Larry's Word List

philip A.
306 words 0 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. abase
    cause to feel shame
  2. abeyance
    temporary cessation or suspension
  3. abnegation
    the denial and rejection of a doctrine or belief
  4. abreaction
    (psychoanalysis) purging of emotional tensions
  5. abrogate
    revoke formally
  6. abstruse
    difficult to understand
  7. acerbic
    sour or bitter in taste
  8. acolyte
    a devoted follower or assistant
  9. acquiesce
    agree or express agreement
  10. acrimonious
    marked by strong resentment or cynicism
  11. acuity
    sharpness of vision
  12. ad hoc
    for or concerned with one specific purpose
  13. adience
    an urge to accept or approach a situation or an object
  14. alfresco
    in the open air
  15. alms
    money or goods contributed to the poor
  16. ambiguity
    unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning
  17. ambiguous
    having more than one possible meaning
  18. ameliorate
    make better
  19. amenable
    disposed or willing to comply
  20. amort
    utterly cast down
  21. amour propre
    feelings of excessive pride
  22. antithesis
    exact opposite
  23. aper
    someone who copies the words or behavior of another
  24. aphorism
    a short pithy instructive saying
  25. apogee
    the farthest point in an orbit around the Earth
  26. apologize
    acknowledge faults or shortcomings or failing
  27. apoplexy
    a loss of consciousness from the lack of oxygen in the brain
  28. apotheosis
    model of excellence or perfection of a kind
  29. appellation
    identifying words by which someone or something is called
  30. apropos
    of a suitable, fitting, or pertinent nature
  31. ardent
    characterized by intense emotion
  32. asceticism
    rigorous self-denial and active self-restraint
  33. Asgard
    the heavenly dwelling of the Norse gods and slain war heroes
  34. assiduous
    marked by care and persistent effort
  35. assignation
    a secret rendezvous (especially between lovers)
  36. assimilate
    make alike
  37. attenuate
    become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude
  38. augur
    predict from an omen
  39. auspices
    kindly endorsement and guidance
  40. auspicious
    indicating favorable circumstances and good luck
  41. austerity
    excessive sternness
  42. avariciousness
    extreme greed for material wealth
  43. axiom
    a proposition that is not susceptible of proof or disproof
  44. axiomatic
    evident without proof or argument
  45. benevolence
    disposition to do good
  46. bombastic
    ostentatiously lofty in style
  47. bon vivant
    a sociable person who enjoys fine food and luxury
  48. brusque
    rudely abrupt or blunt in speech or manner
  49. calumniate
    charge falsely or with malicious intent
  50. calumnious
    harmful and often untrue; tending to discredit or malign
  51. canard
    a deliberately misleading fabrication
  52. capricious
    determined by chance or impulse rather than by necessity
  53. carrion
    the dead and rotting body of an animal; unfit for human food
  54. casus belli
    an event used to justify starting a war
  55. catharsis
    purging the body to stimulate evacuation of the bowels
  56. cavil
    raise trivial objections
  57. chagrin
    strong feelings of embarrassment
  58. chagrined
    feeling or caused to feel uneasy and self-conscious
  59. chicanery
    the use of tricks to deceive someone
  60. chide
    scold or reprimand severely or angrily
  61. choleric
    characterized by anger
  62. cloistered
    providing privacy or seclusion
  63. cloying
    overly sweet
  64. coalesce
    fuse or cause to come together
  65. coiffure
    the arrangement of the hair
  66. colloquial
    characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation
  67. compunction
    a feeling of deep regret, usually for some misdeed
  68. confabulate
    talk socially without exchanging too much information
  69. contempt
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
  70. contumacious
    willfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient
  71. contumely
    rude language intended to offend or hurt
  72. convoluted
    highly complex or intricate
  73. cozen
    be dishonest with
  74. credulous
    showing a lack of judgment or experience
  75. daft
    foolish or mentally irregular
  76. dalliance
    the act of delaying and playing instead of working
  77. dearth
    an insufficient quantity or number
  78. deference
