All Vocab and Rhetoric for Humanities

ABASE

to deprive of self-esteem, confidence; to behave in a way as to belittle or degrade someone.

WAVER

to shake with quivering motion; to sway or tremble; to vacillate; to falter; to hesitate.

ACQUIESCE

to accept something reluctantly but without protest.

UNDERSCORE

to underline something; to stress or emphasize.

BELABOR

to explain or work at something beyond what is necessary; to attack verbally with harsh criticism.

SUPPLANT

to replace one thing with another; substitute; to move into the position of.

CAPITULATE

to give up resistance; to surrender under agreed conditions.

RALLY

to organize or inspire; to encourage; to demonstrate or protest; to recover or cause to recover in health, spirits, or poise.

DEBUNK

to expose as false; to reduce the inflated reputation of someone, especially by ridicule.

PERPLEX

to puzzle or bewilder; to make more complicated.

ELICIT

to draw out or bring forth, evoke, prompt.

OBLITERATE

to destroy completely; to remove completely from recognition or memory; to cause to become invisible or indistinct.

FABRICATE

to create or make something up; to lie; to put together out of artificial or natural components or parts.

LAUD

to praise, extol; to acclaim, glorify.

PORTEND

to indicate in advance; to be a sign or warning that something is likely to happen.

ENUMERATE

to number or list; to mention one by one; to specify individually.

DEPLORE

to regret deeply or strongly; to express strong disapproval of.

CHRONICLE

to record in a factual and detailed manner; to create an historical record.

MOLLIFY

to soften in feeling or temper.

SQUANDER

to waste (something, especially money or time) in a reckless and foolish manner.

APPROPRIATE

to take possession of (typically without the owner’s permission); to devote (money or assets) to a special purpose.

COMPLEMENT

to add something in a way to complete or make perfect.

DEPICT

to represent or characterize; portray.

DISPARAGE

to belittle, or bring reproach or discredit upon; to regard or represent as being of little worth.

INURE

to accustom to hardship or difficulty.

EMBELLISH

to beautify or enhance; exaggerate; elaborate; to make a statement more interesting by adding extra details, especially ones that are not true.

EXONERATE

to clear from guilt or blame.

REPUDIATE

to reject as false; deny.

REMONSTRATE

to say or plead in protest or disapproval; to make a forceful protest.

ERADICATE

to remove or destroy completely; put an end to.

BURGEON

to begin to grow or increase rapidly; flourish.

AUGMENT

to make larger or greater by adding to it.

POLARIZE

to divide into opposites; to cause something to acquire polarity.

LAMENT

to feel or express sorrow or grief; to mourn.

EXACERBATE

to increase in severity; aggravate.

IMPEDE

to stop or hinder progress.

EXCORIATE

to criticize or berate severely; to denounce.

SCRUTINIZE

to examine or inspect closely and thoroughly.

REPRESS

to keep under control; suppress.

SUBSTANTIATE

to establish proof or evidence; prove.

ALLEVIATE

to make easier to endure; lessen.

CAPTIVATE

to attract or hold the interest of.

BOLSTER

to support or hold up.

CIRCUMSCRIBE

to draw a line around or enclose; to constrict the range or activity of definitely and clearly.

DEPRECATE

to criticize or express disapproval.

EXPLOIT

to use selfishly for profit; to manipulate to one’s own advantage.

OBFUSCATE

to confuse or bewilder; to render unclear or unintelligible.

DISSEMINATE

to scatter or spread widely.

EVOKE

to call up or produce; to recall to the conscious mind.

ADUMBRATE

to describe roughly or give the main points of; to give to understand.

EXPURGATE

to edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate.

CAVORT

to play boisterously; to jump or dance around excitedly.

EXPUNGE

to remove by erasing or crossing out.

ARROGATE

to seize and take control without authority.

ABSCOND

to run away secretly and hurriedly, often taking something or somebody along.

ABNEGATE

to deny or reject a doctrine or belief; to renounce.

ENERVATE

to weaken mentally or morally; to deprive of force or strength.

ENFRANCHISE

to grant freedom to, as from slavery or servitude; to give the right to vote.

PALLIATE

to lessen or try to lessen the seriousness or extent of; to make a disease or its symptoms less severe or unpleasant.

CONNIVE

to form intrigues in an underhanded manner; to conspire to do something immoral, illegal, or harmful.

SPURIOUS

plausible but false; not being what it purports to be.

INVETERATE

having a particular habit, activity, or interest that is long-established and unlikely to change.

ELEGY

a mournful poem; a lament for the dead.

CANDOR

the quality of being honest and straightforward.

TOME

a large, scholarly book.

VICISSITUDE

a variation in circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant.

REPROBATE

an unprincipled person; unprincipled.

DIAPHANOUS

light, delicate, translucent.

EXIGENT

demanding immediate attention; requiring precise accuracy.

ALACRITY

liveliness and eagerness.

HAPLESS

unfortunate and deserving pity.

PORTENT

a sign of something about to happen.

PERNICIOUS

exceedingly harmful especially in a gradual, subtle way.

CONSTRUE

to make sense of; assign a meaning to; to interpret in a particular way.

CALUMNY

a false accusation of an offense; the making of false and defamatory statements in order to damage someone's reputation.

SANGUINE

confidently optimistic and cheerful.

STAI D

characterized by dignity and propriety.

FETTER

a shackle for the ankles or feet; to restrain with manacles.

IMPETUOUS

characterized by undue haste and lack of thought.

ARBITRARY

based on or subject to individual discretion or preference; determined by chance or impulse.

FERVENT

passionate, intense, zealous.

CALLOUS

insensitive; having no feeling.

DEPREDATE

to lay waste to; to plunder, pillage, destroy, ravage.

TEMERITY

excessive confidence or boldness; audacity.

PELAGIC

relating to open seas rather than waters adjacent to land.

PUNCTILIOUS

precise, paying attention to trivialities of etiquette.

APHORISM

a tersely phrased truth or opinion; a brief statement of principle or general truth.

SUCCOR

relief during a time of struggle.

DENOUEMENT

an outcome or solution to a complex series of events.

SUPERCILIOUS

arrogant, overbearing; displaying condescending superiority.

PARLEY

discussion between enemies, often to prepare terms of surrender.

SUPPLICATE

to humbly ask; to write a petition.

SURREPTITIOUS

secretive; marked by hidden aims or methods.

TACIT

implied or unspoken; inferred from actions or statements.

OFFICIOUS

prone to giving unwanted advice; intrusive.

SYMBIOTIC

related to a relationship that is beneficial for all involved.

SYNAPSE

the small gap between the cells of nerves.

PARAGON

a model of excellence; one having no equal.

MAWKISH

very sentimental; insincerely emotional.

CACOPHONY

unpleasant, discordant sounds.