
    lying down; in a position of comfort or rest
  93. redolent
    having a strong pleasant odor
  94. refractory
    stubbornly resistant to authority or control
  95. remonstrate
    argue in protest or opposition
  96. repine
    express discontent
  97. reprobate
    a person without moral scruples
  98. repudiate
    refuse to acknowledge, ratify, or recognize as valid
  99. requite
    make repayment for or return something
  100. restive
    being in a tense state
  101. retinue
    the group following and attending to some important person
  102. ribald
    humorously vulgar
  103. risible
    arousing or provoking laughter
  104. sanctimony
    the quality of being hypocritically devout
  105. sere
    (used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture
  106. simper
    smile affectedly or derisively
  107. slake
    satisfy (thirst)
  108. sophistry
    a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone
  109. specious
    plausible but false