    courteous regard for people's feelings
  79. deity
    a supernatural being worshipped as controlling the world
  80. delectation
    a feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction
  81. deleterious
    harmful to living things
  82. deliquesce
    melt, liquefy, or dissolve, by absorbing moisture from the air
  83. delude
    be dishonest with
  84. demagogue
    a leader who seeks support by appealing to popular passions
  85. demagoguery
    political rhetoric appealing to popular prejudice or emotion
  86. demarcate
    set, mark, or draw the boundaries of something
  87. demure
    shy or modest, often in a playful or provocative way
  88. denigrate
    attack the good name and reputation of someone
  89. denizen
    a plant or animal naturalized in a region
  90. depravity
    moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles
  91. derisively
    in a disrespectful and mocking manner
  92. despotic
    having the characteristics of a tyrannical ruler
  93. detritus
    loose material that is worn away from rocks
  94. discernment
    the cognitive condition of someone who understands
  95. dolorous
    showing sorrow
  96. dolt
    a person who is not very bright
  97. dullard
    a person who is not very bright or interesting
  98. duplicitous
    marked by deliberate deceptiveness
  99. dysphoric
    generalized feeling of distress
  100. edification
    uplifting enlightenment
  101. effrontery
    audacious behavior that you have no right to
  102. egalitarian
    favoring social equality
  103. eleemosynary
    generous in assistance to the poor
  104. empirical
    derived from experiment and observation rather than theory
  105. enigmatic
    not clear to the understanding
  106. enmity
    a state of deep-seated ill-will
  107. ephemeral
    anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day
  108. epicurean
    devoted to pleasure
  109. equivocate
    be deliberately ambiguous or unclear
  110. equivocation
    intentional vagueness or ambiguity
  111. erstwhile
    belonging to some prior time
  112. eruditeness
    profound scholarly knowledge
  113. erudition
    profound scholarly knowledge
  114. esoteric
    understandable only by an enlightened inner circle
  115. ethereal
    characterized by lightness and insubstantiality
  116. ethos
    the distinctive spirit of a culture or an era
  117. evanescent
    short-lived; tending to vanish or disappear
  118. evocative
    serving to bring to mind
  119. exalted
    of high moral or intellectual value
  120. excoriate
    express strong disapproval of
  121. exoteric
    suitable for the general public
  122. facetiously
    not seriously
  123. fait accompli
    an irreversible accomplishment
  124. fastidious
    giving careful attention to detail
  125. faux pas
    a socially awkward or tactless act
  126. fawning
    attempting to win favor by flattery
  127. fetid
    offensively malodorous
  128. filch
    make off with belongings of others
  129. flummox
    be a mystery or bewildering to
  130. fractious
    easily irritated or annoyed
  131. fraught
    filled with or attended with
  132. frisson
    an almost pleasurable sensation of fright
  133. fugacious
    lasting a very short time
  134. genre
    a kind of literary or artistic work
  135. halcyon
    a mythical bird said to breed at the winter solstice
  136. highfalutin
    pretentious or excessively fancy
  137. ignominy
    a state of dishonor
  138. immolation
    killing or offering as a sacrifice
  139. impalpable
    not perceptible to the touch
  140. imperious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
  141. impertinence
    the trait of being rude and inclined to take liberties
  142. imperturbable
    marked by extreme calm and composure
  143. implacable
    incapable of being appeased or pacified
  144. improvident
    not supplying something useful for the future
  145. inanition
    exhaustion resulting from lack of food
  146. inanity
    the quality of being meaningless or foolish
  147. incipient
    only partly in existence; imperfectly formed
  148. incongruous
    lacking in harmony or compatibility or appropriateness
  149. indigence
    a state of extreme poverty or destitution
  150. indiscernible
    difficult or impossible to perceive
  151. ineluctably
    by necessity
  152. inimical
    tending to obstruct or cause harm
  153. innocuous
    not injurious to physical or mental health
  154. insidious
