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definitions from merriam-webster.

A
  • abate: to decrease in force or intensity

    ⤿ to become defeated or become null or void (as of a writ or appeal)
  • abattoir: a place where animals are butchered; slaughterhouse
  • abscond: to depart secretly and hide oneself
  • acrimony: anger and bitterness; harsh or biting sharpness especially of words, manner, or feelings
  • admonitions: gentle or friendly criticism

    ⤿ counsel or warning against fault or oversight
  • affront: to insult especially to the face by behavior or language
  • akimbo: having the hand on the hip and the elbow turned outward

    ⤿ set in a bent position
  • alacrity: promptness in response
  • ambulatory: able to walk about and not bedridden

    ⤿ of, relating to, or adapted to walking
  • anathema: someone or something intensely disliked or loathed
  • apercus [a-per-sue ]: a brief survey or sketch
  • apocrypha: writings or statements of dubious authenticity
  • arbitrate: to settle (a dispute between two people or groups) after hearing the arguments and opinions of both
  • asperity: roughness of manner or of temper; harshness of behavior or speech that expresses bitterness or anger
  • atavism: recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination
  • augure: to foretell especially from omens
B
  • barmy: full of froth or ferment
  • bibelot [bee-ba-low]: a small household ornament or decorative object; trinket
  • bowdlerize: to expurgate (something, such as a book) by omitting or modifying parts considered vulgar

    ⤿ to modify by abridging, simplifying, or distorting in style or content
  • bucolic: relating to or typical of rural life

    ⤿ of or relating to shepherds or herdsmen
C
  • cacophony: harsh or jarring sound; dissonance
  • calumny: a misrepresentation intended to harm another's reputation
  • carbuncles: any of several red precious stones

    ⤿ a painful local purulent inflammation of the skin and deeper tissues with multiple openings for the discharge of pus and usually necrosis and sloughing of dead tissue
  • caul: the large fatty omentum covering the intestines (as of a cow, sheep, or pig)

    ⤿ the inner fetal membrane of higher vertebrates especially when covering the head at birth
  • cicatrise: to induce the formation of a scar
  • circumspect: careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences
  • clandestine: marked by, held in, or conducted with secrecy
  • comestible: edible
  • commonweal (commonwealth): the general welfare
  • concupiscence: strong sexual desire
  • consternation: amazement or dismay that hinders or throws into confusion
  • convalescence: time spent recovering from an illness or medical treatment; recuperation.
D
  • daguerreotype: an early photograph produced on a silver or a silver-covered copper plate
  • delsultory: marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose

    ⤿ not connected with the main subject

    ⤿ disappointing in progress, performance, or quality
  • desiccant: a drying agent
  • derision: the use of ridicule or scorn to show contempt
  • diaphanous: characterized by such fineness of texture as to permit seeing through

    ⤿ characterized by extreme delicacy of form; ethereal
  • dolorous: causing, marked by, or expressing misery or grief
  • domicile: place of residence; home
  • dotage: a state or period of old age especially when accompanied by mental decline
E
  • edifice: a large or massive structure

    ⤿large abstract structure
  • effrontery: shameless boldness
  • enmity: positive, active, and typically mutual hatred or ill will
  • enervate: lacking physical, mental, or moral vigor

    ⤿ to reduce the mental or moral vigor
  • envisage: to view or regard in a certain way
  • epaulette: something that ornaments or protects the shoulder
  • epithelium: a membranous cellular tissue that covers a free surface or lines a tube or cavity of an animal body and serves especially to enclose and protect the other parts of the body, to produce secretions and excretions, and to function in assimilation
  • equanimity: evenness of mind especially under stress
  • ersatz: being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation
F
  • fecund: fruitful in offspring or vegetation

    ⤿ intellectually productive or inventive to a marked degree
  • flaneur: an idle man-about-town
  • folderol [fal-del-rol]: a useless ornament or accessory

    ⤿ nonsense
  • frisson: a brief moment of emotional excitement; shudder
  • froideur: coolness or extreme reserve in manner
G
  • gauche: lacking social experience or grace

