Hillier Vocab List

Abate

(v) to subside; to reduce

Alacrity

(n) cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond

Augment

(v) to make bigger; to add; to increase

Choleric

(adj) hot-tempered; quick to anger

Degenerate

(v) to break down; to deteriorate

Espouse

(v) to support; to advocate

Hegemony

(n) leadership or dominance of one group over another

Intransigent

(adj) uncompromising; stubborn

Narcissism

(n) excessive love of one's body or oneself

Petulant

(adj) rude; cranky; ill-tempered

Ruminate

(v) to contemplate; to ponder; to mull over

Abdicate

(v) to step down from a position of power or responsibility

Ambience

(n) atmosphere; mood; feeling

Auspicious

(adj) favorable; promising; pointing to a good result

Circuitous

(adj) roundabout; not following a direct path

Denizen

(n) inhabitant

Euphemism

(n) a pleasant or inoffensive expression used in place of an unpleasant or offensive one

Hiatus

(n) a break or interruption, often from work

Inundate

(v) to flood; to cover completely with water; to overwhelm

Nihilism

(n) the belief that there are no values or morals in the universe

Placate

(v) to pacify; to appease; to soothe

Sacrosanct

(adj) sacred; held to be inviolable

Aberration

(n) something not typical; a deviation from the standard

Ambiguous

(adj) unclear in meaning; confusing; capable of being interpreted in different ways

Avarice

(n) greed; excessive love of riches

Circumlocution

(n) an indirect expression; use of wordy or evasive language

Deride

(v) to ridicule; to laugh at comtemptuously

Evanescent

(adj) fleeting; vanishing; happening for only the briefest period

Histrionic

(adj) overly dramatic; theatrical

Irascible

(adj) easily angered or provoked; irritable

Nominal

(adj) in name only, insignificant; A-OK (during rocket launches)

Platitude

(n) a dull or trite remark; a cliche

Sanguine

(adj) cheerful; optimistic; hopeful

Abhor

(v) to hate very; very much; to detest

Ambivalet

(adj) unclear in meaning; confusing; capable of being interpreted in different ways

Banal

(adj) unoriginal; ordinary

Coalesce

(v) to come together as one; to fuse; to unite

Despondent

(adj) extremely depressed; full of despair

Exacerbate

(v) to make worse

Hyperbole

(n) an exaggerationused as a figure of speech; exaggeration

Irrevocable

(adj) irreversible

Nuance

(n) a subtle difference or distinction

Plethora

(n) an excess

Sardonic

(adj) mocking; scornful

Abnegate

(v) to deny oneself things; to reject; to renounce

Ameliorate

(v) to make better or more tolerbale

Beleaguer

(v) to surround; to besiege; to harass

Colloquial

(adj) conversational; informal in language

Didactic

(adj) intended to teach; morally instructive; pendantic

Exhort

(v) to urge strongly; to give a serious warning to

Iconoclast

(n) one who attacks popular beliefs or instutions

Juxtapose

(v) to place side by side

Obdurate

(adj) stubborn and insensitive

Poignant

(adj) painfully emotional; extremely moving; sharp or astute

Secular

(adj) having nothing to do with religion or spiritual concerns

Absolve

(v) to forgive or free from blame; to free from sin; to free from an obligation

Amiable

(adj) friendly; agreeable

Belie

(v) to give a false impression of; to contradict

Collusion

(n) conspiracy; secret cooperation

Dilettante

(n) someone with superficial knowledge of the arts; an amateur; a dabbler

Exonerate

(v) to free completely from blame; to exculpate

Immutable

(adj) unchangeable

Laconic

(adj) using few words, especially to the point of seeming rude

Obfuscate

(v) to darken; to confuse; to make confusing

Pragmatic

(adj) practical; down-to-earth; based on experience rather than theory

Sequester

(v) to set or keep apart

Abstruse

(adj) hard to understand

Amorous

(adj) feeling loving, especially in a sexual sense; in love; relating to love

Bemused

(adj) confused; bewildered

Complicity

(n) participation in wrongdoing; the act of being an accomplice

Disdain

(n) arrogant scorn; contempt

Extol

(v) to praise highly; to laud

Impeccable

(adj) flawless; entirely without sin

Lethargy

(n) sluggishness; laziness; drowsiness; indifference

Obsequious

(adj) fawning; subservient; sucking up to

Predilection

(n) a natural preference for something

Soporific

(adj) sleep inducing; boring; sleepy

Abysmal

(adj) extremely hopeless or wretched; bottomless

Arbiter

(n) one who decideds; a judge

Blatant

(adj) unpleasantly or offensively noisy; glaring

Conciliatory

(adj) making peace; attempting to resolve a dispute through goodwill

Dogmatic

(adj) arrogantly assertive of unproven ideas; stubbornly claiming that something is beyond dispute

Extrapolate

(v) to project or deduce from something known; to infer

Impetuous

(adj) impulsive; extremely impatient

Levity

(n) lightness; frivolity; unseriousness

Onerous

(adj) Burdensome; oppressive

Premise

(n) an assumption; the basis for a conclusion

Sordid

(adj) vile; filthy; squalid

Accolade

(n) an award; an honor

Arbitrary

(n) one who deciedes; a judge

Blight

(n) a disease in plants; anything that injures or destroys

Condone

(v) to overlook; to permit to happen

Dubious

(adj) full of doubt; uncertain

Facetious

(adj) humorous; not serious; clumsily humorous

Impugn

(v) to attack, especially to attack the truth or integrity of something

Loquacious

(adj) talking a lot or too much

Ostentatious

(adj) excessively conspicuous

Prerogative

(n) a right or privilege connected exclusively with a position, a person, a class, a nation, or some other group or classification

Sporadic

(adj) stopping and starting; scattered; occurring in bursts every once in a while

Acquiesce

(v) to comply passively; to accept; to assent; to agree