    working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way
  155. insipid
    lacking interest or significance or impact
  156. insolence
    the trait of being rude and impertinent
  157. intransigence
    stubborn refusal to compromise or change
  158. intrepidly
    without fear
  159. inveigh
    complain bitterly
  160. irascible
    quickly aroused to anger
  161. irenic
    conducive to peace
  162. joie de vivre
    a keen or exuberant enjoyment of life
  163. juxtapose
    place side by side
  164. knave
    a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
  165. lachrymose
    showing sorrow
  166. languid
    lacking spirit or liveliness
  167. lassitude
    a feeling of lack of interest or energy
  168. locution
    a word or phrase that people use in particular situations
  169. loquacious
    full of trivial conversation
  170. lugubrious
    excessively mournful
  171. macabre
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
  172. macrocosm
    everything that exists anywhere
  173. magnanimous
    noble and generous in spirit
  174. malefic
    having or exerting a malignant influence
  175. maleficent
    harmful or evil in intent or effect
  176. malevolence
    wishing evil to others
  177. malign
    speak unfavorably about
  178. milieu
    the environmental condition
  179. minatory
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
  180. miscreant
    a person without moral scruples
  181. mortification
    strong feelings of embarrassment
  182. munificent
    given or giving freely, generously, or without restriction
  183. myopic
    unable to see distant objects clearly
  184. nascent
    being born or beginning
  185. nebulous
    lacking definite form or limits
  186. nefarious
    extremely wicked
  187. negligible
    so small as to be meaningless; insignificant
  188. nihilist
    someone who rejects all theories of morality
  189. obfuscate
    make obscure or unclear
  190. objurgate
    censure severely
  191. obligatory
    required by compulsion or convention
  192. oligarchy
    a political system governed by a few people
  193. ominous
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
  194. ostensibly
    from appearances alone
  195. ostentation
    pretentious or showy or vulgar display
  196. palter
    be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead
  197. panoply
    a complete and impressive array
  198. paradigm
    a standard or typical example
  199. paragon
    a perfect embodiment of a concept
  200. pariah
    a person who is rejected from society or home
  201. parochial
    relating to or supported by or located in a parish
  202. parsimonious
    excessively unwilling to spend
  203. paucity
    an insufficient quantity or number
  204. pedagogy
    the profession of a teacher
  205. pedantry
    an ostentatious and inappropriate display of learning
  206. pejorative
    expressing disapproval
  207. penury
    a state of extreme poverty or destitution
  208. pernicious
    exceedingly harmful
  209. perspicacious
    mentally acute or penetratingly discerning
  210. pestilence
    any epidemic disease with a high death rate
  211. phantasmagoria
    a constantly changing medley of real or imagined images
  212. pillock
    a person who is not very bright
  213. pillory
    a wooden instrument of punishment on a post
  214. pogrom
    organized persecution of an ethnic group, especially Jews
  215. polemic
    a verbal or written attack, especially of a belief or dogma
  216. polysemous
    having many meanings
  217. precipitous
    extremely steep
  218. precocious
    characterized by exceptionally early development
  219. presage
    a foreboding about what is about to happen
  220. prevarication
    the deliberate act of deviating from the truth
  221. prima facie
    as it seems at first sight
  222. prodigal
    recklessly wasteful
  223. propitiate
    make peace with
  224. propitiousness
    the favorable quality of strongly indicating a successful result
  225. prosaic
    lacking wit or imagination
  226. prurient
    characterized by lust
  227. puerile
    displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity
  228. pugnacious
    ready and able to resort to force or violence
  229. pulchritude
    physical beauty, especially of a woman
  230. purblind
    having greatly reduced vision
  231. purloin
    make off with belongings of others
  232. pusillanimous
    lacking in courage, strength, and resolution
  233. quid pro quo
    something given in exchange for something else