    ⤿ crudely made or done
  • gloaming: twilight; dusk
H
  • hamartia: tragic flaw
  • harridan: a strict, bossy, or belligerent old woman
  • hauteur: arrogance, haughtiness
  • heliograph: an apparatus for telegraphing by means of the sun's rays flashed from a mirror
  • hermetically: in an airtight manner
  • hoi polloi: the general populace
  • horology: the science of measuring time

    ⤿ the art of making instruments for indicating time
  • hoyden: a girl or woman of saucy, boisterous, or carefree behavior
  • hubbub: noise, uproar
I
  • imbroglio: an acutely painful or embarrassing misunderstanding
  • inclement: lacking mildness
  • indefatigable: incapable of being fatigued; untiring
  • inoculate: to introduce immunologically active material (such as an antibody or antigen) into especially in order to treat or prevent a disease
  • insouciant: lighthearted unconcern
J

. . .

K

. . .

L
  • latrine: a receptacle (such as a pit in the earth) for use as a toilet
  • lily-livered: lacking courage; cowardly
  • louche: not reputable or decent
  • loquacious: full of excessive talk; wordy
  • lugubrious: exaggeratedly mournful
M
  • maelstrom: a powerful often violent whirlpool sucking in objects within a given radius
  • mendacity: given to or characterized by deception or falsehood or divergence from absolute truths
  • milquetoast [milk toast]: timid, meek, or unassertive
N
  • neologism: a new word, usage, or expression
O
  • obstreperous: marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness

    ⤿ stubbornly resistant to control
  • opprobrium: something that brings disgrace
  • orthography: the art of writing words with the proper letters according to standard usage

    ⤿ the representation of the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols
P
  • paucity: smallness of number
  • penultimate: next to the last

    ⤿ of or relating to the next to the last syllable of a word
  • penumbra: a space of partial illumination (as in an eclipse) between the perfect shadow on all sides and the full light
  • peremptory: putting an end to or precluding a right of action, debate, or delay - specifically: not providing an opportunity to show cause why one should not comply

    ⤿ expressive of urgency or command

    ⤿ characterized by often imperious or arrogant self-assurance
  • piquant: agreeably stimulating to the taste

    ⤿ engagingly provocative or stimulating
  • porcine: of, relating to, or suggesting swine; piggish
  • prurient: marked by, arousing, or appealing to sexual desire
  • putrefaction: the decomposition of organic matter
Q
  • quixotic: foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals
  • quotidian: occurring every day
R
  • rebarbative: repellent, irritating
  • rheumy: a watery discharge from the mucous membranes especially of the eyes or nose
  • rote: an established and often automatic or monotonous series of actions followed when engaging in some activity
S
  • sagacious: of keen and farsighted penetration and judgment; discerning
  • sartorial: of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes
  • scintillating [sin-​til-lat-​ing]: obrilliantly lively, stimulating, or witty
  • shirkers: to go stealthily

    ⤿ to evade the performance of an obligation
  • smarmy: revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness

    ⤿ of low sleazy taste or quality
  • sonorous: producing sound (as when struck)

    ⤿ full or loud in sound
  • sotto voce: under the breath
  • stalwart: marked by outstanding strength and vigor of body, mind, or spirit
  • suppurate: to form or discharge pus
  • sybarite: a person who is self-indulgent in their fondness for sensuous luxury
T
  • temerity: unreasonable or foolhardy contempt of danger or opposition; rashness
  • torpor: a state of mental and motor inactivity with partial or total insensibility
U
  • unctuous: having, revealing, or marked by a smug, ingratiating, and false earnestness or spirituality

    ⤿ smooth and greasy in texture or appearance
  • unguents: a soothing or healing salve
V
  • vertiginous: characterized by or suffering from vertigo or dizziness

    ⤿ inclined to frequent and often pointless change
  • vestibule: a passage, hall, or room between the outer door and the interior of a building; lobby
  • virago: a loud overbearing woman
  • voluble: easily rolling or turning; rotating

    ⤿ characterized by ready or rapid speech
W
  • wittering: a piece of information (as a sign, token, or hint)
X

. . .

Y
  • yokel: a naive or gullible inhabitant of a rural area or small town
Z

. . .

