Vocabulary List with Definitions

Affecting

Touching the emotions; moving.

Affinity

A natural liking or attraction to a person, thing, idea, etc.

Assuage

To make an unpleasant feeling less intense; to ease.

Austerity

Sternness or severity; extreme plainness or frugality.

Autonomous

Having self-government; independent.

Barring

Except for; if not for the presence of.

Bolster

To support or strengthen.

Burgeoning

Beginning to grow or increase rapidly; flourishing.

Buttress

To support, strengthen, or reinforce.

Capitalizing

Taking advantage of something for one's own benefit.

Catalyze

To cause or accelerate a reaction or change.

Categorically

In a way that is unambiguously explicit and direct.

Circumvent

To find a way around an obstacle; to overcome cleverly.

Cogent

Clear, logical, and convincing.

Cohesive

Forming a united whole.

Conflate

To combine two or more things into one.

Confound

To confuse or surprise someone.

Contentious

Causing or likely to cause an argument.

Continuity

The unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something.

Copious

Abundant in supply or quantity.

Cosmopolitan

Familiar with and at ease in many different cultures.

Dearth

A scarcity or lack of something.

Deference

Humble submission and respect.

Deleterious

Causing harm or damage.

Delineate

To describe or portray something precisely.

Denigrate

To criticize unfairly; to defame.

Deprecate

To express disapproval of.

Derivative

Imitative of someone else's work; not original.

Detractors

People who criticize something or someone.

Diminutive

Extremely or unusually small.

Discount

To disregard or minimize the importance of something.

Disdain

The feeling that someone or something is unworthy of respect.

Disparities

Great differences or inequalities.

Dogmatic

Inclined to lay down principles as undeniably true.

Dynamic

Constantly changing, active, or progressing.

Elicit

To draw out a response or reaction.

Enigmatic

Difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious.

Enumerate

To mention one by one; to list.

Ephemeral

Lasting for a very short time.

Exemplar

A person or thing serving as a model.

Exhaustive

Fully comprehensive; leaving nothing out.

Exploiting

Taking advantage of a situation or person.

Extant

Still in existence; not lost or destroyed.

Extrapolate

To infer from known information.

Extricated

Freed from difficulty or constraint.

Facetious

Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor.

Fastidious

Very attentive to detail; hard to please.

Fluid

Not fixed; capable of flowing or changing easily.

Galvanize

To shock or excite someone into taking action.

Haphazardly

In a manner lacking any obvious principle of organization.

Hegemony

Leadership or dominance, especially by one group over others.

Hinges

Depends entirely on.

Idiosyncratic

Peculiar or individual in behavior or characteristics.

Illicit

Forbidden by law or rules.

Impartiality

Equal treatment of all rivals or disputants.

Incongruous

Not in harmony or keeping with the surroundings.

Inconsequential

Not important or significant.

Incorrigible

Not able to be corrected or reformed.

Incredulous

Unwilling or unable to believe something.

Induce

To bring about or give rise to.

Inexplicable

Unable to be explained or understood.

Inextricable

Impossible to disentangle or separate.

Ingenuity

Cleverness, inventiveness, or resourcefulness.

Inherent

Existing as a natural part.

Innate

Inborn; natural.

Intangible

Unable to be touched or grasped.

Intrinsically

In an essential or natural way.

Irrefutable

Impossible to deny or disprove.

Irreproachable

Beyond criticism; faultless.

Irreverent

Showing a lack of respect for things generally taken seriously.

Iteration

The repetition of a process or utterance.

Magnanimous

Very generous or forgiving.

Malleable

Easily influenced; pliable.

Manifest

Clear or obvious to the eye or mind.

Meticulous

Showing great attention to detail.

Momentous

Of great importance or significance.

Mutable

Liable to change.

Myopia

Nearsightedness or lack of foresight.

Myopic

Lacking imagination or foresight.

Myriad

A countless or extremely great number.

Nebulous

Unclear, vague, or ill-defined.

Nominal

Existing in name only; very small in amount.

Notional

Existing only in theory or as a suggestion.

Nuanced

Characterized by subtle differences.

Omniscient

Knowing everything.

Palpable

Able to be touched or felt; easily perceived.

Paramount

More important than anything else.

Pedantic

Overly concerned with minor details or rules.

Penchant

A strong or habitual liking for something.

Perturbations

Disturbances or disruptions.

Pervasive

Spreading widely throughout an area or a group.

Plethora

An excessive amount of something.

Postulate

To assume or suggest the truth of something.

Preclude

To prevent from happening.

Precursor

A person or thing that comes before another of the same kind.

Presaged

Predicted or warned of a future event.

Pretentious

Attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or talent.

Pristine

In its original condition; unspoiled.

Profusion

An abundance or large quantity of something.

Proliferation

A rapid increase in numbers.