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Pacify

v. to calm someone down; to placate

Painstaking

adj. extremely careful; taking pains

Palliate

v. to relieve or alleviate something without getting rid of the problem; to assuage; to mitigate

Palpable

adj. capable of being touched; obvious; tangible

Paltry

adj. insignificant; worthless

Panacea

n. something that cures everything

Paradigm

n. a model or example

Paradox

n. a true statement or phenomenon that nonetheless seems to contradict itself; an untrue statement or phenomenon that nonetheless seems logical

Parochial

adj. narrow or confined in point of view; provincial

Parody

n. a satirical imitation

Parsimonious

adj. stingy

Partisan

n. one who supports a particular person, cause, or idea

Patent

adj. obvious

Paternal

adj. fatherly; fatherlike

Pathology

n. the science of diseases

Patriarch

n. the male head of a family or tribe

Patrician

n. a person of noble birth; an aristocrat

Patronize

v. to treat as an inferior; to condescend to

Paucity

n. scarcity

Peccadillo

n. a minor offense

Pedantic

adj. boringly scholarly or academic

Pedestrian

adj. unimaginative; banal

Pejorative

adj. negative; disparaging

Penchant

n. a strong taste or liking for something; a predilection

Penitent

adj. sorry; repetant; contrite

Pensive

adj. thoughtful and sad

Peremptory

adj. final; categorical; dictatorial

Perennial

adj. continual; happening again and again or year after year

Perefidy

n. treachery

Perfunctory

adj. unenthuastic; careless

Perpatetic

adj. wandering; traveling continually; itinerant

Periphery

n. the outside edges of something

Perjury

n. lying under oath

Permeate

v. to spread or seep through; to penetrate

Pernicious

adj. deadly; extremely evil

Perquisite

n. a privilege that goes along with a job; a “perk”

Pertinent

adj. relevant; dealing with the matter at hand

Perturb

v. to disturb greatly

Peruse

v. to read carefully

Pervade

v. to spread throughout

Petulant

adj. rude; cranky; ill tempered

Philanthropy

n. love of humankind, especially by doing good deeds

Philistine

n. a smugly ignorant person

Pious

adj. reverent or devout; outwardly (and sometimes falsely) reverent or devout; hypocritical

Pivotal

adj. crucial

Placate

v. to pacify; to appease; to soothe

Plaintive

adj. expressing sadness or sorrow

Platitude

n. a dull or trite remark; a cliche

Plebeian

adj. common; vulgar; low class

Plethora

n. an excess

Poignant

adj. painfully emotional; extremely moving; sharp or astute

Obdurate

adj. stubborn and insensitive

Obfuscate

v. to darken; to confuse; to make confusing

Oblique

adj. indirect; at an angle

Oblivion

n. total forgetfulness; the state of being forgotten

Obscure

adj. unknown; hard to understand; dark

Obsequious

adj. fawning; subservient; sucking up to

Obtuse

adj. insensitive; blockheaded

Officious

adj. annoyingly eager to help or advise

Onerous

adj. burdensome; oppresive

Opaque

adj. impossible to see through; impossible to understand

Opulent

adj. luxurious

Orthodox

adj. conventional; adhering to established principles or doctrines, especially in religion; by the book

Ostensible

adj. apparent (but misleading); professed

Ostentatious

adj. excessively conspicuous; showy

Narcissism

n. excess love of one’s body or oneself

Nebulous

adj. vague; hazy; indistinct

Nefarious

adj. evi; flagrantly wicked

Neologism

n. a new word or phrase; a new usage of a word

Nepotism

n. showing favoritism to friends or family in buisness or politics

Nihilism

n. a belief that there are no values or morals in the universe

Nominal

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

Nostalgia

n. sentimental longing for the past; homesickness

Notorious

adj. famous for something bad

Novel

adj. new; original

Noxious

adj. harmful; offensive

Nuance

n. a subtle difference or distinction