A
  • abate: to decrease in force or intensity

    ⤿ to become defeated or become null or void (as of a writ or appeal)
  • abattoir: a place where animals are butchered; slaughterhouse
  • abscond: to depart secretly and hide oneself
  • acrimony: anger and bitterness; harsh or biting sharpness especially of words, manner, or feelings
  • admonitions: gentle or friendly criticism

    ⤿ counsel or warning against fault or oversight
  • affront: to insult especially to the face by behavior or language
  • akimbo: having the hand on the hip and the elbow turned outward

    ⤿ set in a bent position
  • alacrity: promptness in response
  • ambulatory: able to walk about and not bedridden

    ⤿ of, relating to, or adapted to walking
  • anathema: someone or something intensely disliked or loathed
  • apercus [a-per-sue ]: a brief survey or sketch
  • apocrypha: writings or statements of dubious authenticity
  • arbitrate: to settle (a dispute between two people or groups) after hearing the arguments and opinions of both
  • asperity: roughness of manner or of temper; harshness of behavior or speech that expresses bitterness or anger
  • atavism: recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination
  • augure: to foretell especially from omens
B
  • barmy: full of froth or ferment
  • bibelot [bee-ba-low]: a small household ornament or decorative object; trinket
  • bowdlerize: to expurgate (something, such as a book) by omitting or modifying parts considered vulgar

    ⤿ to modify by abridging, simplifying, or distorting in style or content
  • bucolic: relating to or typical of rural life

    ⤿ of or relating to shepherds or herdsmen
C
  • cacophony: harsh or jarring sound; dissonance
  • calumny: a misrepresentation intended to harm another's reputation
  • carbuncles: any of several red precious stones

    ⤿ a painful local purulent inflammation of the skin and deeper tissues with multiple openings for the discharge of pus and usually necrosis and sloughing of dead tissue
  • caul: the large fatty omentum covering the intestines (as of a cow, sheep, or pig)

    ⤿ the inner fetal membrane of higher vertebrates especially when covering the head at birth
  • cicatrise: to induce the formation of a scar
  • circumspect: careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences
  • clandestine: marked by, held in, or conducted with secrecy
  • comestible: edible
  • commonweal (commonwealth): the general welfare
  • concupiscence: strong sexual desire
  • consternation: amazement or dismay that hinders or throws into confusion
  • convalescence: time spent recovering from an illness or medical treatment; recuperation.
D
  • daguerreotype: an early photograph produced on a silver or a silver-covered copper plate
  • delsultory: marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose

    ⤿ not connected with the main subject

    ⤿ disappointing in progress, performance, or quality
  • desiccant: a drying agent
  • derision: the use of ridicule or scorn to show contempt
  • diaphanous: characterized by such fineness of texture as to permit seeing through

    ⤿ characterized by extreme delicacy of form; ethereal
  • dolorous: causing, marked by, or expressing misery or grief
  • domicile: place of residence; home
  • dotage: a state or period of old age especially when accompanied by mental decline
E
  • edifice: a large or massive structure

    ⤿large abstract structure
  • effrontery: shameless boldness
  • enmity: positive, active, and typically mutual hatred or ill will
  • enervate: lacking physical, mental, or moral vigor

    ⤿ to reduce the mental or moral vigor
  • envisage: to view or regard in a certain way
  • epaulette: something that ornaments or protects the shoulder
  • epithelium: a membranous cellular tissue that covers a free surface or lines a tube or cavity of an animal body and serves especially to enclose and protect the other parts of the body, to produce secretions and excretions, and to function in assimilation
  • equanimity: evenness of mind especially under stress
  • ersatz: being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation
F
  • fecund: fruitful in offspring or vegetation

    ⤿ intellectually productive or inventive to a marked degree
  • flaneur: an idle man-about-town
  • folderol [fal-del-rol]: a useless ornament or accessory

    ⤿ nonsense
  • frisson: a brief moment of emotional excitement; shudder
  • froideur: coolness or extreme reserve in manner
G
  • gauche: lacking social experience or grace

