Ap Lang

Admiring

Complimentary, favorable

Alarmed

Urgency

Allusive

Suggestive, hinting

Aloof

Haughty, distant

Ambivalent

Indecisive, having mixed emotions

Angry

Irate

Anxious

Uneasy, brooding

Apathetic

Uncaring, uninvolved

Apologetic

Regretful

Audacious

Bold, insolent

Belligerent

Contentious

Benevolent

Kind

Bitter

Hating, malicious, resentful, rancorous

Candid

Frank, truthful

Captious

Ready to detect trivial faults

Censorious

Severely critical, condemnatory

Clinical

Detached, coolly dispassionate

Cold

Unemotional

Complacent

Self-satisfied, smug

Condescending

Showing superiority, patronizing

Confident

Certain, full of conviction

Confused

Perplexed, disconcerted

Contemptuous

Scornful, disdainful, disrespectful, irrelevant

Critical

Judging harshly

Cynical

Contemptuously distrustful of human nature and motives, misanthropic

Delirious

Suggesting frenzied excitement

Depressed

Dejected

Desperate

Showing a loss of hope

Detached

Unconcerned, aloof, distant, unbiased

Didactic

Instructive

Dispassionate

Unaffected by strong feeling; showing coolness of judgment

Dogmatic

Authoritative, assertive, arrogant

dreamy

Vague, in a state of reverie, appearing tranquil

Effusive

Excessively demonstrative, gushing

Elated

Joyful; happy

Elegiac

Expressing sorrow

Fanciful

Whimsical

Flippant

Lacking proper respect or seriousness

Forgiving

Pardoning, excusing

Frivolous

Lacking seriousness, playful, silly

Giddy

Lightheartedly silly

Hesitant

Reluctant

Impartial

Unbiased, objective

Impassioned

Ardent, fervent, fervid

Importunate

Overly persistent in demand

Incredulous

Not believing

Indignant

Showing anger at injustice

Insolent

Arrogant, overbearing, impudent

Ironic

Expressing the opposite of literal meaning

Irreverent

Disrespectful

Jocular

Joking, humorous

Lugubrious

Dismal, mournful

Matter-of-fact

Concerned with fact only, not imaginative or fanciful; objective

Melancholy

Depressed, dejected, sad

Optimistic

Inclined to expect the best possible outcome

Pedantic

someone who is overly concerned with minor details or rules

Pessimistic

Inclined to expect the worst possible outcome, fatalistic

Pompous

Arrogant, self-important

Puerile

Childish, juvenile

Pungent

Caustic, stinging, biting

Restrained

Reserved

Sardonic

Disdainfully humorous, sarcastic

Satirical

using humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize or mock people

Sentimental

Affectedly emotional, maudlin

Skeptical

Questioning, doubting

Somber

Serious, solemn, gloomy, grave, melancholy

Supercilious

Haughtily contemptuous

Sympathetic

Favoring, pitying

Tongue-in-cheek

Ironic, facetious, sarcastic

Threatening

Menacing

Urgent

Urging insistently, earnest

Vexed

Annoyed, agitated

Vindictive

strong or unreasoning desire for revenge

Zealous

Eager, passionate, fervent

Preamble

An introduction to a text

Presage

To indicate something (usually bad) is about to happen

Prescient

Having knowledge of something before it happens

Predilection

A special fondness

Precipitate

Rash, acting without thinking

Predicate

To be based on

Presentiment

A feeling that something (typically bad) is about to happen

Precedent

Something that sets an example for how things are done in the future

Pretentious

Acting more important than others by pretending to know more

Pretense

A claim or assertion not based on fact

Predecessor

One that comes before, often a person who previously held a position before passing it on to someone else

Precursor

Something that comes before another; used only for things, not for people

Pretext

A reason given for something that is not the actual reason.

Precocious

Developing early (usually in terms of ability)

Preclude

To make it impossible for something to happen

Tantalize

To torment someone with something they want without ever giving it to them

Pyrrhic

Describing a victory that comes with a heavy cost

Laconic

Using as few words as possible when speaking

Draconian

Extremely strict, as laws or rules

Jeremiad

A long speech full of complaints

Cicerone

A guide who gives speeches to sightseers

Nemesis

One who constantly works to ensure another’s downfall

Platonic

Describes a close relationship that has no romantic or sexual basis

Thespian

An actor

Spartan

Lacking in comfort or flourishes (describing either a lifestyle or accommodations)

Juggernaut

An unstoppable, destructive force or thing