  234. quixotic
    not sensible about practical matters
  235. recalcitrant
    stubbornly resistant to authority or control
  236. rectitude
    righteousness as a consequence of being honorable and honest
  237. resolutely
    showing firm determination or purpose
  238. reticence
    the trait of being uncommunicative
  239. reticent
    reluctant to draw attention to yourself
  240. rhapsodically
    in an ecstatic manner
  241. riposte
    a counterattack made immediately after successfully parrying
  242. sagaciousness
    the mental ability to understand and discriminate between relations
  243. sanguine
    confidently optimistic and cheerful
  244. satiate
    fill to satisfaction
  245. saturnine
    bitter or scornful
  246. simperingly
    with a lack of courage and determination
  247. soiree
    a party of people assembled in the evening
  248. sonorous
    full and loud and deep
  249. soporific
    inducing sleep
  250. specious
    plausible but false
  251. spurious
    plausible but false
  252. squalid
    foul and run-down and repulsive
  253. subjugate
    make subservient; force to submit or subdue
  254. sully
    make dirty or spotty
  255. sundries
    miscellaneous objects too numerous or too small to be specified
  256. sundry
    consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds
  257. surreptitious
    marked by quiet and caution and secrecy
  258. suzerain
    a state exercising dominion over a dependent state
  259. suzerainty
    the position or authority of a suzerain
  260. sybaritic
    displaying luxury and furnishing gratification to the senses
  261. sycophantic
    attempting to win favor by flattery
  262. taciturnity
    the trait of being uncommunicative
  263. tawdry
    tastelessly showy
  264. tedium
    the feeling of being bored by something
  265. tergiversate
    be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead
  266. timorous
    shy and fearful by nature
  267. toadyish
    attempting to win favor by flattery
  268. transmogrification
    the act of changing into a different form or appearance
  269. trenchant
    having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought
  270. troglodyte
    one who lives in solitude
  271. trompe l'oeil
    a painting with so much detail that it looks real
  272. truculent
    defiantly aggressive
  273. turgid
    ostentatiously lofty in style
  274. turpitude
    a corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice
  275. ulcerate
    undergo ulceration
  276. usurpation
    wrongfully seizing and holding by force
  277. vacuity
    the absence of matter
  278. venal
    capable of being corrupted
  279. veritable
    not counterfeit or copied
  280. vertiginous
    having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling
  281. vestige
    an indication that something has been present
  282. vexation
    anger produced by some annoying irritation
  283. vicariously
    indirectly, as, by, or through a substitute
  284. vilification
    slanderous defamation
  285. virulent
    extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom
  286. visceral
    relating to or affecting the internal organs
  287. vitiated
    impaired by diminution
  288. vituperate
    spread negative information about
  289. vociferous
    conspicuously and offensively loud
  290. volition
    the act of making a choice
  291. contrapuntal
    having independent but harmonically related melodic parts
  292. prescient
    perceiving the significance of events before they occur
  293. idyllic
    charmingly simple and serene
  294. remonstrate
    argue in protest or opposition
  295. impecunious
    not having enough money to pay for necessities
  296. placidly
    in a quiet and tranquil manner
  297. impetuous
    characterized by undue haste and lack of thought
  298. sine qua non
    a prerequisite
  299. anathema
    a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication
  300. aplomb
    great coolness and composure under strain
  301. mentation
    the process of using your mind to consider something carefully
  302. paroxysm
    a sudden uncontrollable attack
  303. supine
    lying face upward
  304. inured
    made tough by habitual exposure
  305. archetypal
    of an original pattern on which other things are modeled
  306. vanguard
    the leading units moving at the head of an army
Created on Thu Jul 09 10:54:22 EDT 2009 (updated Tue May 18 10:27:33 EDT 2010)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.