    ⤿ crudely made or done
  • gloaming: twilight; dusk
H
  • hamartia: tragic flaw
  • harridan: a strict, bossy, or belligerent old woman
  • hauteur: arrogance, haughtiness
  • heliograph: an apparatus for telegraphing by means of the sun's rays flashed from a mirror
  • hermetically: in an airtight manner
  • hoi polloi: the general populace
  • horology: the science of measuring time

    ⤿ the art of making instruments for indicating time
  • hoyden: a girl or woman of saucy, boisterous, or carefree behavior
  • hubbub: noise, uproar
I
  • imbroglio: an acutely painful or embarrassing misunderstanding
  • indefatigable: incapable of being fatigued; untiring
  • inclement: lacking mildness
  • inoculate: to introduce immunologically active material (such as an antibody or antigen) into especially in order to treat or prevent a disease
  • insouciant: lighthearted unconcern
J
K
L
  • latrine: a receptacle (such as a pit in the earth) for use as a toilet
  • lily-livered: lacking courage; cowardly
  • louche: not reputable or decent
  • loquacious: full of excessive talk; wordy
  • lugubrious: exaggeratedly mournful
M
  • maelstrom: a powerful often violent whirlpool sucking in objects within a given radius
  • mendacity: given to or characterized by deception or falsehood or divergence from absolute truths
  • milquetoast [milk toast]: timid, meek, or unassertive
  • moue: a little grimace; pout
N
  • neologism: a new word, usage, or expression
O
  • obstreperous: marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness

    ⤿ stubbornly resistant to control
  • opprobrium: something that brings disgrace
  • orthography: the art of writing words with the proper letters according to standard usage

    ⤿ the representation of the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols
P
  • paucity: smallness of number
  • penultimate: next to the last

    ⤿ of or relating to the next to the last syllable of a word
  • penumbra: a space of partial illumination (as in an eclipse) between the perfect shadow on all sides and the full light
  • peremptory: putting an end to or precluding a right of action, debate, or delay - specifically: not providing an opportunity to show cause why one should not comply

    ⤿ expressive of urgency or command

    ⤿ characterized by often imperious or arrogant self-assurance
  • piquant: agreeably stimulating to the taste

    ⤿ engagingly provocative or stimulating
  • porcine: of, relating to, or suggesting swine; piggish
  • prurient: marked by, arousing, or appealing to sexual desire
  • putrefaction: the decomposition of organic matter
Q
  • quixotic: foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals
  • quotidian: occurring every day
R
  • rebarbative: repellent, irritating
  • rheumy: a watery discharge from the mucous membranes especially of the eyes or nose
  • rote: an established and often automatic or monotonous series of actions followed when engaging in some activity
S
  • sagacious: of keen and farsighted penetration and judgment; discerning
  • sartorial: of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes
  • sepulchre: a place of burial; tomb
  • scintillating [sin-​til-lat-​ing]: obrilliantly lively, stimulating, or witty
  • shirkers: to go stealthily

    ⤿ to evade the performance of an obligation
  • smarmy: revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness

    ⤿ of low sleazy taste or quality
  • sonorous: producing sound (as when struck)

    ⤿ full or loud in sound
  • sotto voce: under the breath
  • stalwart: marked by outstanding strength and vigor of body, mind, or spirit
  • suppurate: to form or discharge pus
  • sybarite: a person who is self-indulgent in their fondness for sensuous luxury
T
  • temerity: unreasonable or foolhardy contempt of danger or opposition; rashness
  • torpor: a state of mental and motor inactivity with partial or total insensibility
U
  • unctuous: having, revealing, or marked by a smug, ingratiating, and false earnestness or spirituality

    ⤿ smooth and greasy in texture or appearance
  • unguents: a soothing or healing salve
V
  • vertiginous: characterized by or suffering from vertigo or dizziness

    ⤿ inclined to frequent and often pointless change
  • vestibule: a passage, hall, or room between the outer door and the interior of a building; lobby
  • virago: a loud overbearing woman
  • voluble: easily rolling or turning; rotating

    ⤿ characterized by ready or rapid speech
W
  • wittering: a piece of information (as a sign, token, or hint)
X
Y
  • yokel: a naive or gullible inhabitant of a rural area or small town
Z