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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
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adamant
very hard native crystalline carbon valued as a gem
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approbation
official approval
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ascribe
attribute or credit to
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austere
of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in aspect
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bastion
projecting part of a rampart or other fortification
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boorish
ill-mannered and coarse and contemptible in behavior or appearance
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bumptious
offensively self-assertive
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burgeon
grow and flourish
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cajole
influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
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cant
a slope in the turn of a road or track; the outside is higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force
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chauvinism
fanatical patriotism
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chimerical
being or relating to or like a chimera
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coquettish
like a coquette
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corpulence
the property of excessive fatness
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deign
do something that one considers to be below one's dignity
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deleterious
harmful to living things
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desultory
marked by lack of definite plan or regularity or purpose; jumping from one thing to another
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diffidence
lack of self-confidence
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dint
interchangeable with `means' in the expression `by means of'
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discursive
proceeding to a conclusion by reason or argument rather than intuition
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dupe
fool or hoax
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ebullient
joyously unrestrained
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elysian
relating to the Elysian Fields
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emendation
a correction by emending; a correction resulting from critical editing
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engender
make children
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ennui
the feeling of being bored by something tedious
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fastidious
giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness
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fodder
coarse food (especially for livestock) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop
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fulminate
cause to explode violently and with loud noise
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glib
artfully persuasive in speech
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ignominious
(used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame
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incorrigible
impervious to correction by punishment
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incumbent
necessary (for someone) as a duty or responsibility; morally binding
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ineffable
defying expression or description
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ingenuous
lacking in sophistication or worldliness
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invective
abusive or venomous language used to express blame or censure or bitter deep-seated ill will
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itinerant
traveling from place to place to work
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knavery
lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing
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lachrymose
showing sorrow
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laconic
brief and to the point; effectively cut short
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livid
furiously angry
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lugubrious
excessively mournful
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maverick
someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action
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mendicant
practicing beggary
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mercurial
liable to sudden unpredictable change
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mordant
harshly ironic or sinister
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nugatory
of no real value
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obdurate
stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing
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odious
unequivocally detestable
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ostentatious
intended to attract notice and impress others
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pastiche
a work of art that imitates the style of some previous work
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paucity
an insufficient quantity or number
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pejorative
expressing disapproval
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penchant
a strong liking
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penitent
feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds
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penurious
excessively unwilling to spend
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perfidy
an act of deliberate betrayal
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perfunctory
hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
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pernicious
exceedingly harmful
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perspicacious
mentally acute or penetratingly discerning
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petulant
easily irritated or annoyed
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precocious
characterized by or characteristic of exceptionally early development or maturity (especially in mental aptitude)
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pristine
immaculately clean and unused
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prodigal
recklessly wasteful
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progenitor
an ancestor in the direct line
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pugnacious
tough and callous by virtue of experience
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pungent
strong and sharp;"the pungent taste of radishes"
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pusillanimous
lacking in courage and manly strength and resolution; contemptibly fearful
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rancor
a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will
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recondite
difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge
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repose
freedom from activity (work or strain or responsibility)
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respite
a pause from doing something (as work)
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rife
excessively abundant
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risible
arousing or provoking laughter
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sardonic
disdainfully or ironically humorous; scornful and mocking
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saturnine
bitter or scornful
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savant
someone who has been admitted to membership in a scholarly field
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sedition
an illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority and tending to cause the disruption or overthrow of the government
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sedulous
marked by care and persistent effort
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solicitous
full of anxiety and concern
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specious
plausible but false
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stolid
having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily aroused or excited
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strident
unpleasantly loud and harsh
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stultify
deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or worthless
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subjugate
make subservient; force to submit or subdue
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taciturn
habitually reserved and uncommunicative
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tantamount
being essentially equal to something
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tortuous
marked by repeated turns and bends
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travesty
a composition that imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, usually in a humorous way
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trenchant
having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought, expression, or intellect
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truculent
defiantly aggressive
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turbid
(of liquids) clouded as with sediment
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turpitude
a corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice
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ubiquitous
being present everywhere at once
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venal
capable of being corrupted
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vicissitude
a variation in circumstances or fortune at different times in your life or in the development of something
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vituperate
spread negative information about
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winnow
the act of separating grain from chaff
